Jarrad Saffren recaps the 10 games in Saturday’s SOL Challenge. Souderton/Bensalem and CB West/Wissahickon games provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Cheltenham/CR South photos provided courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Jarrad Saffren
Saturday was not just Eagles game day in the Philadelphia area. It was also SOL Challenge day, the annual event that pits boys’ basketball teams from different SOL conferences against each other.
There were 10 SOL Challenge games in all, featuring 20 of 22 SOL teams. The results and recaps are below.
SOL Challenge/Non-League
Central Bucks East 56, Pennsbury 41
Central Bucks East coach Erik Henrysen used a six-man rotation on Saturday, and it worked. All six players contributed in a game East controlled from the opening tip.
Nick Roggio (17), Ben Markowitz (10) and Leo Masterson (10) carried the scoring load for the Patriots. Jesse Rivera had seven points and seven rebounds. Collin Stein posted six points, six boards, three assists and two steals.
“We just put together a six-man rotation and they all contributed. Roggio benefited from the pressure, getting dump downs,” Henrysen said. “But to single out one guy wouldn’t be fair. All six guys who got significant minutes contributed equally.”
East scored between 14 and 16 points in each of the first three quarters, and held Pennsbury to six points in both the first and fourth. “
They come out and try to pressure you and turn you over. We handled their pressure and found easy baskets. We just moved the ball, shared the ball, and played CB East basketball,” Henrysen said. “We keyed on a couple of their guys defensively – (Collin) Connor and (Raylil) Winton (Law), and tried to make sure they weren’t able to burn us. We did a good job on Connor. When those two guys don’t score, we felt we’d be in a good spot.”
Raylil Winton led Pennsbury with 14 points.
CB East (9-4, 3-2 SOL) plays CB South on Tuesday night at seven. Pennsbury (6-6, 2-2 SOL) battles Harry S. Truman on the same night and time.
Pennsbury 6-14-15-6 41
Central Bucks East 14-16-15-11 56
Pennsbury (41) – Jake Martell 5, Collin Connor 2, Raylil Winton 14, Josh Arruda 6, Chad Weldon 7, Kyrie Miller 1, Gary Francis 6.
Central Bucks East (56) – Nick Roggio 17, Kyle Cassidy 6, Collin Stein 6, Jesse Rivera 7, Ben Markowitz 10, Leo Masterson 10.
Central Bucks West 58, Wissahickon 55 (OT)
CB West did not start its Friday night game against Souderton until close to 9 p.m. A humidity issue in West’s gym forced a venue change to CB South, and the Bucks and Indians had to wait for the CB South girls’ game to finish before they could start. After the ordeal, CB West fell to Souderton 47-41. Then the Bucks played another game, against Wissahickon, at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. They gutted out an overtime win over a very good Trojans team. 
“It was huge for us to win. We were disappointed with our loss the night before,” said West coach Adam Sherman. “Two games in less than 12 hours. In that situation, we played really well. It was two different teams from last night and today.”
In overtime, Davis Zerweck hit two free throws to put the Bucks up by three. With 13 seconds left, Wissahickon ran a couple screens beyond the three-point line. But West switched onto the ball-handler each time, preventing an open look.
“They didn’t get a great look,” Sherman said.
The shot bounced off the rim and onto the hardwood.
Zerweck, a reserve, scored 10 points in extended minutes.
“We were down four with four minutes left, closed the gap and got a two-point lead. Zerweck was the hot hand. He’s a reserve and we stuck with him,” Sherman said. “But it was a balanced effort. We had a lot of guys do a nice job.”
Jake Reichwein led CB West with 13 points. Jack Mulhearn added 11. Jack Neri, Shane McCusker and Mika Munari scored seven, six and six, respectively.
Max Rapoport (25) and Eddie Fortescue (17) scored 42 of Wissahickon’s 55 points. Anthony Lawrence had seven rebounds.
CB West (9-4, 4-2 SOL) plays William Tennent on Friday night at seven. Wissahickon (8-4, 4-2 SOL) battles Springfield Township on Tuesday night at seven.
Central Bucks West 16-11-8-17-6 58
Wissahickon 20-4-17-11-3 55
Central Bucks West (58) – Shane McCusker 6, Mika Munari 6, Davis Zerweck10, Jack Mulhearn 11, Collin MacAdams 5, Jake Reichwein 13, Jack Neri 7.
