Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Tuesday’s SOL boys basketball action. CR South/Neshaminy photos courtesy of Jon Sklut, and Wissahickon/Springfield photos provide by Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a photo gallery of both games…CLICK HERE.
By Jarrad Saffren
Eighteen Suburban One League boys basketball teams played league games Tuesday night.
Two—Harry S. Truman and Pennsbury—postponed their league game.
The favorites—especially the district playoff contenders—held serve.
The three first-place teams—Abington (SOL National), North Penn (SOL Continental) and Plymouth Whitemarsh (SOL American)—continued to look like first-place teams.
Other District One Class 6A playoff contenders—Council Rock South, Central Bucks East and Cheltenham—earned big wins over challenging league rivals.
Wissahickon, Upper Moreland and Souderton blew out league rivals and climbed back into the 6A, 5A and 6A playoff pictures, respectively.
All nine results and recaps are below.
SOL American
Cheltenham 78, Hatboro-Horsham 76 (OT)
Cheltenham trailed 42-30 at halftime, won the second half 36-24 and won overtime 12-10.
Trevonn Pitts had a huge game for Cheltenham, with 33 points and 13 rebounds. He scored eight of Cheltenham’s 12 points in overtime.
“He basically took over in the second half. He did a great job on the boards,” Cheltenham coach John Timms said. “My job was challenging him going up against (Hatboro-Horsham forward and Indiana recruit) Clifton Moore, and he finished with 33 points and 13 rebounds, so I think he did pretty well in that challenge. He was definitely the catalyst.”
Cheltenham’s Ahmad Bickley had 16 points and eight assists. Rodney Carson, Tim Spencer and Jack Clark added eight, seven and seven, respectively.
“If you look at our team, usually Clark is in double figures and Spencer is in double figures. We have four guys that are usually in double figures,” Timms said. “Two of those guys didn’t get double figures, so it was imperative that we play defense. Defense totally won it.”
Cheltenham fortified its defense in the second half, after a rough first half.
“It was a collective defensive effort in the second half. We were able to force them into a couple of turnovers and get them out of their offense. That’s more how we want to play,” Timms said. “The defense is what won the game. If we didn’t play defense, we would have lost by 20.”
Timms also said his team had the wrong approach in the first half.
“We’ve got to quit trying to outscore people. I said, ‘Hey, they’re going to run away with this game if we keep trying to outscore them,’” Timms said. “They had 42 points at the half, so I want to say this is the third game in a row we’ve given up 40 points in the first half. In a comeback win against Wissahickon, we gave up 45 points in the first half.”
But Cheltenham won both games, against rivals with winning records in league play. Timms effusively praised Hatboro-Horsham Tuesday night.
“That’s a great team over there, a well-coached team. We look forward to the longstanding competition. I know it’s going to be a great game every time we play them,” Timms said. “Some of our fans were saying, ‘Wow, this was like a college atmosphere.’ It was one of those games. We were down, we fought back. It was a great game if you were a spectator.”
Timms was proud of his team’s perseverance.
“Someone asked, ‘What did you do differently?’ We converted,” Timms said. “The opportunities were kind of there in the first half, and we missed. We just tried to keep them confident, the opportunities were there. We just stuck with it.”
When you score 76 points, build a 17-point first half lead and lose by two in overtime, you played pretty well. So Hatboro-Horsham had some standout performers too on Tuesday night.
Jay Davis dropped 27 points. Clifton Moore scored 22. Ryan Black added 18. Chris Edwards grabbed 13 rebounds.
Cheltenham (7-3, 5-1 SOL) plays Academy of the New Church Wednesday night at seven. Hatboro-Horsham (6-5, 4-3 SOL) battles Springfield-Montco Friday night at seven.
Hatboro-Horsham 21-21-14-10-10 76
Cheltenham 13-17-21-15-12 78
Hatboro-Horsham (76) – Brandon Crews 2, Chris Edwards 7, Clifton Moore 22, Jay Davis 27, Ryan Black 18.
Cheltenham (78) – Trevonn Pitts 33, Ahmad Bickley 16, Jack Clark 7, Tim Myarick 3, Rodney Carson 8, Kyin Healey 4, Tim Spencer 7.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 62, Quakertown 37
Plymouth Whitemarsh overcame a slow start to improve to 5-0 in American play.
