Check out the results for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action on Tuesday and Wednesday. To view photos of the CR North/New Hope game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
National Conference
Council Rock South 47, William Tennent 44
Alex Nordenholt cut the heart out the Panthers and their home crowd when his three-pointer at the buzzer fell through the net to knot the score and set the stage for overtime. The dramatic game winner was set up by Mike Stock.
“There was five seconds left on the clock, and we had to go the full length of the court,” Rock South coach John Easterly said. “My assistant, Bryce (Bundy), came up with a great play.
“We passed it in to Mike Stock, who went the length of the floor, their defense collapsed, and he kicked it out to Alex with a second left, and he buried a three as time expired in regulation and that was to send it to OT.”
The Panthers scored first in overtime, and it was Austin Thomas answering for the Golden Hawks.
“At one point in overtime, Matt Stewart had a great post up and kicked it out to Austin Thomas, who hits a three to put us up by three, and that’s what we ended up winning by,” Easterly said.
Thomas – who led all scorers with 22 points – scored all eight of his team’s points in overtime. He finished the night with four three-point baskets, two in OT.
“Austin Thomas had another great game,” Easterly said. “Our guys did a great job of sharing the ball and playing unselfishly and getting the ball in the right spot.
“It was a really good win for us.”
Nordenholt and Stewart both finished with seven points while Stock added five.
The win avenged a heartbreaking 54-51 loss at the hands of the Panthers on the Golden Hawks’ home court on Dec. 23 that saw John Ryan bury a pair of foul shots to tie the game at the end of regulation.
“It’s always a competitive game between us and Tennent, and they’re so well coached,” Easterly said. “At the beginning of the year, it was a close game at our place, but they came out on top.
“John Ryan is such a talent, and I thought we did a really good job of guarding him tonight. Danny Buchnik was assigned the job of guarding him.”
Stock and Stewart also took their turns as did sophomore Ryan Boyd.
“Ryan is 6-5, and he came in and guarded him a little bit,” Easterly said. “They all did a great job, and he still had (21) points, but that’s the kind of player he is.
“They made it difficult, but he did a nice job of hitting free throws. I thought we guarded him well. He’s one of the best players in the league.”
Also for Tennent, Kevin Simonson had 12 points and Kyle Lewicki, six points.
Both teams are 4-7 in conference play. The Golden Hawks are 7-12 overall while the Panthers are 5-14.
Council Rock South 4 13 11 11 8—47
William Tennent 5 12 10 12 5—44
Council Rock South (47) – Mike Agasar 2, Austin Thomas 22, Mike Stock 5, Alex Nordenholt 7, Dan Buchnik 3, Ryan Boyd 1, Matt Stewart 7.
William Tennent (44) – Josh Kravets 3, Kevin Simonson 12, John Ryan 22, Matt Berndlmaier 2, Kyle Lewicki 6.
Council Rock North 52, New Hope-Solebury 31
It was a night that featured a little bit of the past, a little bit of the future, and a nice win in the present for the Indians on ‘Turn Back the Clock Night,’ a night celebrate the 60th anniversary of the program’s first win on Jan. 25, 1955.
The night was originally scheduled for Monday but was postponed because of the weather.
“It was an idea I came up with in the offseason,” coach Derek Wright said. “We have a copy of the box score in our media guide, thanks to Dick Rabberman who was on the team and still helps us out with our stats.”
Wright was originally hoping to hold the game at Newtown Middle School, which was formerly the high school and the location where the game was played, and although logistics prevented that from taking place, that didn’t put a damper on the celebration of Council Rock’s first win – 47-35 over New Hope.
In attendance were the daughter and son of that team’s coach – Ike Borsavage- as well as players from that squad, Rabberman and Bob Bishoff, who served as honorary captains.
In addition to alumni, which included three thousand-point scorers, Kathy Ortman was in attendance representing her late husband – former Council Rock coach Bud Ortman. Former coach Buff Radick, now the athletic director at Council Rock South, was also in attendance.
“Dick Rabberman talked to the team before the game about his experience and what it means to him to be part of the program still,” Wright said. “It was good for the guys to hear that.”
Rabberman, who scored 10 points in that first win, is now an assistant on the staff at Council Rock South.
