Six SOL teams were winners in Friday’s opening round of the District One AAAA playoffs. Jarrad Saffren recaps all the results. Abington/Upper Dublin photos courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography, and the Upper Merion/Academy Park photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back to view photos of both games.
By Jarrad Saffren
The District One Class AAAA boys basketball playoffs started Friday night. Thirty-two teams entered, 16 remain. It was a good night for the Suburban One League Continental Conference, a mixed night for the SOL American, and a bad night for the SOL National. The results and recaps are below.
#27 Upper Dublin 41, #6 Abington 40
With Abington up 40-39, Eric Dixon missed the front end of a one-and-one. Upper Dublin corralled the rebound and raced downcourt. Ryan Stover drove right and kicked to a wide open John Barrett on the left wing.
Barrett sank a jumper to put the Flying Cardinals up one with 2.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter – it was the Cardinals first lead of the night.
Abington called timeout and 2.2 seconds were added to the clock, bringing it to 4.7.
“The officials said that was when Abington called the timeout,” Upper Dublin coach Josh Adelman said.
Abington inbounded and Robbie Heath sprinted downcourt. Just inside the foul line, Heath floated the ball toward the basket.
“I was like, ‘Oh no are we gonna lose on a last second shot?’” Adelman said. “Robbie Heath makes that shot.”
But then UD’s Will Derr charged over and swatted the ball into the stands. The buzzer sounded and the Cardinals’ fans and players stormed the court.
“People were high-fiving and hugging, it was awesome,” Adelman said. “The community was going crazy.”
UD, the 27 seed, used the same strategy that CB West used to stifle Abington in a 39-34 win Monday night in the title game of the SOL Challenge. Adelman went to that game and learned everything he needed to know.
“They were fronting Eric Dixon and then collapsing another guy on him whenever he got the ball,” Adelman said.
The game was tightly contested from the outset. After Abington took a 15-10 lead after one quarter, the Flying Cardinals pulled to within two at halftime (21-19). It was a one-point game heading into the final quarter that saw the Cardinals hold an 11-9 scoring advantage.
Dixon – who finished with 11 points – started hot in Friday night’s game but cooled off in the second half.
“It was such a defensive battle,” Adelman said. “I can’t say enough about the effort of our big guys – Will Derr and Ryan Stover on Dixon and (Joe) O’Brien. They did a great job.
“It was one of those games you’ll never forget. It was unbelievable.
The Cardinals continued their improbable rise from the dead of a 1-7 start. Adelman’s team has won 11 of 15.
The Ghosts (19-6, 13-1 SOL) lost two straight to end their season after winning 18 of 20. Abington also lost earlier than expected for the second straight season. The Ghosts, after winning the 2015 District One Class AAAA championship, lost to JP McCaskey in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA State Tournament.
Upper Dublin (12-11, 7-7 SOL) plays 11-seed Lower Merion in the second round Tuesday night. “(Lower Merion) Coach (Gregg) Downer always does a great job,” Adelman said. “I’ll have to call some coaches tomorrow morning to see if we can get some film on them.”
Upper Dublin 10-9-11-11 41
Abington 15-6-10-9 40
Upper Dublin: John Barrett 18, Will Derr 14, Jimmy Gallagher 3, Ryan Stover 6.
Abington: Rob Young 4, Robbie Heath 1, Brian Close 10, Lucas Monroe 10, Joe O’Brien 4, Eric Dixon 11.
#7 Central Bucks West 54, #26 Downingtown East 35
CB West’s players hadn’t forgotten last year’s first round exit at the hands of a Great Valley squad seeded 25th.
“We really used that as a learning experience. We actually talked about it in the locker room before the game,” CB West senior Luke Irons said. “We talked about how we were feeling after that loss, and how we didn’t want to feel like that again, so we came out with a lot of energy. We tried to jump on them early.”
Erich Hohenleitner scored on West’s first possession and the Bucks made their first four shots, including two Cal Reichwein three-pointers, to go up 10-2 just over three minutes into the game.
“We started well, which was huge,” CB West coach Adam Sherman said. “We were able to get familiar looks. We always preach that if we can get familiar looks we’re going to put ourselves in a position to make a very high percentage.”
Reichwein scored nine of his 12 points in the first half as West built a 30-13 halftime lead. In the first half, the Bucks only turned the ball over twice and kept Downingtown East out of rhythm offensively.
