Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Friday’s SOL boys basketball action. Wissahickon/Cheltenham photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Jarrad Saffren
Sixteen Suburban One League boys basketball teams played league games Friday night.
One—red-hot Central Bucks South—played a nonleague game, against Girard College (Which is not actually a college).
The best SOL teams mostly took care of business, held serve, pick your favorite sports cliche.
But one SOL team that has had a tough season—William Tennent—earned a season-highlight victory Friday night.
Read about all nine games below.
SOL Continental
William Tennent 40, Central Bucks East 38 (OT)
William Tennent earned its first Suburban One League Continental Conference win of 2016-17. The Panthers immigrated from the Suburban One League National Conference in the offseason.
“We got one tonight,” Tennent coach Robert Mulville said. “It felt good.”
Tennent did not just win. It won an overtime thriller against a team that came into Friday with an 11-8 record.
Mulville made two changes recently that led to Friday night’s win.
One: He added zone defenses to confuse opponents, instead of always using man-to-man looks.
“We’ve been working on a couple defenses. We were able to change our looks up tonight,” Mulville said. “We stayed with man but played some zone so they wouldn’t get comfortable.”
Two: He pushed his three-point-loving players to drive more.
“We looked to attack more. We’ve been trying to do that lately,” Mulville said. “We weren’t shooting any foul shots in the beginning of the year. We shot 15 foul shots tonight, which is a good number for us.”
Tennent’s David West led all scorers with 16 points, including two threes in the fourth. He was the only Tennent player to make multiple threes.
Markeith Baxter added 10 points, including “three free throws in the overtime period to help preserve the win,” Mulville said.
Collin Stein led Central Bucks East with 13 points.
With 20 seconds left in regulation, West hit a three to put Tennent up two. Stein answered with a game-tying basket with seven seconds left, forcing overtime, where Tennent outlasted CB East.
The Patriots are 15th in the District One Class 6A Power Rankings. They are 0-2 since the rankings came out on Monday.
Tennent (4-12, 1-8 SOL) plays Pennridge Tuesday night at seven. CB East (11-9, 5-5 SOL) plays CB South next Friday night, February 3, at seven.
Central Bucks West 53, Pennridge 48
Central Bucks West coach Adam Sherman loved his team’s ball movement Friday night.
“That’s what we did best today,” the Bucks’ coach said. “Collin MacAdams was doing a great job attacking. Liam Cooney was finding space on the perimeter. His teammates found him.”
MacAdams (21) and Cooney (16) combined for 37 points. CB West’s Jake Reichwein added 12.
“The three of them played well. Liam really shot well. Collin had a huge first quarter,” Sherman said. “Jake took advantage of opportunities as well.”
Shane McCusker was the only other Bucks player to score, contributing four points. But he did his most important work on Sherman’s favorite side of the ball: defense. McCusker harassed Pennridge’s leading scorer and best player, Sean Yoder, all night.
Yoder scored 13 points Friday night. He averages 17.1.
“Shane did a really good job on him,” Sherman said. “We played with good energy and defended them well all night.”
Ryan Cuthbert led Pennridge with 17 points. Kyle Yoder scored 12. No other Rams player scored more than three.
CB West built a 21-11 lead after one quarter and held on the rest of the night.
CB West is 17th in the D1 6A power rankings and 2-0 since the rankings came out. Pennridge is 19th and 1-1 since Monday.
CB West (11-7, 7-3 SOL) battles Methacton Saturday night at seven. Pennridge (9-9, 4-6 SOL) plays Quakertown on the same night and time.
Central Bucks West 21-11-12-9 53
Pennridge 11-11-11-15 48
Central Bucks West (53) – Shane McCusker 4, Liam Cooney 16, Collin MacAdams 21, Jake Reichwein 12.
Pennridge (48) – Sean Yoder 13, Jake Pestrak 1, Kyle Yoder 12, AJ Demarco 2, Ryan Cuthbert 17, Jon Post 3.
North Penn 55, Souderton 48
North Penn improved to 15-4 overall, 8-1 in league play and continued making a case for a first round bye in the D1 6A playoffs.
The Knights are ninth in the power rankings and 2-0 since Monday. The top eight 6A teams earn byes.
North Penn, also in first-place in the Continental, is in position to win its first league title since 2011.