“We started slow offensively. We had to figure them out a bit. They run some nice stuff. We didn’t know them well. We haven’t played them in eight years,” Colonials coach Jim Donofrio said. “Friday night against Cheltenham was an emotional game. Our place was sold out. We feed off emotionality. Plus it was an hour-long ride to get up there, so I kind of expected the slow start. We have to learn to grind out the rest of the league run.”
Matt Walker led PW with 15 points. He scored PW’s first three baskets in the first quarter, all threes.
Ahmin Williams scored 14. Cheo Houston added eight. Naheem McLeod and Danny Cooper both added six.
The 2016-17 Colonials are more balanced than the 2015-16 bunch. That District One Class 4A champion depended more on one big scorer: Xzavier Malone.
“We are more balanced, but we are missing an Xzavier Malone type player. Those type players are big insurance blankets,” Donofrio said. “We are trying to become a team that runs an intelligent offense, taking shots that are good for each kid. We were forcing it too much early. Friday night against Cheltenham was the best we played all year. We shot 51 percent from the floor and scored 75. It’s how we are supposed to look.”
PW looked that way in the second half Tuesday night, scoring 39 points, 23 in the fourth. PW’s defense controlled the first half, holding Quakertown to 16 points.
“Ahmin took over in the second half. We did a nice job defensively, had them at 16 points in a half. Naheem McLeod woke up in the fourth. Cheo Houston woke up in the fourth,” Donofrio said. “If there was a fifth quarter, we would have figured it out.”
This PW team, without Malone, depends on pressure defense to generate offense.
“I’m hoping we have legs by the end of the season,” Donofrio said. “When you have Xzavier, you can run half-court sets.”
Ryan Howard and Dakota Suchanec led Quakertown with eight points each. Nick Drosnock and JR Grimmage both scored seven.
PW (10-2, 5-0 SOL) hosts Upper Moreland Friday night at seven. Quakertown (2-9, 1-4 SOL) plays Wissahickon on the same night and time.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 13-10-16-23 62
Quakertown 9-7-4-17 37
Plymouth Whitemarsh (62) – Ish Horn 3, Kareem Breeden 2, Naheem McLeod 6, Danny Cooper 6, Matt Walker 15, Ahmin Williams 14, Cheo Houston 8, Ahmad Williams 4, Jason Paul 4.
Quakertown (37) – Jon Rey 3, Ryan Howard 5, Nick Drosnock 7, Dakota Suchanec 8, Kevin Juszynski 2, JR Grimmage 7, Ortiz 2.
Upper Moreland 65, Upper Dublin 30
Upper Dublin came out with a clear strategy: Stop Upper Moreland’s go-to guy, Damian Washington.
“They denied him the ball,” Golden Bears coach Matt Heiland said. “But we saw we had a mismatch with Shane Stone in the post and looked to get him going early.”
Stone scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter. “Which set a tone for the rest of the game,” Heiland said.
Upper Moreland led 16-7 after one quarter, then outscored UD 20-0 in the second quarter. UM led 36-7 at halftime.
“We played really good defense,” Heiland said. “We saw on film that Rio Besachio had the ability to score, and didn’t allow him to get any good looks. We limited them to one and done, and did a great job on the boards.”
Upper Dublin scored less than 10 points in three of four quarters. Upper Moreland led 51-13 after three quarters.
Washington and Anthony Green both scored 10 for UM. Casey Decker added seven. Brett Brossman and Ryan Coyle both added six.
Ian McGonagle led Upper Dublin with 14 points.
Upper Moreland (7-5, 3-3 SOL) plays PW Friday night at seven. Upper Dublin (1-9, 1-4 SOL) takes on Cheltenham on the same night and time.
Upper Moreland 16-20-15-14 65
Upper Dublin 7-0-6-17 30
Upper Moreland (65) – Casey Decker 7, Christian O’Donnell 2, Tom Jacob 2, Damian Washington 10, Ryan Coyle 6, Anthony Green 10, Brett Brossman 6, Shane Stone 10, Dueks 6, Jake Villanueva 4.