“Going into these games, there are only certain things you can control. We felt that if we could defend and rebound and execute, the rest will take care of itself,” Sherman said. “The first half we held them to 13, and the fourth quarter we held them to five. That really speaks volumes to see us defend like that.”
Downingtown East outscored CB West 17-9 in the third quarter to cut the Bucks’ lead to nine. But a Billy Power three-pointer ignited a 7-0 Bucks run to start the fourth quarter. Power finished with nine points.
Erich Hohenleitner had a game-high 15, including 11 in the second half. Jake Reichwein added 11.
The players said Monday’s upset win over National Conference champion Abington in the SOL Tournament title game gave the Bucks confidence.
“We know we can play with everyone in District One, and anyone can play with us,” Cal Reichwein said. “We just have to bring it every night and just play as hard as we can.”
“The Abington win was reassuring because we had an off shooting night, but we were able to win the game because of our defense and rebounding,” Irons said. “That showed that even if we have an off shooting night, we’re capable of beating a great team.”
CB West (21-4, 12-2 SOL) plays 10-seed Phoenixville Tuesday night. Phoenixville beat 23-seed Boyertown 67-59 Friday night.
Central Bucks West 12-18-9-15 54
Downingtown East 4-9-17-5 35
Downingtown East: Jaret Cooper 14, Malik Slay 5, Vaughn Jennings 2, Ryan Cahill 9, Will Peiffer 2, Wills Montgomery 3.
Central Bucks West: Luke Irons 4, Cal Reichwein 12, Bill Power 9, Erich Hohlenleitner 15, Connor Lynch 3, Jake Reichwein 11.
#5 Pennridge 67, #28 Central Bucks South 60
Pennridge beat CB South twice during the regular season, which made the task more difficult Friday night.
“It’s always tough to beat a team three times in one season,” Pennridge coach Dean Behrens said. “CB South knows us so well and they are so well-coached. (CB South coach) Jason (Campbell) had a great strategy against us.”
The strategy was to have one man charge at Dan Long and another pick him up at the foul line, to stop Long’s momentum. But, like most strategies designed to stop Long, regardless of how robust the design was, it didn’t work.
Long went off for 24 points, draining four three-pointers and shooting 8-for-8 from the line.
“Dan Long makes you look like a good coach, like you know what you are doing,” Behrens said laughing.
Long had plenty of help Friday night, as Max Wagner and Ryan Cuthbert each scored 13. Devon Balmer added seven, including a three-pointer on Pennridge’s first possession. Balmer’s shooting has been a major X-factor for the Rams in the second half of the season.
“You are not going to improve your jump shot unless you work on it a lot,” Behrens said. “Devon’s been shooting like crazy. We had a shoot-around today and he probably stayed later than I wanted him too. But he must have taken 200, maybe 300 shots after it was over. That’s commitment.”
The Rams were up 14-6 after one quarter, but Tim Waddington kept the Titans in the game in the second quarter, scoring 14 of his 17 points.
“He was on fire,” Behrens said. Pennridge led by six at halftime (30-24).
In the second half, Behrens switched Stephen Lowry onto Waddington, and Waddington scored three points in the last two quarters. But CB South’s Ryan Joerger caught fire, drilling five three-pointers and finishing with 20 points.
“We finally shut down Waddington, so he just kicks to Joerger and Joerger starts killing us,” Behrens said. “We were out of options defensively. Luckily, our offense picked up the slack.”
Pennridge led by eight after three quarters and held on at the end by making free throws. The Rams made 20-of-21 in the game.
Nate Robinson was third on CB South with 12 points. Pennridge freshman Sean Yoder made a three-pointer.
“We keep telling Sean he’s not a freshman anymore,” Behrens said. “He’s a big boy now. He’s getting some really valuable experience.”
Behrens, in his 18th season as Pennridge’s coach, is a proud SOL Continental man. “Our league had a really good night tonight,” the Rams’ coach said. “I wish we could have seen CB South in the second round. It’s unfortunate two teams from our league had to play each other in the first round.”
Pennridge (20-4, 14-1 SOL), the 5-seed, takes on 12-seed Spring-Ford Tuesday night. “(Spring-Ford) coach (Chris) Talley was a great player at Alvernia and he’s a great young coach,” Behrens said. “That program has been to the playoffs the last two years now.”