Wissahickon (55) – Max Rapoport 25, Eddie Fortescue 17, Anthony Lawrence 5, Cole Hirsch 4, Zach Reiner 2, Donovan Oliphant 2.
Abington 81, North Penn 62
Abington won its third straight game and improved to 7-2. North Penn tried to pack the paint against Abington standout Eric Dixon, so Dixon found open teammates outside, and they made North Penn pay. Abington’s Robbie Heath (21) and Lucas Monroe (11) both scored in double figures. They forced North Penn to respect Dixon’s teammates, opening the lane for the big fella, who still led Abington with 25 points. He also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
“Teams are starting to key on Dixon. They collapsed on him and our guards made shots,” said Abington coach Charles Grasty. “We have really good shooters, and once we get our confidence at a level we need it to be, we can really be dangerous. We got to our spots and made shots.”
Abington’s Maurice Henry and Darius Brown added seven and five points, respectively. The Galloping Ghosts built a 28-16 lead in the first quarter and maintained their lead the rest of the way.
“We played well. We had a lot of energy in the first quarter. We thought our size could hurt them, and we got it inside and our guards made shots,” Grasty said. “We are just trying to get better as a whole.”
Grasty was very pleased with Heath on Saturday.
“He’s one of the best players in the state, but he gets overlooked. He doesn’t do a lot of AAU stuff. He’s known district wide but not state wide,” Grasty said. “We didn’t feel they had the size or speed to match up with him. He was also efficient, taking 12 shots.”
While Heath connected on 8-of-12 shots from the floor, Dixon was 8-for-11 in a contest that saw Abington shoot a blistering 64 percent from the floor (25-for-39). The Ghosts were 8-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Monroe led the Ghosts under the backboards with 12 rebounds to finish with a double-double
Chris Coleman and AJ Mitchell led North Penn with 19 and 16 points, respectively.
Abington (7-2, 4-0 SOL) plays Bensalem on Tuesday night at seven. North Penn (6-6, 2-3 SOL) takes on Pennridge on the same night and time.
Abington 28-19-14-20 81
North Penn 16-17-8-21 62
Abington (81) – Maurice Henry 5, Robbie Heath 23, Darius Brown 5, Derek Sussman 2, Lucas Monroe 11, Dante Knox 4, Bryan Coffman 3, JP Nolan 3, Eric Dixon 25.
North Penn (62) – Tali McIver 3, AJ Mitchell 14, Joey Lindsay 7, Chris Caputo 8, David Robinson 6, Chris Coleman 16, Mike Chafee 2, Nathan Hartman 1, Solomon Robinson 2, Matt Swanson 2.
Central Bucks South 38, Hatboro-Horsham 35
Central Bucks South led by three near the end of the fourth quarter. It had a chance to close the game with a free throw, but missed. Hatboro-Horsham got the rebound, called time, inbounded, worked the ball to the corner and missed a corner three. It was Hatboro-Horsham’s second missed three in the final minute.
“They had chances to tie it up but we played solid defense,” said CB South coach Jason Campbell. “It was a good defensive matchup. We had looks but were off today.”
CB South’s Tommy Kuypers led all scorers with 14 points. Nate Robinson and Ian McCaw added nine and six, respectively.
“Tommy Kuypers played great. His game was fantastic – mid-range jumpers and hit a three,” Campbell said. “He made some nice moves in the post. He was the best player on the floor for both teams.”
The game was tied at 23 after three quarters. Then CB South scored 15 in the fourth alone, to Hatboro-Horsham’s 12.
“I made an adjustment against the zone,” Campbell said. “We had a guy in the high post and waited for opposite cutters to come through, and got a bucket or a foul.”
CB South won this game with defense, and it got better as the game went on.
“In the second half, we pressed more, which led to a few turnovers. That helped our man to man, which was strong all game,” Campbell said. “We backed off when we took a lead because we didn’t want to give up over the top passes out of the traps.”
Erick Dixon led Hatboro-Horsham with 13 points, and Chris Edwards added nine.
CB South (9-3, 5-0 SOL) hosts CB East on Tuesday night at seven. Hatboro-Horsham (5-7, 2-4 SOL) plays Cheltenham on the same night and time.
Central Bucks South (38) – Cole Prezelski 2, Nate Robinson 9, Jack Johns 3, Alex Dietz 2, Mark Kannengieszer 2, Tommy Kuypers 14, Ian McCaw 6.
