Check out the results for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Tuesday. Neshaminy/CR North photos are provided courtesy of Jesse Garber. To view photos of that game, please click on the following link: http://JSGarber.zenfolio.com/p459668633
By Jarrad Saffren
The mountains of snow from #Blizzard2016 are kind of, sort of melting away. Which means two things: One, Wolf Blitzer (Is that his real name? It can’t be his real name) needs to find something new to talk about. Two, the Suburban One League boys’ basketball stretch run is back after a brief respite. Nine important league games were played Tuesday night. Three others were postponed in the ultimate display of respect for the fading but indelible impacts of #Blizzard2016. The results and recaps are below.
SOL National
Council Rock South 64, William Tennent 56
Council Rock South coach John Easterly implemented a strategy and his players carried it out.
“We made an effort tonight to get the ball inside, and we did that throughout the game,” Easterly said. “We had a height advantage. Ryan Boyd is 6-foot-6. Ryan McNamee is 6-foot-7. Kenny Brightcliffe is 6-foot-4. And Mike Stock is 6-foot-3.
“All of them did a real nice job posting up and opening things up for our guards. Ryan Boyd did a real nice job.”
Boyd was second on the Golden Hawks with 14 points. The guards who benefitted most were Alex Nordenholt and Kevin Newbert, who scored 15 and 14, respectively.
“They (Tennent) spent a lot of time trying to limit looks inside once we established ourselves,” Easterly said.
Brightcliffe corralled seven defensive rebounds and Newbert had six boards and five assists.
“Solid game for Kenny,” Easterly said. “For Kevin, that’s on top of his points. It was a really all-around solid game for Kevin.”
As a team, South pulled away at the foul line, shooting 17-of-20 overall and 9-of-10 in the last two minutes of the game.
Both teams came in struggling. South entered on a four-game losing streak and Tennent on a seven-game skid. Easterly was relieved that his team ended its slide.
“We’ve been struggling. But we’ve been competitive in our games,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said.
At 7-10, South will have to win a lot these next two weeks to sneak into the district playoff field. Easterly said the Hawks must play better defensively to win out.
“We are focusing on it in practice every day,” Easterly said. “We know we can score the ball. We gotta get stops.”
The coach also said that defense is not about system, but fundamentals.
“There are lots of different defenses you can play, but it comes down to communicating, preventing second-chance points,” Easterly said. “Fundamentals are what we emphasize. The kids have been improving upon that.”
Pat McCauley led Tennent with 20 points, including six three-pointers. John Ryan added 12 and Anthony Woodard had 10.
CR South (7-10, 5-6 SOL) battles rival Council Rock North Friday night. Tennent (5-13, 2-9 SOL) takes on first-place Abington at home.
William Tennent 12-14-13-17 56
Council Rock South 13-13-21-17 64
William Tennent: Anthony Woodard 10, Pat McCauley 20, John Ryan 12, Matt Berndlmaier 5, Brendan Carter, Rivers 2.
Council Rock South: Austin Thomas 2, Tyler Teufel 3, Mike Krepich 4, Alex Nordenholt 15, Kevin Neubert 14, Ryan McNamee 5, Mike Stock 5, Ryan Boyd 14, Kenny Brightcliffe 2.
Council Rock North 60, Neshaminy 40
Council Rock North has been searching for a third scorer all season.
Riley Thompson and Will Desautelle have been a dependable one-two punch, and they were again Tuesday night, scoring 15 and 16 points, respectively. 
They also found their third wheel, Matt McAlister, who posted 11 points, including three three-pointers.
“Matt shot the ball well tonight,” Indians coach Derek Wright said. “He came off the bench and hit a big three in the first half. He continued in the second half. Riley and Eric Levine found him for some open looks.”
The Indians led 15-4 after one quarter but just six at halftime (24-18).
“We missed a bunch of shots in the first (half),” Wright said. “In the second half, they started to fall.”
It was a two-possession game for most of the third before North increased its lead to 12 early in the fourth.
“It was a lot closer than the final score,” Wright said.
Wright credited Desautelle with setting the tone.
“Will did a great job at the start giving us energy on boards. He controlled the glass, got to the basket, and got their bigs in foul trouble early,” Wright said.
North has won three straight games after a 4-8 midseason stretch.
“We are not doing anything different,” Wright said. “We are just feeling more comfortable in our roles now that everybody’s healthy and it’s a more consistent rotation.”
Zach Tredway was the only Neshaminy player in double figures with 12.
CR North (10-8, 8-3 SOL) hosts rival CR South Friday night. Neshaminy (3-13, 2-9 SOL) goes to Pennsbury Thursday night for a 7 p.m. tip.
Neshaminy 4-14-13-9 40
Council Rock North 15-9-18-18 60
Neshaminy: Shammond Thomas 3, Billy Warren 6, Anthony Papeo 5, Zach Tredway 12, Eric Rotteveel 6, Charles Dominick 8.