Upper Makefield Night – a glimpse of the program’s future – also was celebrated, and for good measure, the Indians picked up a win.
The Indians led 12-8 after one quarter and took a 24-15 lead into halftime. Steve Nowmos led the Indians with eight points in the half while Matt Margolis had eight, which included a pair of treys.
The Indians added to their lead in the second half, outscoring the visiting Lions 28-16.
“We didn’t execute as well as we wanted in the first half,” Wright said. “New Hope played pretty hard and matched our intensity.
“In the second half, I think we wore them down a little bit and got some consecutive stops on defense and were able to get some easy baskets offensively to keep them at bay and keep the lead large enough to control the game.”
Riley Thompson led four Indians in double figures with 16 points. Steve Nowmos had 12 points and seven rebounds while Will Desautelle added 12 points, six rebounds and two steals.
“Will did a great job on one of their leading scorers,” Wright said of Desautelle, who limited Spencer Tinkel to just four points.
Margolis finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
New Hope-Solebury 8 7 8 8—31
Council Rock North 12 12 12 16—52
New Hope-Solebury (31) – Tinkel 4, Wagner 9, Vlahovic 2, Lane 12, C. Smith 4.
Council Rock North (52) – Tyler Nowmos 16, Matt Margolis 10, Steve Nowmos 12, Will Desautelle 12, Luv Popli 2.
Abington 56, Bensalem 36
A 19-point Ghosts advantage after one quarter would set the tone for the remainder of the game in what turned out to be an easy victory for Abington over visiting Bensalem.
Abington got off to a hot start, thanks in large part to the play of senior Amir Hinton, whose 23 points, six rebounds and four steals led the way in another conference win for the Ghosts (15-3), who are now perfect in 11 league games.
Bensalem (7-12, 4-7) trailed 33-16 at the half and never got back in the game after the opening minutes of regulation.
Senior Matt Penecale added 12 points and a game-high eight assists for Abington, while Robbie Heath added 10 points.
The Owls were led by Neel Patel’s 13 points. Nick Mulvey added 10, while Keith Howard chipped in with six.
Bensalem 3 13 14 6—36
Abington 22 11 13 10—56
Continental Conference
Hatboro-Horsham 54, Quakertown 40
The Hatters used a dazzling 18-4 fourth quarter run to turn a 36-36 tie into a double-digit win on Wednesday night at Quakertown.
“Defensively, as the game went on, we just kept getting better and better,” coach Eric Enoch said. “We finally cut off their penetration, got out on their shooters.
“I know we scored more in the second half, but it was really our defense and rebounding that won the game.”
The Panthers – sparked by a 19-10 second quarter – took a 26-18 lead into halftime and appeared to be in command. Things changed in a hurry in the a third quarter that saw the Hatters outscore their hosts 18-10 to knot the score. The rest of the night belonged to the Hatters.
“You know what – they played as good a first half of basketball tonight,” Enoch said. “They penetrated and kicked and made three’s, and we were confused.
“I give my kids a lot of credit. At halftime, they knuckled down, and we came out and played a real good team second half of basketball.”
The Hatters were led by Brian McEachorn, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. David Robinson also had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“He was phenomenal on the boards – he just really controlled the defensive boards,” Enoch said of Robinson.
Clifton Moore had seven points and 10 rebounds as three Hatters finished the game with double-digit rebounds. Walter Kimble was the third Hatter in double figures with 10 points.
For the Panthers, Griffin Schmidt and Brian Rejniak led the way with 11 points each while Kevin Norvaisas had 10 points.
The Hatters are 4-7 in league play (8-9 overall) while the Panthers are 3-8 in the league (9-10 overall).
Hatboro-Horsham 8 10 18 18—54
Quakertown 7 19 10 4—40
Hatboro-Horsham (54) – Walter Kimble 10, Brian McEachern 15, Kyle Katz 2, David Robinson 14, Pat Haggerty 3, Clifton Moore 7, Ryan Murphy 3.
Quakertown (40) – Griffin Schmidt 11, Jake Perrine 3, Brian Rejniak 11, Kevin Norvaisas 10, Kyle Baskin 2, Tyler Harrison 2, JR Grimmage 1.