CB South finishes the 2015-16 season 10-13 overall and 6-9 against SOL Continental opponents.
Pennridge 14-16-20-17 67
Central Bucks South 6-18-18-18 60
Central Bucks South: Alex Karras 6, Nate Robinson 12, Tom Doyle 3, Ian Vogt 2, Ryan Joerger 20, Tim Waddington 17
Pennridge: Devon Balmer 7, Dan Long 24, Sean Yoder 3, Stephen Lowry 5, Kyle Yoder 2, Ryan Cuthbert 13, Max Wagner 13.
#17 Central Bucks East 41, #16 Pennsbury 30
Everyone has the same strategy against Pennsbury: front 6-foot-8 center Mark Flagg and bring help from behind. The teams that execute that strategy beat the Falcons, but not many do.
It helps when you have a 6-foot-7 big man like CB East’s Blake Peterson. The Patriots used various defenders to front Flagg while Peterson stayed behind him.
“We played a man defense, but we mostly doubled Flagg because he’s such a great player,” CB East coach Erik Henrysen said. “We wanted to make other guys beat us.”
They didn’t. No other Falcons’ player scored in double figures. Tyler Sessa-Reeves led the Falcons not named Flagg with eight points.
Henrysen also saw something else on film that jumped out to him. The Falcons attack the basket over settling for jump shots.
“I told our guys to be ready to take charges,” Henrysen said. “That was something we emphasized in practice.”
The Patriots led by one at halftime (19-18), but Pennsbury was pulling away in the third quarter. CB East climbed back to tie the score before the film study paid off. Early in the fourth quarter, Ryan Plack took a charge and then Blake Peterson did too, on Flagg.
The charges sparked a CB East run that buried the Falcons for good. CB East outscored Pennsbury 13-3 in the fourth quarter.
Tommy Strasburger paced the Patriots with 13 points, and six rebounds. Matt Pattyson had eight points and eight boards. Justin O’Neil posted seven points.
The Patriots shot 7-of-11 from the foul line down the stretch.
CB East (14-9, 7-7 SOL), the 17-seed, plays top-seed Coatesville Tuesday night.
“We have to get back in the film room,” Henrysen said. “Coatesville is a top seed for a reason.”
Pennsbury ends the season 15-8 overall and 10-4 in the SOL National.
Central Bucks East 7-12-9-13 41
Pennsbury 9-9-9-3 30
Central Bucks East: Tommy Strasburger 13, Justin O’Neil 7, Blake Peterson 2, Matt Pattyson 8, Elijah Seger 5, Ryan Plack 4, Chris Reilly
Pennsbury: Mark Flagg 10, Addison Howard 2, Rob Daly 5, Vaughn Ward 3, Tyler Sessa-Reeves 8, Joey Monoghan 2.
#25 Hatboro-Horsham 68, #8 Strath Haven 45
Hatboro-Horsham guard Brandon Crews tweeted it shortly after the 25th-seeded Hatters smoked eighth-seeded Strath Haven Friday night.
“SHOCK THE WORLD,” Crews tweeted, in all caps. Okay, maybe not the world. But Hatboro-Horsham definitely shocked the area basketball community.
"We played well," coach Ed Enoch said. "We did a great job on the boards and did a good job of holding their 6-8 kid (John Harrar)."
Harrar scored just nine points in the contest.
Clifton Moore (28) and Jay Davis (22) combined for 50 of the Hatters’ 68 points. Moore buried five three-pointers.
Hatboro-Horsham never trailed, racing to a 19-7 lead at the end of one quarter and going into halftime with a 30-19 lead. The Hatters led 45-35 heading into the final quarter when they blew the game wide open with a 23-11 tear to close out the game.
"We got a number of steals and stops that led to easy baskets," Enoch said. "Clifton Moore shot it well as did Jay Davis, and Brian McEachern had a great overall game.
"We played well on 'D' and had to have at least 10 assists."
The Hatters (12-11, 7-7 SOL) plays 9th-seeded Chester Tuesday night in a battle of perhaps the two most athletic teams in the field.
Hatboro-Horsham 19-11-15-23 63
Strath Haven 7-12-16-11 46
Hatboro-Horsham: Joe Russell 5, Clifton Moore 28, Kyle Katz 7, Jay Davis 22, Brandon Crews 2, Brian McEachern 4.