“We feel pretty fortunate about where we are. We have tremendous senior leadership,” North Penn coach John Conrad said. “Nate O’Donnell, Ricky Johns and Reece Udinski play so many other sports and know how to deal with this, how to go about the process. They can teach some of the younger guys.”
Johns and Udinski were known as football players before this basketball season, and still are. They did, after all, lead North Penn to a District One Class 6A football title. But they are having almost as good of a basketball season, if that’s possible.
The duo combined for 27 points Friday night. Johns led the Knights with 15, including seven free throws. Udinski had 12, including two threes.
There is a third rockstar in this band. David Guiliani grew up in the North Penn School District. But he transferred to Phil-Mont Christian Academy before his sophomore year of high school. He attended and played basketball for Phil-Mont for two seasons, helping the Falcons win the 2016 District One Class A title.
Guiliani transferred back to North Penn for his senior year and basketball season. He, along with his football bandmates, has elevated North Penn to the top of the Continental.
Guiliani scored 12 points Friday night.
“Ricky, Reece and David played well,” Conrad said. “Guiliani wanted to come back and play with his friends.”
North Penn won the first three quarters Friday night. The Knights really woke up in the third.
“The difference was in the third quarter we played a better tempo,” Conrad said. “Defensively we played better and put more pressure on.”
Souderton’s Mike Bealer made three threes and led the Indians with 13 points. Matt Cartwright had 10.
Souderton is 26th in the power rankings and 0-2 since they came out.
North Penn plays CB South Tuesday night at seven. Souderton (7-11, 3-6 SOL) takes on Hatboro-Horsham Monday night at 6:30.
North Penn 14-14-16-11 55
Souderton 11-11-12-14 48
North Penn (55) – Lance Ford 5, AJ Mitchell 5, Ricky Johns 15, Chris Coleman 2, Reece Udinski 12, David Giuliani 12, Noah Kwortnik 4.
Souderton (48) – Mike Bealer 13, Matt Cartwright 10, Jake Groller 2, Tomas Hanrahan 3, DJ Landis 2, Antonio Rodriguez 6, Trevor Watts 6, Noah Horas 7
SOL American
Plymouth Whitemarsh 59, Hatboro-Horsham 45
Clifton Moore and Jay Davis entered Friday averaging 38 points per game for Hatboro-Horsham.
The Hatters need them to score at least that much to win. They only combined for 23 Friday night.
“We defended with high energy all night,” Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Jim Donofrio said. “The guards pressured intelligently. The goal with Hatboro is to pressure those guys and throw them off a little. We put Matt Walker on Moore and Cheo Houston on Davis. The kids figured it out well enough to have a nice lead at the half.”
PW led 16-7 after one quarter and 28-15 at halftime.
“We played well and had a lot of energy from the start. I was impressed with the start. We haven’t had fast starts lately,” Donofrio said. “Plus this was an away game in a tough place against two guys who average 38 combined.”
The Colonials maintained their lead in the second half by playing how they like to play: up-tempo.
“We did it a lot more in the second half,” Donofrio said. “Ahmad Williams and Ahmin Williams shared point guard responsibilities and were very good.”
Five PW players—Ahmad Williams (13), Ish Horn (12), Ahmin Williams (10), Naheem McLeod (nine) and Matt Walker (nine)—scored between nine and 13 points.
Davis led Hatboro-Horsham with 14 points. Khalid Johnson had 11, and Clifton Moore had nine.
PW is second in the 6A rankings and 2-0 since they came out. H-H is 24th and 1-1 this week. Twenty-four teams make the 6A playoffs.
PW (16-2, 11-0 SOL) plays Trinity Saturday night at 6:15. Hatboro-Horsham (10-8, 7-5 SOL) plays Souderton Monday night at 6:30.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 16-12-15-16 59
Hatboro-Horsham 7-8-17-13 45
Plymouth Whitemarsh (59) – Ish Horn 11, Kareem Breedon 4, Naheem McLeod 9, Matt Walker 9, Ahmir Williams 12, Cheo Houston 2, Ahmad Williams 14.
Hatboro-Horsham (45) – Erick Dixon 1, Brandon Crews 1, Chris Edwards 4, Khalid Johnson 11, Clifton Moore 9, Jay Davis 14, Ryan Black 5.
Upper Moreland 62, Quakertown 44
Upper Moreland’s Damian Washington and Shane Stone lit up the scoreboard for the second straight game.