Pennridge 58, Souderton 56
The neighboring rivals found themselves locked in another classic battle on Wednesday. The Rams led 18-17 after one quarter and took a 32-28 lead into halftime, but the visiting Indians erased that deficit in the third quarter, rallying to knot the score 41-41 heading into the final frame.
Joe Molettiere led a balanced Ram attack with 14 points while Zach Murreda added 13. Stephen Lowery and Dan Long both had 12 points, and Joe Unangst chipped in with seven
For the Indians, Evan Slone and Tracy Simsick had big nights as both finished with 18 points. Ty Salone and Austin Eberhart both had six points.
The Rams upped their conference mark to 10-1 (16-2 overall) while the Indians are 6-5 in the league (10-9 overall).
Souderton 17 11 13 15—56
Pennridge 18 14 9 17—58
Souderton (56) – Evan Slone 13, Ty Salone 6, Ben Wonderling 5, Tracy Simsick 18, Austin Eberhart 6, Steve Sosnowicz 3.
Pennridge (58) –
American Conference
Upper Moreland 51, Springfield (Montco) 42
Brendan O’Donnell was in some kind of an offensive groove on Wednesday, connecting on 6-of-7 shots from the floor and scoring a game-high 17 points. He was a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
“I was doing stats the other day, and Brendan’s close to a 50 percent three-point shooter on the year, so we know when he gets open looks, he can knock them down,” coach Matt Heiland said. “He’s become such a good three-point shooter this year with open looks that when he misses an open look – it’s almost a surprise.
“Springfield did a very nice job covering James (Martin), and we needed somebody else to step up, and Brendan was there.”
O’Donnell buried all four of his three-pointers in the first half, propelling the Golden Bears to a 29-23 lead over the Spartans. The Bears edged the Spartans 10-9 in the third quarter and 12-10 in the fourth to earn the 51-42 win.
The win brought to an end a four-game losing streak for the Golden Bears, and while O’Donnell stole the spotlight, he wasn’t the only player who came up big.
Shane Stone finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, Ryan Coyle added seven, and both Martin and Joe Trovato had six points.
“Springfield went triangle-and-two in the third quarter on Brendan and James, and Shane (Stone) stepped up and had a couple of steals on defense and transition points,” Heiland said. “(Xavier) Mulligan hit a floater at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter.
“Ryan Coyle had two pull-up jumpers. Even when they went triangle-and-two on our two best players, our other key guys stepped up. I think the closest they got was five or seven, but they never got inside of five. Every time they made a basket, we’d come right back with a basket to get it back up to seven. That’s what was good. It was a total team effort tonight. We had a lot of guys who stepped up and had points, so it wasn’t just our main two cogs – James and Brendan, which was good for us.”
Upper Moreland is 3-8 in league play (7-12 overall) while the Spartans are 0-11 in the league (2-16 overall).
Springfield 13 10 9 10—42
Upper Moreland 12 17 10 12—51
Springfield (42) – Justin Hill 2, Franzyk 2, Christian Yoast 3, Sean Stovall 10, Ryan Daley 11, DeAndre Johnson 10, Brendan Dugan 4.
Upper Moreland (51) – Brendan O’Donnell 17, Xavier Mulligan 2, Ryan Coyle 7, Casey Decker 3, James Martin 6, Joe Trovato 6, Shane Stone 10.
Wissahickon 54, Upper Merion 33
Stephen Driscoll paced Wissahickon with 16 points in the Trojans’ victory over host Upper Merion in a makeup game between the two conference teams.
Brandon Pace added 15 points – 12 in the first half – while Tre Holcomb and Todd Bentley added seven apiece for the Trojans, who improved to 10-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play.
Wissahickon led by 14 after one quarter (19-5) and never looked back after taking a 27-15 lead into the break
The Vikings (2-16, 1-10) were led by Ethan Miller, who scored 15 points. Andrew Persaud added six.
Wissahickon 19 8 11 16—54
Upper Merion 5 10 9 9—33
Wissahickon (54) – Todd Bentley 7, Tre Holcomb 7, Zach Gelman 2, Ron Brundage 2, Stephen Driscoll 16, Brandon Pace 15, Zach Reiner 4, Zach Gelman 2.