Strath Haven: Jameer Springfield 7, Driscoll 4, Kyree Fuller 10, Green-Springfield 3, John Harrar 9, Alex Ischiropoulos 2, Morris 3.
#4 Ridley 51, #29 North Penn 49
North Penn won its last two games of the regular season to sneak into district field as the 29-seed.
The Knights almost pulled off a huge upset of 4-seed Ridley Friday night. But it was not to be. They raced out of the gate to an 11-4 lead after one quarter, but the Green Raiders responded with a 17-8 second quarter to go into halftime with a 21-19 lead. Ridley led 37-30 heading into the final quarter when the visiting Knights rallied but fell just short.
Ricky Johns (16 points) and Reece Udinski (13 points) led the Knights. Matt Pickford added seven.
Still, the fifth (North Penn) and sixth-place (CB South) teams in the SOL Continental came very close to reaching the second round. The top four Continental teams did reach the second round, two (CB East and Hatboro-Horsham) in upset fashion.
It was a strong night for the league after an old Big East-like regular season.
North Penn 11-8-11-19 49
Ridley 4-17-16-14 51
#2 Plymouth Whitemarsh 49, #31 Radnor 36
You see it at least once every year in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, sometimes twice. A top-seed slogs its way to a wake-up call victory over a pesky 16-seed.
PW is the two seed in the District One field, and Radnor was the 31 seed. The Colonials never trailed, but they definitely struggled.
“We played very poorly,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “Sometimes there are jitters for higher seeds in these opening games and for some reason we had that tonight.”
Donofrio said his team may have overlooked Radnor.
“Give Radnor credit. They played hard,” Donofrio said. “I think we assumed it was a foregone conclusion and you can’t do that. Now we know anybody can beat anybody. It was good to get this game out of the way now.”
The Colonials led by seven at halftime and after three quarters (31-24). They pulled away in the fourth quarter after Xzavier Malone returned from a mild ankle sprain that caused him to miss most of the third.
Malone still finished with a game-high 14 points. Mike Lotito and Kevin Ashenfelter posted 12 and 10. Grady Minick added seven.
“Offensively we really struggled,” Donofrio said. “We only scored 49 and we should do better than that. We have the potential to score a lot more.”
Donofrio did praise his team’s defense.
“For the most part we were good on defense tonight,” he said.
Only one Radnor player scored in double figures.
PW (21-2, 13-1 SOL) takes on 18-seed Academy Park Tuesday night.
“They are an up-tempo team playing very good basketball right now,” Donofrio said. “If we don’t come to play, we’ll be in a consolation game.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh 11-11-9-18 49
Radnor 10-5-9-12 36
Radnor: Alex Hino 8, Vinnie Kely 8, Aaron Fuller 2, Mason Ressler 10, Jake Bodenger 4, Vernon Harper 4.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Xzavier Malone 14, Mike Lotito 12, Oakley Spencer 4, Kevin Ashenfelter 10, Grady Minick 7, Matt Walker 2.
#18 Academy Park 53, #15 Upper Merion 51
Eighteen-seed Academy Park ended 15-seed Upper Merion’s memorable season in a mild upset.
The two teams were deadlocked 24-24 at halftime, and Academy Park took a three-point lead into the final quarter and then held on for the dramatic win.
Ethan Miller led the Vikings with 16 points, and Matt Faw had 11. Also contributing were Aidan Newell (nine points), Chris Carita (seven points) and Jordyn Adegun (six points).
In 2015-16, the Vikings beat Norristown for the first time in more than two decades, Springfield on a buzzer-beating three-pointer, and handed PW its only regular season loss.
Upper Merion would have played the Colonials again if it had beaten Academy Park.
The Vikings close the 2015-16 regular season at 16-7 overall and 9-5 in SOL American play.
Academy Park15-9-13-16 53
Upper Meiron 13-11-10-17 51
#20 Perkiomen Valley 49, #12 Cheltenham 45
Cheltenham was the second SOL American team to lose to a slightly lower seed, as Perk Valley came in at 20.
The Panthers took a 24-20 lead over the Vikings into halftime but were doomed by a third quarter that saw the visitors go on a 14-4 tear to go on top 34-28. The Panthers never could close the gap.