The duo scored 37 points in a win over Springfield-Montco Tuesday night.
They dropped 39 in UM’s win over Quakertown Friday night.
Washington had 20, Stone 19. They scored their points in different ways. Washington made four threes, seven field goals in all, and two free throws. Stone made six two-point field goals and seven free throws.
Washington also hit four threes on Tuesday night.
“They played great,” Golden Bears coach Matt Heiland said. “Quakertown did a good job closing down on Stone, but he had a good game on the glass. The put-backs, and-ones, the nice little inside game.”
Upper Moreland led 30-23 at halftime, maintained its lead in the third and buried Quakertown in the fourth, winning it 20-8.
“We played 32 minutes tonight. We played a great game from start to finish,” Heiland said. “They got the lead down to one a few times, but we led the whole time. This team beat Hatboro last week and hung tight with Cheltenham for three quarters, so we needed to keep playing.”
JR Grimmage led Quakertown with 12 points. Nick Drosnock added nine.
Upper Moreland is 15th in the District One Class 5A Power Rankings and 2-0 since they came out on Monday.
UM (10-8, 5-6 SOL) battles CB South Saturday at noon. Quakertown (4-13, 3-7 SOL) hosts Pennridge Saturday night at seven.
Upper Moreland 11-19-12-20 62
Quakertown 8-15-13-8 44
Upper Moreland (62) – Casey Decker 3, Damian Washington 20, Ryan Coyle 7, Anthony Green 3, Brett Brossman 7, Shane Stone 19, Jake Villanueva 3.
Quakertown (44) – Ryan Howard 6, Jashua Rodriguez 3, Nick Drosnock 9, Dakota Suchanec 8, Kevin Juszynski 3, R Grimmage 12, Eli Ortiz 3.
Wissahickon 62, Cheltenham 42 
Wissahickon is a good team. But this result was still a surprise.
Cheltenham entered the game 9-1 in Suburban One League American Conference play, with its only loss coming to first-place, undefeated-in-league-play PW. Wissahickon came into Friday 6-4 in league play.
But the Trojans very nearly beat the Colonials in both of their meetings. So they were definitely a worthy challenger for the Panthers. They ended up being a tormentor, not just a challenger.
Wissahickon led 16-10 after one quarter but pulled away in the second quarter, winning it 19-6.
"We played one of our better games by putting four quarters of quality basketball together," Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said. "It may have surprised some, but we had PW down 17-5 and 21-10 in both of our games, and we had Cheltenham down 45-31 at their place in the first matchup.
"We have outplayed the top teams in our league for three quarters in all three games. We set our hearts on not having one quarter of letdown, and we accompished that. Cheltenham made a run in the third quarter and cut the lead to 10 or 11, but our kids closed the quarter strong and pushed the lead to 17.
"We also received great energy from our fans: we had our annual 'Silent Night,' and we produced a standing room only crowd in the dome."
Wissahickon won this game with ball movement. It had 14 assists. Seven Trojans had at least one. Max Rapoport led the Trojans with five assists. Zach Reiner had three and Zach Gelman two.
Shane Ford posted a double-double for Wissahickon, with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Rapoport had 19 points, including five threes. He also posted five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
Wissahickon’s Zach Reiner added nine points and seven boards. Chaz Owens pitched in seven points and two blocks.
Cheltenham – 24 hours removed from an emotional win over archrival Abington – shot just 24 percent on two-point field goals, 11 percent on three-pointers and 57 percent on foul shots.
Trevonn Pitts led Cheltenham with 16 points.
Wissahickon is 12th in the D1 5A rankings and 1-1 since Monday. Cheltenham is eighth in the 6A rankings and 2-1 since they came out.
Wissahickon (10-8, 7-4 SOL) plays Liberty Saturday at two. Cheltenham (15-4, 9-2 SOL) battles PW Tuesday night at seven.
Cheltenham 10-6-14-12 42
Wissahickon 16-19-12-15 62
Cheltenham (42) – Trevonn Pitts 16, Jack Clark 6, Jordan Paris 5, Tim Spencer 8, Tim Myarick 2, Rodney Carson 5.
Wissahickon (62) – Max Rapoport 19, Shane Ford 16, Zach Reiner 9, Chaz Owens 7, Marlyn Johnson 6, Donovan Oliphant 4, Zach Gelman 1.