Upper Dublin (30) – Rio Besachio 3, Ryan Besachio 2, Mike Cottom 4, Jalen Heim 3, Brian mcCarry 2, Ian McGonagle 13, Cory Stover 2, Corby Watkins 1.
Wissahickon 64, Springfield-Montco 46
Wissahickon dominated this game in every facet.
The Trojans buried 10 threes, outscored the Spartans 28-14 in the paint and rolled to a 35-17 halftime lead.
Wissahickon also stole the ball 11 times and forced 18 turnovers. The Trojans turned the ball over just seven times. They also had 20 assists.
Eleven Wissahickon players scored. Max Rapoport led the Trojans with 13 points, including four threes. He also had four steals and three assists.
Zach Reiner, Zach Gelman and Shane Ford all scored eight. Reiner had five assists and three steals. Gelman had three assists and two steals. Chaz Owens contributed seven points and four assists. Alex Tappen added five points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.
Springfield-Montco’s Quentin Johnson dropped 23 points. Ryan Daley chipped in 12 points.
Wissahickon (6-6, 4-2 SOL) takes on Quakertown Friday night at seven. Springfield-Montco (1-10, 0-6 SOL) battles Hatboro-Horsham Thursday night at seven.
Wissahickon 18-17-11-18 64
Springfield-Montco 3-14-15-14 46
Wissahickon (64) – Max Rapoport 13, Zach Reiner 8, Zach Geman 8, Shane Ford 8, Chaz Owens 7, Alex Tappen 5, Eddie Fortescue 4, Marlyn Johnson 4, Phil James 3, Anthony Lawrence 2, Matt Graeff 2.
Springfield (46) – Ryan Daley 12, Pauls 2, Mike Goodson 6, Rittenhouse 3, Quentin Johnson 23.
SOL Continental
North Penn 56, Pennridge 50 (OT)
Pennridge led by five with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter.
“We made a couple stops on the defensive end and were able to convert on the offensive end,” North Penn coach John Conrad said. “We had a couple chances to win it in regulation but didn’t.”
North Penn won overtime 12-6. NP’s Reece Udinski made a layup and a three in OT. David Guiliani completed a three-point play.
“Twelve is a lot of points given the pace of the game,” Conrad said. “We were better with the basketball down the stretch and in OT.”
North Penn stayed undefeated in Continental play, improving to 5-0. Pennridge fell to 2-4.
“We played just well enough to win,” Conrad said. “We played well defensively and executed well in the fourth and in overtime. But we had lapses early offensively.”
North Penn scored 18 points in the first half, and 26 in the second.
Guiliani led the Knights with 19 points.
“He played well. He just scored. He’s good with his back to the basket,” Conrad said. “We kept trying to feed him the ball.”
Udinski finished with 11, all in the second half and overtime. Ricky Johns had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“He was really good off the glass,” Conrad said.
Lance Ford scored six points on two threes.
Pennridge’s Jon Post dropped 19 points, but sat for most of the second quarter in foul trouble. Kyle Yoder added 10 points. Sean Yoder had nine.
North Penn (10-3, 5-0 SOL) battles CB East Friday night at seven. Pennridge (6-7, 2-4 SOL) plays CR South Saturday afternoon at 1:30, in the SOL Challenge.
North Penn 10-8-13-13-12 56
Pennridge 14-5-12-13-6 50
North Penn (56) – Lance Ford 6, Ricky Johns 14, Chris Coleman 4, Reece Udinski 11, David Giuliani 19, Noah Kwortnik 2.
Pennridge (50) – Sean Yoder 9, Ryan Kinky 5, Kyle Yoder 10, Tyrese Lewis-Eutsey 1, Ryan Cuthbert 6, Jon Post 19.
Souderton 69, William Tennent 28
Souderton pulled away by winning the second quarter 23-3 and the third quarter 22-7.
The Indians led 60-22 after three quarters.
Mike Bealer led Souderton with 25 points.
“He played real well. He’s shooting well the past two games,” Souderton coach Tim Brown said. “He’s been on fire. He’s getting better looks. He’s doing a good job being patient and waiting for open looks.”