Council Rock North: Tyler Nowmos 2, Riley Thompson 15, Matt McAlister 11, Will Desautelle 16, Noah Ehlin 4, Eric Levine 2, Ryan Costello 5, Tyler Shields 2, Anish Thakur 2, Elliott Spicer 1.
Abington 58, Bensalem 46
Abington halted Bensalem’s four-game winning streak and kept its firm grip on first-place in the SOL National, two games ahead of CR North.
The Ghosts have won nine straight games and 14 of 15.
Freshman Eric Dixon led all scorers with 22 points. Sophomore Robbie Heath added 14 and Brian Close had 10.
Brandon Vaughn was the only Bensalem player in double figures with 12. Richard Dean and Anthony Greene both scored eight.
The Ghosts raced to a 15-point halftime lead (30-15) and a 22-point advantage after three quarters. Bensalem outscored Abington 20-9 in a garbage time fourth quarter.
Abington (15-3, 10-1 SOL) buses to William Tennent Friday night for a 7 p.m. start. Bensalem (9-8, 5-6 SOL) goes to Harry S. Truman on the same night and time.
Abington 15-15-18-9 58
Bensalem 10-5-11-20 46
Abington: Rob Young 2, Robbie Heath 14, Brian Close 10, Paul Decembrino 1, Jack Steinman 4, Joe O’Brien 5, Eric Dixon 22.
Bensalem: Brandon Vaughn 8, Anthony Greene 8, Ward Roberts 5, BJ Jones 2, Taco Douglas 5, Brian Quarterman 3, John Dumney 3.
SOL Continental
North Penn 48, Central Bucks West 47
North Penn trailed by two with seconds remaining when Chris Coleman got fouled. He made both to tie the score at 47.
CB West dribbled down the court and missed an open three-pointer. North Penn’s Reece Udinski grabbed the rebound and was fouled with four seconds left. He made the first foul shot and missed the second.
West inbounded to Connor Lynch, who dribbled down the sideline and launched a half-court shot through a double team. The ball fell short of the rim, and North Penn pulled off the biggest upset in the SOL Continental this season.
“He (Lynch) didn’t get a good look at all,” North Penn coach John Conrad said. “We finally got a close one.”
Udinski led the Knights with 11 points but Conrad praised his team’s balance.
“JJ (Melchior) had nine. Lance (Lindsay-Ford) had 10. And then Matt Pickford with nine,” the Knights’ coach said. “Everyone contributed.”
Conrad was even more pleased with his team’s defensive effort. Justin Henley, a sophomore, started the season on junior varsity. But Conrad called him up to get more varsity experience. On Tuesday night, Henley sparked the Knights’ defense.
“He played great on D,” Conrad said. “He was quick and strong. He played (CB West’s Luke) Irons and kept him out of the lane.”
Henley and Coleman were both called up from JV in the middle of the season.
“Guys have been great in terms of being ready,” Conrad said. “Chris and Justin have a lot of athleticism. They are great teammates, they work hard and have made the most of it.”
The win keeps North Penn alive in the district playoff race. But at 9-10, the Knights may have to win out.
“We can’t get excited because we have to go up to Pennridge Friday and that’s another must-win for us,” Conrad said.
The loss drops CB West behind Pennridge for first place in the SOL Continental standings. Bill Power led the Bucks with 14 points. Erich Hohenleitner added nine and Ben Riegel eight.
North Penn (9-10, 4-7 SOL) plays Pennridge Friday. CB West (15-4, 9-2 SOL) takes on Hatboro-Horsham at 7 p.m.
North Penn 15-8-8-17 48
Central Bucks West 11-17-8-11 47
North Penn: Matt Pickford 9, Chris Coleman 6, JJ Melchior 9, Derek Heiserman 1, Justis Henley 2, Lance Lindsay-Ford, Reece Udinski 11.
Central Bucks West: Luke Irons 4, Bill Power 14, Erich Hohlenleitner 9, Connor Lynch 4, Ben Riegel 8, Jake Reichwein 4, Collin MacAdams 4.
Central Bucks East 51, Central Bucks South 47
CB South led by six late in the third quarter. But CB East’s Elijah Seger and Tommy Strasburger hit back-to-back three pointers to tie the game early in the fourth.
Then Seger stole the ball and scored to put East up two. He scored again on East’s next possession to cap a decisive 10-2 Patriots run.
Seger scored seven of 10 points during the run to go with a block and a steal. Not bad for a guy who’s been battling a chest cold.
“Elijah’s been pretty sick,” CB East coach Erik Henrysen said. “Having snow and the break we were hopeful he’d be ready to roll. He didn’t look great but he gutted it out.”