Upper Dublin 62, Springfield-Montco 41
Upper Dublin earned its second SOL American win of 2016-17. Springfield-Montco fell to 0-12 in league play.
The Flying Cardinals raced to a 32-11 halftime lead and never looked back.
"The guys jumped out of the gate quickly," UD coach Josh Adelman said. "We created a lot of pressure defensively in our zone and caused turnovers.
"Jalen Heim and Nyjee Scott were on fire."
The duo combined for seven threes in the first half.
"In the second half, we executed on offense and were forced to make foul shots as we got Springfield in the double bonus by the fourth quarter," Adelman said. "Mike Cottom shot 10-for-10 from the line and handled the pressure from Springfield well.
"It was a total team effort, and we played four quarters tonight. I'm very pleased with the guys. They have continued to practice hard and work through a tough season. Despite our record, we are improving every day at practice and in games. Tonight was a nice reward for their hard work."
Upper Dublin (2-15, 2-8 SOL) hosts Hatboro-Horsham Tuesday night at seven. Springfield-Montco (2-16, 0-12 SOL) plays Quakertown on the same night and time.
SOL National
Abington 65, Harry S. Truman 47
Abington won every quarter and clinched its fifth straight SOL National title.
The Ghosts are 10-0 in SOL National play in 2016-17, with two National games left. Abington is 64-2 in league play since the start of the 2012-13 season.
The SOL National continued to be a dynastic league in general. Pennsbury won five straight SOL National titles from 2006-2010. Council Rock North won three straight from 2010-2012.
Joe O’Brien had a big game for the Ghosts Friday night, putting up 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Eric Dixon scored a very efficient 24 points, shooting 10-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line.
Robert Young had 12 points on four threes (4-of-7 from three-point range). He also grabbed six rebounds. Robbie Heath had seven points and five assists. Lucas Monroe had five points and five assists.
Abington shot 50 percent from the field (27-of-54) and pulled down 40 rebounds.
ZJ Jackson led Harry S. Truman with 12 points. Jeff Nixon scored eight points.
Abington is fourth in the 6A rankings and 2-1 this week. Truman is 25th and 0-3 since Monday.
Abington (16-4, 10-0 SOL) plays Bensalem Thursday night at seven. Truman (8-10, 2-7 SOL) hosts Neshaminy Tuesday night at 6:30.
Abington 21-13-19-12 65
Harry S. Truman 13-11-16-7 47
Harry S Truman (47) – Jeff Nixon 8, Danell Snelling 4, Mike Phillips 4, Rasheid Newkirk 2, Marvel rogers 4, Zierr Reid 5, ZJ Jackson 12, Javier Peterson 3, Rodgers 2, Gabe Gigli 3.
Abington (65) – Eric Dixon 24, Robbie Heath 7, Joseph O’Brien 11, Lucas Monroe 5, Robert Young 12, Eric Dougherty 4, Brandon Coffman 2.
Nonleague
Central Bucks South 71, Girard College 60
CB South won its sixth straight game.
“We had a good game tonight,” CB South coach Jason Campbell said. “The guys stuck to the game plan. Girard is very young but very talented.”
Four Titans players—Alex Karras (18), Nate Robinson (17), Dan Tecce (12) and Andrew Dietz (12)—scored in double figures.
Campbell implemented a new play that freed up his shooters Friday night.
“We tried different screening in the interior. Our guy would catch on the foul line. If he didn’t have a shot, he’d have a guy on the low block,” Campbell said. “We got good interior looks even though they had size on us. And we got kick-outs from it. Karras was able to knock down three-point shots.”
The Titans are 21st in the 6A power rankings and 2-0 since they came out.
“Guys look forward to playing lately. Each win is helpful,” Campbell said. “A loss would be hurtful because there’s so much movement in the top 24. You’re more likely to move down with a loss than up with a win.”
CB South (9-9, 5-4 SOL) plays Upper Moreland Saturday at noon.
“Upper Moreland’s a solid team,” Campbell said. “They can shoot well. They are also scrappy like us.”
Central Bucks South 13-17-21-20 71
Girard College 15-16-13-16 60
Central Bucks South (71) – Alex Karras 18, Nate Robinson 17, Danny Tecce 12, Nate Johnston 8, Andrew Dietz 12, Ian McCaw 2, Colin Kenney 2.
Girard College (60) – Toliver 14, Smith 2, Jones 20, Copeland 22, Logan 2.
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