Anthony White led the Panthers with 16 points, and Khalil White and Trevonn Pitts also finished in double figures with 10 points each.
SOL American teams went 2-2 Friday night, with PW being the only higher seed that won. Upper Dublin upset six-seed Abington.
Cheltenham closes the 2015-16 season 16-7 overall and 10-4 in league play.
Perkiomen Valley 9-11-14-15 49
Cheltenham 11-13-4-17 45
Perkiomen Valley: Justin Jaworski 29, Sean Owens 9, Sean Moriarity 8, Cullen O’Connor 3.
Cheltenham: Branden Mack 4, Khalil White 10, Anthony White 16, Amir Lewis 1, Rodney Carson 2, Justin Sutton 2, Trevonn Pitts 10.
#9 Chester 53, #24 Council Rock North 27
Chester was taller, bigger, faster, and stronger. The Indians knew that going in.
For three minutes, the game looked like it could become a colossal blowout, as the Clippers built an 11-0 lead. But North, as it always does, hung in. Senior Riley Thompson, in the final game of his career, kept North in the game, first with two old school midrange jumpers, then three three-pointers.
After a 20-14 run, the Indians trailed by five late in the second quarter. But then DeShawn Hinson drained a long three-pointer from the left wing and North never got close again. Chester went into halftime with a nine-point lead (31-22) and shut down Thompson in the second half.
“No one ever left me,” Thompson said. “I had no chance to set my feet on the catch.” Thompson did not score after the break.
North scored just five points in the second half as a team. Chester scored 22. Eight Clippers players scored. Only four got on the board for North.
In the third quarter, the Clippers built and maintained a 16-point lead. In the fourth, the Indians could not press them.
“There was nothing we could do. We weren’t athletic enough to press them,” Thompson said.
“That’s the story with Chester. That’s what makes them good,” CR North coach Derek Wright said. “You have a particular game-plan to beat them, but once you get down double digits, you either gotta scrap it, and then you can get to the 20s real quick. Or you stay with what you’re doing and then you’re gonna have fewer possessions.”
“We were hoping if we kept with what we were doing and just made a couple shots, kind of like in the first half, we’d just hang around,” Wright said. “That just didn’t happen.”
Wright also said Chester was a tough matchup for Thompson.
“Their length for someone like Riley, who’s 5’10, is pretty tough,” the Indians’ coach said.
The Clippers have six players who are 6-foot-5 or taller.
“We knew it was an uphill battle tonight,” Wright said. “They are not a 9-seed. I’ll tell you that.”
Senior Will Desautelle, also playing his last game, netted eight points. Late in the fourth quarter, Thompson and Desautelle exited to a standing ovation.
Fellow senior Tyler Nowmos scored four points, including a three-pointer.
CR North finishes the 2015-16 13-10 overall and 10-4 in SOL National play. The Indians lost in the first round of districts for the second straight year.
“Back-to-back seasons you get Chester and Lower Merion on the road, two great environments, two great teams,” Thompson said. “We got tough draws no doubt. But it’s a great experience and while it hurts now, I’m proud of the season that we had.”
Chester 21-10-10-12 53
Council Rock North 12-10-2-3 27
#1 Coatesville 43, #32 Bensalem 40
Bensalem barely snuck into the playoffs after losing two of its last three games of the regular season.
But the 32-seed Owls almost upset top-seed Coatesville. The Owls led 29-18 at halftime and took a 30-26 lead into the final quarter when the top-seeded Raiders outscored their visitors 17-10.
Justus Martinez’s field goal with 11 seconds remaining gave the Raiders the lead, and after a steal, a pair of free throws sealed the win.
Rich Dean and Ward Roberts led the Owls with 11 points each while Brandon Vaughn added nine.
Bensalem ends the season 11-12 overall and 6-8 in league play.
The Owls’ loss capped an 0-4 night for the SOL National. Abington and Pennsbury lost to lower seeds. Bensalem and CR North lost to higher seeds.
Bensalem 8-11-11-10 40
Coatesville 9-9-8-17 43
Bensalem: Brandon Vaughn 9, Ward Roberts 11, Brian Dumney 5, Taco Douglas 4, Rich Dean 11.
Coatesville: Jordan Young 8, Jonathan Thompson 6, Justus Martinez 14, Trent Hugan 3, Rome Boyer 2, Kamau Brickus 10.
About the Author