Hatboro-Horsham (35) – Erick Dixon 13, Chris Edwards 9, Solomon McNair 2, Khalid Johnson 5, Kyle Hogan 6.
Upper Moreland 58, Harry S. Truman 45
Upper Moreland improved to .500, 6-6, with this win. Ryan Coyle led the Golden Bears with 21 points. Beau Woollens, Christian O’Donnell and Tyler Ibbotson added 11, nine and seven, respectively.
“It was a gutsy performance from us. We had a tough loss to Wissahickon last night and we responded,” said Upper Moreland coach Sean Feeley. “A couple guys are injured and played through it. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
“In the beginning Coyle was trying to force, but we talked to him at halftime and he started to calm down in the second half,” Feeley added. “Beau Woollens is a sophomore and he’s always the smallest guy on the court, 5-foot-7, 120 pounds. He has improved his jump shot, is fearless and a crafty kid. He’s going to be a really good player.”
Brett Brossman normally scores a lot for Upper Moreland. But he played a different role on Saturday.
“We asked him to play a huge defensive role on one of Truman’s best players, and he did really well,” Feeley said.
Upper Moreland (6-6, 2-3 SOL) hosts Upper Dublin on Tuesday night at seven. Truman (5-6, 1-3 SOL) plays Pennsbury on the same night and time.
Upper Moreland (58) – Beau Woollens 11, Christian O’Donnell 9, Ryan Coyle 21, Brett Brossman 5, Tyler Ibbotson 7, Jake Villanueva 5.
Pennridge 54, Upper Dublin 33
Pennridge held Upper Dublin to eight points or less in each of the first three quarters, building a 36-20 lead going into the fourth. The Rams then won the fourth 18-13. Sean Yoder (11), Jon Post (11) and Tyrese Lewis (10) all scored in double figures for Pennridge. Mike Molettiere added eight.
“There wasn’t a lot of energy in the gym because we were playing during the Eagles game,” said Pennridge coach Dean Behrens. “We got off to a good start and played great defense in the second half. Our help defense was good, on ball was good, so I was really pleased with that.”
“Tyrese Lewis was really good for us. He blocked a bunch of shots, rebounded the ball. Sean Yoder controlled the game as a point guard. We ask him to do so much,” Behrens added. “Mike Molettiere hit some threes, which loosened us up because we’ve been having trouble putting the ball in the basket.”
Pennridge (9-4, 2-2 SOL) hosts North Penn on Tuesday night at seven. Upper Dublin (3-10, 2-4 SOL) plays Upper Moreland on the same night and time.
Pennridge 16-5-15-18 54
Upper Dublin 6-8-6-13 33
Pennridge (54) – John Dominic 3, Sean Yoder 11, Brett Henofer 3, Christian Guldin 6, Mike Molettiere 8, Tyrese Lewis 10, Colin Post 2, Jon Post 11.
Upper Dublin (33) – Jason Williams 5, Nyjee Scott 6, Ian McGoonagle 6, Derrick Lawson 2, Corby Watkins 6, Brian Kammer 4, Cory Stover 2, Brian McCarry 2.
William Tennent 59, Quakertown 57
William Tennent trailed 37-32 at halftime, but won the second half 27-20, improving to 5-7. Dave West (20), Markeith Baxter (12) and Pat McCauley (10) all scored in double figures for the Panthers. Derrik Cosenza had six points and six rebounds, five defensive.
West hit two free throws to put Tennent up five with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Then Quakertown hit a three at the buzzer, making the final look closer than it was.
“Our effort was real good again and we were better with our execution at the end. We didn’t execute well late against Pennridge’s pressure last night,” said Tennent coach Robert Mulville. “Cosenza gave us good defensive stops at the end.”
West buried four threes for Tennent. Baxter scored all 12 of his points in the second half. McCauley scored all 10 of his in the first half.
Tennent point guards Michael Mulville and Ben Satz both had six assists.
“We also got decent play from both our point guards,” Mulville said. “They did a nice job distributing the ball.”
Eli Ortiz and Matt Lucas had 17 and 16 points for Quakertown, respectively. Matt Catalano added 12 points.
Tennent (5-7, 0-5 SOL) plays Souderton on Tuesday night at seven. Quakertown (4-8, 2-3 SOL) battles Plymouth Whitemarsh on the same night and time.
William Tennent 19-13-15-12 59
Quakertown 21-16-7-13 57
William Tennent (59) – Ben Satz 2, Pat McCauley 12, Michael Mulville 3, Nick Meltzer, Dave West 20, Derrik Cosenza 6.