Bealer scored 28 points in Souderton’s win over Boyertown Saturday. With 53 points in his last two games, Bealer raised his scoring average from 17.6 to 19.1.
Kaleef Blackwood contributed 11 for the Indians. Antonio Rodriguez and Trevor Watts both scored seven. Nine Souderton players scored.
Pat McCauley led William Tennent with 10 points. Tennent scored less than 10 points in three of four quarters.
“We were active, definitely all over the place, jumping passing lanes,” Brown said. “We played on-ball defense, a lot of pressure and energy.”
Souderton won its second straight game to improve to 5-7.
“Definitely our practices have been better. Everybody brought intensity in practice and that’s translated to games,” Brown said. “We realized if we practiced hard, we could just go out, play and have fun.”
Souderton (5-7, 2-3 SOL) plays Central Bucks South Friday night at seven. William Tennent (2-8, 0-5 SOL) takes on Central Bucks West on the same night and time.
Souderton 15-23-22-9 69
William Tennent 12-3-7-6 28
Souderton (69) – Mike Bealer 25, Kaleef Blackwood 11, Antonio Rodriguez 7, Trevor Watts 7, DJ Landis 5, Jake Groller 4, Noah Horas 4, Kyle Lennon 2, Kavi Ramchandani 5.
Williams Tennent (28) – Pat McCauley 10, Jorge Soto 7, David Gassanova 5, Brendan Carter 2, Ryan Savage 2, Seamus Krier 2.
Central Bucks East 58, Central Bucks South 55 (OT)
Central Bucks East appeared to pull away by winning the second quarter 17-7. The Patriots led 32-21 at halftime.
But CB South won the second half 29-18, forcing overtime. CB East won overtime 8-5, scoring all eight points on free throws.
Matt Pattyson shot 6-of-6 from the line in OT. Collin Stein shot 2-of-2. Pattyson dropped 24 points in the game. Stein added 10. Cooper Fink scored 11. Elijah Seger had eight points and seven rebounds.
Alex Karras led CB South with 19 points, including five threes. Nate Johnston chipped in nine. Andrew Dietz had seven.
CB East (7-6, 3-2 SOL) hosts North Penn Friday night at seven. CB South (3-8, 2-3 SOL) plays Souderton on the same night and time.
Central Bucks South 14-7-15-14-5 55
Central Bucks East 15-17-9-9-8 58
Central Bucks South (55) – Nate Robinson 6, Alex Karras 19, Danny Tecce 5, Nate Johnston 9, Andrew Dietz 7, Colin Sauers 3, Colin Kenney 6.
Central Bucks East (58) – Matt Pattyson 24, Ryan Plack 2, Collin stein 10, Elijah Seger 8, Cooper Fink 11, Nick Roggio 3.
SOL National
Council Rock South 50, Neshaminy 35
This win was classic Council Rock South. 
The Golden Hawks used a balanced attack and stifling defense to pull away from Neshaminy.
Four CR South players—Ryan Boyd (17), Alex Nordenholt (11), Ryan McNamee (nine) and Kevin Newbert (eight)—scored at least eight points.
“In case someone doesn’t have a good night, we always know someone else will,” McNamee said. “We know if we play defense and execute, someone will get a spark going on offense for us.”
“Our mentality is catch and shoot, and we are all scorers,” Nordenholt said. “We are all confident every night.”
Boyd and McNamee—both 6-foot-6 forwards—scored 15 of South’s 22 first half points.
“We took advantage with paint touches,” McNamee said. “We knew coming into the game that we had a height advantage. We made a statement early on, hit the offensive boards.”
“The guards made it a point to get us the ball. It worked,” Boyd said. “We had mismatches.”
Neshaminy did not play anyone taller than 6-foot-4.
Boyd and McNamee both had 10 rebounds. McNamee scored South’s first four points, after Neshaminy took a 6-0 lead.
“It was nice to get a little spark going. We started off cold,” McNamee said. “We definitely needed someone to pick it up. I got some easy baskets off looks from my guards.”
“Mac just gave consistent effort tonight, from start to finish,” South coach Derek Wright said.
