Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Thursday. Abington/HH photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL Patriot Division
NESHAMINY 68, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 45
The Redskins rolled to their seventh win without a loss, seizing control of a close game with a 20-6 second quarter tear to go into halftime with a 37-20 lead over the visiting Golden Hawks.
“We had a lot of scoring tonight – we had two players who had double figures and three players had nine points,” Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle said. “In the second quarter, we got in the passing lanes and had a lot of steals, a lot of turnovers that we converted.
“We usually have a big quarter, but it’s usually the third quarter. It’s nice to get one earlier.”
Jake McGinty’s nine first-half points led the Redskins.
“He actually had a floater from 3-point land to send us into the half,” Tingle said. “That was another big momentum swing.”
Mike Murray’s 16 points – 10 in the second half – led the Redskins. He also had seven rebounds. Jimmy MacDonald added 11 points, including a 5-for-6 effort at the foul line. Three players finished with nine points – McGinty, Matt Drapkin and Sean Curley (three 3-pointers). McGinty filled a stat sheet, also contributing seven rebounds and six steals. Drapkin also dished out six assists.
“We share the ball a lot, and it’s really nice to see,” Tingle said. “On any given night, we have a different leading scorer.
“We had balanced scoring tonight. Guys off the bench contributed. Evan Esposito wound up with five points, but he came in and had four assists off the bench. “Between sharing the ball and playing defense, it’s a fun team to coach. You can just tell they’re having fun playing, and that’s a nice thing to see.”
Neshaminy (7-0, 6-0 SOL) will be on the road at North Penn for a non-league game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Council Rock South (4-4, 3-3) will travel to Council Rock North on Tuesday.
Council Rock South 14-6-10-15 45
Neshaminy 17-20-11-20 68
Council Rock South (45) – Zach Schwartz 1 3-4 5; Stephen Dosa 1 3-3 5; Joey Purcell 7 1-1 15; Anthony Burns 0 0-1 0; Colin Martin 4 0-0 11; Shane Dawson 1 0-0 2; Gavin Holloran 3 0-0 7; TOTALS 17 7-9 45.
Neshaminy (68) – Jimmy MacDonald 3 5-6 11; Jake McGinty 4 0-0 9; Mason Getz 2 0-0 4; Matt Drapkin 4 0-0 9; Kade Benjamin 1 0-0 2; Evan Esposito 2 0-0 5; Mike Murray 8 0-0 16; Tom Mullin 1 1-2 3; Sean Curley 3 0-0 9; TOTALS 28 6-8 68.
3-point goals: CRS – Colin Martin 3, Gavin Holloran, Neshaminy – Sean Curley 3, Jake McGinty, Matt Drapkin, Evan Esposito.
SOL Liberty Division
ABINGTON 69, HATBORO-HORSHAM 35
The Ghosts are looking to put their 0-2 start in the rearview mirror, and they certainly took a step in that direction with a no-doubt-about it win at Hatboro-Horsham.
“My assistant coach – Gary Massey – and I were talking on the bench, and he made a good point. He said. ‘If teams don’t understand the importance of preseason, hopefully, now they will,’ and that’s where we are,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “We are a little behind. We’re getting it though.
“Our first two games we played two tough opponents, but I thought we were in preseason mode and didn’t understand what it takes to play hard for the full 32 minutes. It’s true – preseason is important.”
The Ghosts took care of business in a hurry, opening up a 20-12 lead after one quarter and extending that to 39-20 by halftime, allowing Grasty to go deep down his bench in the second half.
Thirteen of 14 players who saw action were in the scoring column. Devin Barnes did not score but had a pair of rebounds and a blocked shot off the bench. The Ghosts connected on 23-of-52 shots from the field (44.2 percent), and they lit it up from beyond the arc, connecting on 7-of-9 in the first half and finishing 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) from long distance for the game. Equally impressive was the Ghosts 14-for-17 showing at the foul line (82.3 percent).
The difference in the team’s performance in its last two wins, according to Grasty, could be summed up in one word.
“Effort,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “I feel like we’ve had a lot of talent since day one, but you play against each other for three weeks in practice, and you feel like you’re going hard, but then you get in a game, and it’s like – ‘Whoa, maybe I wasn’t playing that hard.
“You’re tired of playing against the same guys, and every team is in the same boat. I think those first two games definitely woke us up and made us realize we’re not playing as hard as we thought we were.
“All of our guys are unselfish – it wasn’t a selfish problem, it wasn’t that they weren’t familiar with each other. We have a pretty senior-laden bunch. They all know each other, love each other and hang out. That wasn’t the problem. It was just bringing it all together, watching film, correcting a few things. They bought in. They understand.”
Oreck Frazier led a balanced Ghost attack with 15 points, which included a pair of 3-pointers. He also had three steals. Rob Bell finished with 13 points and five assists.
“Oreck Frazier understands – he just wants to win,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “He doesn’t care about points or rebounds or anything. Oreck gets it.
“Oreck and Rob Bell have been with the team the longest, and they’re pulling the troops in. Oreck actually called me after our PW game and said he was going to try and bring the guys together and practice harder and be a leader. That’s what we needed.”
Also for the Ghosts, Sam McFarlane connected on a pair of three’s for six points to go along with three steals. Antoine Ellis added six points and three steals. Derrius Lucas led the Ghosts with four rebounds.
All told, the Ghosts had 15 steals and only five turnovers – three of those turnovers came in the last two minutes of the game when the starters were on the bench.
For the Hatters, Eric Butler’s 12 points led the way. He scored eight of those in the first quarter to keep his team within striking distance. Noah Schlosser added seven while Kyle Dittus and Zehier Cheeze both chipped in six points.