The Patriots “played solid team defense” after taking the lead and keyed on South’s leading scorer, Tim Waddington.
“We didn’t allow him to get open looks and we closed out on guards when they went a little bit small,” Henrysen said.
Seger finished with nine points. Strasburger scored a game-high 16 to go with six rebounds.
“Tommy’s our engine. He knows it. When he has it going on, we’re that much better,” Henrysen said. “He does a little bit of everything. He scores, defends, rebounds. He’s a senior, so he’s been through the battles.”
Henrysen is hoping the Patriots can make the playoffs in Strasburger’s final season.
“Tommy was a sophomore on the team that tied for the league title two years ago and was instrumental in getting us there,” Henrysen said. “But last year with his ankle problems, it was kind of a lost year. So getting into districts is…it’s something we’ve always felt he deserves.”
CB East has won three in a row to improve to 11-7, beating North Penn, Hatboro-Horsham, and South. The Patriots are above .500 in league play for the first time all season.
Henrysen did not change anything to spark the streak. He said his players just grew up.
“In the beginning of the year, there were quite a few games where we were in position and fell short,” Henrysen said. “We are learning how to win. Doing that extra one, two, three things that get you to where you need to be.”
Justin O’Neil added 10 points for East and shot 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter. Blake Peterson had seven points and seven rebounds and Matt Pattyson had five assists and four steals.
Waddington led South with 12 points. Chris Hones added 10.
CB East (11-7, 6-5 SOL) plays New Foundations Charter Thursday at 7 p.m. CB South (9-10, 5-6 SOL) buses to Souderton Friday night for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Central Bucks South 6-18-13-10 47
Central Bucks East 6-19-9-17 51
Central Bucks South: Alex Karras 2, Nate Robinson 4, Tim Waddington 12, Chris Hones 10, Ian Vogt 6, Tommy Doyle 4, Ryan Joerger 2, Sam Al-Asha 7.
Central Bucks East: Tommy Strasburger 16, Justin O’Neil 10, Blake Peterson 7, Elijah Seger 9, Matt Pattyson 3, Tiemo Fenner 6.
Hatboro-Horsham 61, Quakertown 32
Clifton Moore had a game for Hatboro-Horsham, collecting 15 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocked shots.
“He played a very, very good game tonight offensively and defensively,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Ed Enoch said. “Defensively he got us going. He blocked shots, and that led to early run-outs, which got us the lead early. We played good, solid basketball after that.”
Jay Davis led the Hatters with 18 points. Ryan Black added eight.
Griffin Schmidt paced Quakertown with 12 points. Enoch used a unique strategy to neutralize Schmidt.
“We put a fresh body on him every three to three-and-a-half minutes,” Enoch said. “We tried to take him out of game and not let him get ball. He can really play and really hurt us in the first game. But we did a good job on him.”
Enoch also praised Quakertown as a whole.
“Quakertown’s a very good basketball team,” Enoch said. “They beat Souderton and Griffin scored 39. I was proud of our kids tonight. They didn’t let that happen.”
Hatboro-Horsham (10-8, 7-4 SOL) welcomes second-place CB West Friday night at 7 p.m. Quakertown (5-13, 1-10 SOL) battles CB East on the same night and time.
SOL American
Upper Moreland 41, Springfield 35
Upper Moreland came into Tuesday night on a nine-game losing streak. Coach Matt Heiland knew what the problem was.
“Against Bensalem we were up 11-0. To be up 11-0, you think this is it and then you stop making jumpers,” Heiland said. “Against Wissahickon, we lose by four. In another game, we were outscored 13-0 during one stretch and lost by eight. We weren’t playing 32 minutes. We were playing 28 or 29.”
“In the beginning, we got away with that because we could shoot. Now teams know we can shoot the ball.”
Upper Moreland played all 32 minutes Tuesday night, and won without doing what it does best. The Golden Bears sank just two three-pointers but made up for it at the foul line, shooting 11-for-12 in the fourth quarter.
Springfield slowed the game down with 30-40 second possessions and forced UM to stay patient.
“It was a good game plan,” Heiland said. “They tried to take the air out of the ball and make us play long defense.”
Springfield led 7-5 after one quarter, but UM took a four-point edge into halftime (17-13). The Golden Bears led by one after three but pulled away with a 13-8 fourth quarter.
Brendan O’Donnell (13), Shane Stone (11), and Damian Washington (10) combined for 34 points for Upper Moreland. Heiland was happy that his players were unselfish.
“A big part of the losing streak was youth and inexperience. We were trying to force shots. The extra pass was now a jump shot,” Heiland said. “I tried to stress that it didn’t matter who was making shots, whose name was in the paper.”
Ryan Daley paced Springfield with 12 points. Quentin Johnson added 10.
Upper Moreland (8-11, 4-7 SOL) hosts Cheltenham Friday night. Springfield (3-15, 0-11 SOL) battles PW on the same night.