South won the second quarter 16-9, pulling ahead for good. Boyd scored nine points in the quarter.
South led for the entire third quarter, but Neshaminy kept it close. But in the fourth, the Hawks ballooned a six-point lead into a 15-point final margin.
Neshaminy tried pressing and double-teaming South ball-handlers in the final minutes. But South always found the open man. Newbert sank two long jumpers after receiving passes out of double teams.
“Sometimes we have four or five shooters on the court, so they can’t really double-team us,” Nordenholt said. “We’ll kick it out and get an open shot. That’s always a positive.”
“That’s what makes us good. A number of guys contribute. When we go four guards like that, we’re tough because we have a number of guys that can shoot it,” Wright said. “We don’t care who gets the praise. We win and lose together.”
South held Neshaminy to single-digit points in three of four quarters, including six in the fourth. Only one Neshaminy player—Chris Arcidiacono—scored in double figures. And he scored 11, 13 points below his season average. 
Arcidiacono made one field goal after the first quarter. South’s sixth man—Christian Jabbar—was responsible for that. Jabbar hounded Arcidiacono in the second and fourth quarters, contesting shots with his long arms.
“I just played defense, you know, got in his head,” Jabbar said. “Got up close, kept clapping. I could tell he was frustrated when he wasn’t getting his buckets.”
“He did exactly what we asked,” Wright said. “Make Arc feel uncomfortable, get over the top of every screen. And he enjoyed doing it. That’s what we need. A guy that takes pride in taking away a team’s best player.”
Wright said it was big to be able to guard Arcidiacono one-on-one.
“We gave a little help,” Wright said. “But we didn’t have to run two guys at him.”
Wright praised Neshaminy after the game.
“Coach (Mark) Tingle and those guys do a great job,” Wright said. “They compete, play hard, they weren’t going to go away. So we had to execute to win it.”
South (9-2, 4-1 SOL) plays Abington Thursday night at seven. Neshaminy (4-6, 2-4 SOL) battles Holy Ghost Prep on the same night and time.
Council Rock South 6-16-13-15 50
Neshaminy 8-9-12-6 35
Council Rock South (50) – Austin Thomas 3, Kyle Meakim 2, Alex Nordenholt 11, Kevin Newbert 8, Ryan McNamee 9, Ryan Boyd 17.
Neshaminy (35) – Zach Tredway 4, Mark Gentry 5, Chris Arcidiacono 11, Anthony Papeo 5, Anthony Verracchio 7, Danny Bodine.
Abington 72, Bensalem 53
Abington led 37-23 at halftime and 54-34 after three quarters.
Abington’s Robbie Heath (25), Eric Dixon (15) and Joseph O’Brien (11) combined for 51 points.
Heath made three threes and shot 6-of-6 from the foul line. He also had five rebounds an five assists. O’Brien corralled 10 rebounds. Dixon grabbed seven.
Abington drilled seven threes and made 17-of-20 (85 percent) free throws. Abington is shooting 72 percent from the line this season.
Ward Roberts led Bensalem with 17 points. Richard Dean and Kris Shields both scored seven.
Abington (10-3, 5-0 SOL) plays CR South Thursday night at seven. Bensalem (6-5, 1-4 SOL) hosts Pennsbury on the same night and time.
Bensalem 12-11-11-19 53
Abington 20-17-17-18 72
Bensalem (53) – Taco Douglas 6, Ward Roberts 17, Rich Dean 7, Austin Squillance 2, Josh Hill 2, Brian Quaterman 5, Nadir Smith 2, Kris Shields 7, Isaiah Carpenter 5.
Abington (72) – Rob Young 5, Robbie Heath 25, Eric Dougherty 5, Lucas Monroe 6, Gary Massey 2, Brian Coffman 3, Joseph O’Brien 11, Eric Dixon 15.
Pennsbury at Harry S. Truman (Postponed)
Pennsbury and Harry S. Truman did not play a basketball game Tuesday night. No makeup date has been set yet.
Pennsbury (7-3, 3-1 SOL) plays Bensalem Thursday night at seven. Truman (6-3, 2-2 SOL) hosts Council Rock North on the same night and time.
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