Abington (2-2 SOL) will be on the road at Upper Dublin Friday, and Hatboro-Horsham (2-2) will travel to Wissahickon Friday.
Abington 20-19-22-8 69
Hatboro-Horsham 12-8-8-7 35
Abington (69) – Jimmy Marino 1 0-0 3; Antoine Ellis 2 0-0 6; Sam McFarlane 3 0-0 8; Oreck Frazier 5 3-4 15; Rob Bell 4 4-5 13; Nate Willis 0 3-4 3; Connor Fields 1 0-0 2; Derrius Lucas 2 0-0 4; Kahjel Morris 1 2-2 4; Fhenyx Scutt 1 2-2 4; Karim Boyd 1 0-0 2; Aiden Boyles 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 23 14-17 69.
Hatboro-Horsham (35) – Eric Butler 5 1-2 12; Kyle Dittus 2 0-0 6; Noah Schlosser 2 3-4 7; Zehier Cheeze 3 0-0 6; Sam Smith 1 0-0 2; Joshua Spruill 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 13 6-8 35.
3-point goals: Abington – Antoine Ellis 2, Sam McFarlane 2, Oreck Frazier 2, Rob Bell, Aiden Boyles, Jimmy Marino, HH – Kyle Dittus 2, Eric Butler.
Non-league
WISSAHICKON 53, SOUDERTON 38
The Trojans burst out of the starting gate to five straight wins but then hit a rough patch, dropping three straight. They brought a welcome end to that three-game skid with a non-league win over the visiting Indians.
“We played the four games so well, and I’m sure the people on the outside might say, ‘Oh, they were weaker opponents,’” coach Kyle Wilson said. “In the last three games, we just haven’t been playing really well on either side of the ball.
“As a coach, you always say, ‘What can we improve?’ Let’s at least improve our continuity on offense, let’s at least improve sealing penetration on defense, and for three games, we weren’t doing much of anything that much better. We were playing better against each opponent, but it’s tough to see it when you still come out with a loss.”
The Trojans – behind seven points from Matt Compas and a pair of Jackson Intrieri three’s – led 17-13 after one quarter. Aleks Smith kept the Indians close with six points in the frame.
The Trojans allowed just two points in the second quarter and put the game out of reach in the middle two quarters, outscoring their visitors 25-10 to go on top 42-23.
“I thought our guys tonight played really good defense,” Wilson said. “To only hold them to 15 in the first half was good. They’ve got size, they’ve got talent, they’re not a bad team even though their record might say something different.
“They’re a hardworking, well-coached team. It was nice to get that win. It was important for our guys.”
Matt Compas turned in a routinely excellent performance with 22 points, including a pair of three’s. His nine points sparked a 17-8 Trojan third quarter. Intrieri added 11 points, and Stefan Lowry had six.
“I thought we had good balance,” Wilson said. “Matt is always one who gets his scoring, but there were a lot of guys that contributed.
“Right after our loss to Upper Dublin, we lost Morgan Wilson, one of our starters, who dislocated his shoulder, so he’s been out for a few games. We went with Earl Stout, who’s a sophomore point guard and is a really solid player, and he had a groin injury. It was like next man up.”
Phil Dias was the next man up, stepping into the point guard spot Thursday.
“I give a lot of credit to him,” Wilson said. “He doesn’t do a lot of things you’ll see in the scorebook, but he makes the little assist, he makes the steal here and there. He’s a really good floor general. He’s vocal and he’s a long athletic kid. I thought he was a good settling force in our game tonight.
“On offense, he made sure Matt (Compas) got his touches and Jackson (Intrieri) got the ball in his right spots, and he looked inside to (Josh) Twersky and some of the other guys when he needed to. Sometimes you need a guy who’s a glue guy, and I thought tonight he was one of those glue guys.
“I remember talking to (men’s basketball coach) John Baron at Gwynedd Mercy, and he said, ‘Sometimes you need a guy who’s a DORK.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘It’s a good acronym – a guy who plays defense, doesn’t care about offense, rebounds and he knows his role.’ Phil was DORKy for us tonight – he defended, didn’t care about offense, rebounded, and he knew who to get the ball to. A credit to him.”
For the Indians, Chris Towsen led the way with 12 points, which included two 3-pointers and a 6-for-7 effort at the foul line. Evan Kutzler contributed 11 points, and Smith finished with nine.
“This is a tough season for coaches,” Wilson said. “I think the players love it because they’re playing, playing, playing. As coaches, you like to have a few practices to tweak things or change something. For tonight and tomorrow, yesterday’s practice was – ‘Here’s what this team looks like, here’s what the other team looks like, let’s get ready for two nights in a row of basketball.’”
Wissahickon (6-3, 2-2 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham in Friday’s Senior Night game, and Souderton (1-5, 1-4) will travel to Central Bucks South on Friday.
Souderton 13-2-8-15 38
Wissahickon 17-8-17-11 53
Souderton (38) – Evan Kutzler 5 1-1 11; Shaun Purvy 10-0 2; Chris Towsen 2 6-7 12; James Blair 0 1-4 1; Aleks Smith 4 1-1 9; TOTALS 13 10-15 38.
Wissahickon (53) – Matt Compas 10 0-0 22; Josh Twersky 2 1-2 5; Ryan Friedman 1 0-0 3; Jackson Intrieri 4 1-2 11; Stefan Lowry 3 0-0 6; Phillip Dias 1 0-0 2; Will Kunzier 2 0-1 4; TOTALS 23 2-5 53.
3-point goals: Souderton – Chris Towsen, Wissahickon – Matt Compas 2, Jackson Intrieri 2, Ryan Friedman.
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