Upper Merion (33) – Jake Pruskowski 2, Anthony Capistrano 2, Andrew Persaud 6, Connor McDermott 2, Isaiah Graham-Mobley 2, Aiden Newell 3, Ethan Mmiller 15, Chris Cariota 1.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 73, Upper Dublin 50 (Tuesday, Jan. 27)
The Colonials moved one step closer to another SOL American Conference crown with their no-doubt-about-it win over the second place Cardinals on Tuesday night.
“It was a great win for us for a couple of reasons,” coach Jim Donofrio said. “The number one reason is – it’s great to win a lot of games to start the season, but Tuesday’s game was really the first game that had serious meaning to it in terms of championships.
“You don’t know how your team is going to react. We won 11 straight game and went down to Cheltenham and lost. Then we won five straight games and went up to Reading and had a great start and then lost the mojo (in a loss to William Penn).”
Tuesday night’s PW-Upper Dublin contest was the lone SOL game played, and it was an important one for a Colonial squad looking to come together as the postseason approaches.
“We had a very tough practice on Monday, and like every team – even though it’s not an NBA season, a high school season, no matter how a team is going, is filled with emotional ups and downs,” Donofrio said. “The last couple of days we’ve been through one of those emotional and mental rebuilding times. Monday was an intense practice, the kids were kind chippy with each other. You’d love to think that you’re peaking right now, but in all honesty, we were showing a lot of dysfunction. Then you add the snow possibility, and you wonder where the kids’ heads are at.
“There was a real mellow kind of energy going over there. Every coach knows at some point it can’t always be a rah-rah speech, it can’t always be fire and brimstone. It was a quiet kind of approach to the game – if you think you’re the best team in the league, go and prove that, and boy, were they terrific.”
Terrific hardly covers a game that saw the Colonials race out of the gate to a 21-12 lead after one quarter and take a 41-23 lead into halftime. Jimmy Murray had 13 of his game-high 18 points in the opening half to spark the Colonials. The Flying Cardinals never threatened.
“Of all the things out of the game, that to me was a great reaction to not winning Saturday up at Reading and going through some little inner conflict,” Donofrio said. “To come together to win in a place that’s tough to win at for us, it was a dominating performance. It was an unselfish offensive performance.
“Jimmy Murray was Jimmy Murray. When you have talented kids on the floor, you have to constantly stress working together on offense. The fact that we won as much as we have when that really wasn’t clicking that well – that’s scary to say.”
Everything came together in Tuesday’s win. In addition to Murray’s 18 points, Xzavier Malone added 12 while Andrew Mitchell had 11 and Devon Monteiro-Gray added 10. Cameron Johnson and Mike Lotito both had six points in a balanced PW performance.
“Tuesday night was – let’s just play the game the way it’s meant to be played, make right decisions, move the ball, find each other in good spots, and wow, were they energized,” Donofrio said. “It’s a game on paper that someone might look at and say, ‘PW this year is supposed to do those kind of games,’ but it’s much harder than that.
“Simeon Fryer is terrific as everybody knows, and John Barrett can knock them down from anywhere. You have to follow a plan. While we won a good amount of games, it doesn’t mean we were the smartest or most cohesive. That was what really evolved last night, and that’s a positive for us. There are three league games left, but man, was that huge.”
Barrett was one of four Cardinals in double figures with 14. Fryer added 11 while both Matt Thompson and Phil Santerian added 10 points.
One win separates the Colonials from clinching at least a share of the conference crown, and if it seems as though winning league titles would get old, guess again.
“The kids know that we are very proud of our league titles and never take those for granted,” Donofrio said. “I know that we are incredibly fortunate. There are so many teams out there that win league titles, and they are so excited for their school, and the fans are excited.
“Our kids sometimes look at all of the league titles over the last 15-20 years and think – that’s supposed to get done. It’s never as easy as you think it is. We really sell the fact that’s the first real championship. Everything else is really hard to do. Don’t go getting cocky – make sure you win a league title. It’s really the primary thing you have to go for. Everything else requires a whole lot of luck, perseverance and right timing.”
While the Colonials upped their lead mark to 10-1 (17-2 overall), the Flying Cardinals are 8-3 in the league (11-7 overall) and find themselves in a dogfight for second place with Wissahickon and Cheltenham. All three teams have three losses.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 21 20 16 16—73
Upper Dublin 12 11 13 14—50
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