Upper Moreland 5-12-11-13 41
Springfield 7-6-14-8 35
Upper Moreland: Brendan O’Donnell 13, Damian Washington 10, Ryan Coyle 2, Brett Brossman 5, Shane Stone 11.
Springfield: Justin Hill 6, Ryan Daley 12, Queintin Johnson 10, Williams 5, Corrado 2.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 61, Upper Dublin 38
Xzavier Malone dropped 30 points and Plymouth Whitemarsh outscored Upper Dublin by 15 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 34-16 lead.
“He (Xzavier) was really consistent shooting from mid-range,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “We know he has a few of those games in him so it’s nice to see it.”
Donofrio was especially pleased that Malone did not force anything.
“I don’t think it was just his show,” Donofrio said. “It just happened to be we were playing well. He was creating when he had to but it wasn’t forced.”
Mike Lotito added 10 points for PW, and six other players scored. John Barrett and Ryan Stover netted 10 each for Upper Dublin.
PW pulled away in the second quarter by force-feeding UD a steady diet of presses. “They worked,” Donofrio said. “We were clicking for a six-minute run. In the third, they made a run and then we expanded it again.”
PW outscored UD by seven in the fourth quarter.
“It was a steady performance,” Donofrio said. “Our focus is back up to where it needs to be.”
Donofrio said the Colonials continue to improve as the season goes on.
“I’m trying to push them to have a little more of a nasty streak defensively,” Donofrio said. “People will say, ‘You’re crazy. You’re 17-1 and the D looked good tonight. But over the final week and a half, we need to make a higher percentage of positive basketball plays.
“Sometimes we play to the scoreboard too. I don’t like that trait. We are up 15 but we act like we’re up 30. The good news is we turn it on when we have to. But no coach loves that trait.”
PW (17-1, 10-1 SOL) takes on Springfield Friday night. Upper Dublin (7-10, 5-6 SOL) travels to Upper Merion for a 7 p.m. start.
Upper Dublin 8-8-12-10 38
Plymouth Whitemarsh 11-23-10-17 61
Upper Dublin: Ben Abel 2, John Barrett 10, Will Derr 2, Ryan Stover 10, Gary Fields 2, Jimmy Gallagher 6, Isaiah Henrich 6.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Xzavier Malone 30, Mike Lotito 10, Oakley Spencer 4, Kevin Ashenfelter 5, Grady Minick 4, Ahmad Williams 3, Cheo Houston 3, Glvoer 2.
Wissahickon 60, Upper Merion 55
Wissahickon found itself staring at a 32-15 deficit at halftime.
“We were miserable in the first half,” Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said.
Then Upper Merion hit two buckets out of the break. Wilson had to do something drastic. “I preferred not to press them because it opens up more shots,” Wilson said. “(Upper Merion’s Matt) Faw is such a big target they can throw to him over the press. He’s like Ben Roethlisberger looking over a D – he can see a lot of things.”
But the press worked.
“They made bad choices with the ball and turned it over,” Wilson said.
Upper Merion turned the ball over 13 times in the second half. Offensively, Max Rapoport caught fire, scoring 16 of his 18 points after the intermission to bring the Trojans back.
Wissahickon outscored Upper Merion 26-11 in the third and 19-12 in the fourth. “It was just a huge, huge turnaround,” Wilson said.
Zach Reiner complemented Rapoport with 18 points of his own, scoring five in the first and third quarters and four in the second and fourth.
“Reiner was balanced all the way through,” Wilson said. “He’s been our most consistent player all season long. Two sophomores (Rapoport and Reiner) both putting up 18 is a pretty pleasing thing to look at in my book.”
Alex Tappen netted 12 points for Wissahickon, including three three-pointers. Wissahickon buried 10 treys as a team. Five Upper Merion players—Aidan Newell (11), Andrew Persaud (11), Ethan Miller (13), Chris Carita (11), and Matt Faw (12)—scored in double figures.
Wilson had one word for the win.
“Huge,” the Trojans’ coach said. “Our goal is to get in the playoffs. It’d be nice to get the seniors a playoff opportunity. We play so many young guys that you’re not sure what you’re gonna get. It’s nice to see these guys go out on the floor and step up.”
Wissahickon (9-9, 5-6 SOL) takes on Norristown Friday at 7 p.m. Upper Merion (11-6, 6-5 SOL) plays Upper Perkiomen Wednesday night at 7.
Upper Merion 15-17-11-12 55
Wissahickon 8-7-26-19 60
Upper Merion: Aidan Newell 11, Andrew Persaud 11, Ethan Miller 13, Chris Carita 11, Matt Faw 12.
Wissahickon: Max Rapoport 18, Zach Reiner 18, Alex Tappen 12, Zach Gelman 6, Marlyn Johnson 6.
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