Quakertown (57) – Jon Rey 2, Eli Ortiz 17, Kevin Juszynski 3, Grey Mitchell 7, Matt Lucas 16, Matt Catalano 12.
Cheltenham 69, Council Rock South 54
Cheltenham took a 38-31 lead into halftime, won the third quarter 19-11 and maintained a double-digit lead through the fourth. The Panthers improved to 8-2 overall.
Cheltenham’s Jack Clark had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Ahmad Bickley posted 17 points and nine assists. Kyin Healey scored 11.
Clark got to the game at tipoff because he was at his grandfather’s funeral.
“He gave us everything he had, and we were fortunate to have him because we needed him,” said Cheltenham coach John Timms.
Shawn Blank (18), Christian Jabbar (17) and Kyle Meakim (10) combined for 45 of CR South’s 54 points.
“We had a little sluggish start. We went in at halftime and regrouped and got focused on the defensive end,” Timms said. “Jabbar had 14 of his 17 points in the first half. We told Bickley to switch on to him, and that was pretty much the difference. Bickley guarded him the rest of the way, and everyone else focused in. We were fortunate to get away with a win.”
Cheltenham gutted out a win less than 24 hours after losing to PW.
“It was a tough spot to play in. Everyone needed to get up, even the coaching staff and the players,” Timms said. “Council Rock South was ready. They understood we were in a rough spot, and they were ready to take advantage of it.”
Cheltenham (8-2, 4-1 SOL) plays Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday night at seven. CR South (2-8, 1-3 SOL) meets Neshaminy on the same night and time.
Cheltenham 20-18-19-12 69
Council Rock South 17-14-11-12 54
Cheltenham (69) – Amir Lewis 5, Zahree Harrison 6, Ahmad Bickley 17, Tim Myarick 2, Jack Clark 16, Brandon Scott 2, Domanik Polk 6, Terrance McCall 2, Kyin Healey 11, Lonce Scott 2.
Council Rock South (54) – Trey Irvin 2, Kyle Meakim 10, Christian Jabbar 17, Shawn Blank 18, Esteban Gomez 4, Zach Schade 2, Spencer Haun 1.
Council Rock North 59, Springfield Township 55
Matt McAlister dropped 27 points to lead CR North to its fourth win of the season (4-7). McAlister scored 14 of his 27 in the fourth. Brady Haggerty and DJ Mischak added 10 and eight points, respectively.
Springfield’s Quentin Johnson led all scorers with 26 points – 12 in the first half and 14 in the second. Ray Ebner added seven points and DeJuan Waters had six.
North built a 35-25 halftime advantage and held its lead throughout the second half.
The Indians (4-7, 1-4 SOL) play Penn Wood on Monday at noon. Springfield Township (2-7, 0-5 SOL) hosts Wissahickon on Tuesday night at seven.
Council Rock North 18-17-8-16 59
Springfield Township 15-10-10-20 55
Council Rock North (59) – DJ Mischak 8, Harry Wyatt 2, Justin Walton 2, James Duffy 5, Brady Haggerty 10, Matt McAlister 27, Fisher 2, Hunter Wan 3.
Springfield Township (55) – Quentin Johnson 26, Ajai Heath 2, Ben Rittenhouse 4, DeJuan Waters 6, Wilson Krewson 2, Ryan Deal 3, Ray Ebner 7.
Bensalem 52, Souderton 42
Bensalem won its fourth straight game and improved to 7-5. The Owls led by at least five at the end of every quarter. James Leible and Ward Roberts led the Owls with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Kavi Ramchandani (13) and Tomas Hanrahan (10) both scored in double figures for Souderton.
Bensalem (7-5, 3-2 SOL) hosts Abington on Tuesday night at seven. Souderton (4-7, 1-3 SOL) plays Tennent on the same night and time.
Souderton 4-14-4-20 42
Bensalem 9-16-7-20 52
Souderton (42) – Kavi Ranchandani 13, Tomas Hanrahan 10, Andrew Vince 6, Stephen Luchansky 3, Antonio Rodriguez 2, Williams 7, Natale 1.
Bensalem (52) – Taco Douglas 4, Ward Roberts 13, Keith Parrish 2, James Leible 15, Lamont Hasker 8, Carlos Gonzalez 4, Nick Fossile 4, Mohammed Jabathen 2.
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