Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Saturday. PW/CB West photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery.
SOL Patriot Division
BENSALEM 67, HARRY S TRUMAN 60
James Ashford and Aaron Sanders were double trouble for the Tigers, combining for 28 points. Ashford led all scorers with 21 points while Sanders had 17.
“Aaron and James – they’re going to do what they’re going to do,” Bensalem coach Ron Morris said. “Jake DeLange had a good day offensively and defensively, rebounding. He made some mid-range shots.
“They were mixing up all different types of zones, so we knew we had to make shots, and Jake really made some big buckets at crucial times. We hit a few 3s, and we rebounded decently.”
DeLange, a junior, finished with nine points in a contest that saw the Owls, who led 14-11 after one quarter, take control with a 24-point second quarter to go into halftime with a 38-29 advantage. Ashford’s nine points led the Owls in the second quarter.
“Truman’s playing well,” Morris said. “I know they don’t have a win, but coach (Tyrone) Lewis does a great job. They’re a much better team than the first time we played them. What’s impressive is their offense. They move the ball really well. Teams like that are tough to defend. They make that extra pass, they make you run, and they rebound very well.
“Back-to-back games – it’s a tough team to play against, a team that moves the ball and rebounds real well.”
In the second half, the two teams exchanged baskets.
“Allen Myers, a big guy for us, gave us some big minutes today,” Morris said. “He’s coming along. It’s just that whole unique game experience, and Allen is the one that’s starting to get it. He’s been working really hard at practice. He did really well.
“Our guard play has been good. Eric Gonzalez (six points) is good with the ball. Matt Ebner came in and gave us some big minutes. We played 12 guys today. We’re trying to rotate guys in to stay fresh. Especially on the back-to-back games, it’s tough to have a game at night and then you play in the afternoon the next day. Everyone has to be ready on any given day.”
Tarnue Collins led the Tigers with 21 points, and Makai Jackson added 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Ethan Flail had 11.
“Number one (Collins) was awesome,” Morris said. “He’s athletic, and he was finishing around the rim. He was rebounding like crazy.
“Number five (Flail) is very creative. He’s tough to defend because he can shoot, he can drive, he has some good moves where you’re with him and all of a sudden you lose him, and he finishes at the rim. Truman is better than their record says, and those two kids really stood out to us.”
Bensalem (6-5, 5-2 SOL) will travel to Council Rock South on Tuesday, and Harry S Truman (0-8) will be on the road at Pennsbury on Tuesday.
Harry S Truman 11-18-19-12 60
Bensalem 14-24-17-12 67
Harry S Truman (60) – Robert Winton 1 0-0 2; Tarnue Collins 7 7-13 21; KayShawn Clark 1 0-0 2; Ethan Flail 5 0-0 11; TreyShawn Clark 1 0-0 2; Makai Jackson 5 0-0 13; Tyriq Montgomery 2 0-0 4; Christian Culver 2 0-0 5; TOTALS 24 7-13 60.
Bensalem (67) – Eric Gonzalez 2 0-0 6; Tra Edwards 1 0-0 3; Aaron Sanders 5 6-9 17; James Ashford 9 2-4 21; Rahul Kohli 1 0-0 3; Jake DeLange 4 1-1 9; Allen Myers 1 0-0 2; Lous Rodriguez 0 0-2 0; Luke Zeidler 1 2-2 4; Jack Wineburg 1 0-1 2; TOTALS 25 11-19 67.
3-point goals: HST – Makai Jackson 3, Ethan Flail, Christian Culver; Bensalem – Eric Gonzalez 2, Tra Edwards, Aaron Sanders, James Ashford, Rahul Kohli.
Non-league
UPPER MORELAND 53, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 44
The Golden Bears found themselves on the short end of a 24-16 halftime score in Saturday’s non-league game but outscored the visiting Golden Hawks 37-19 in the second half to earn the win.
“Council Rock South did a great job of playing at their pace and their tempo,” UM coach Dan Heiland said. “When we tried to pick up the pace and put some pressure on them, they did a great job of breaking it and getting into things they wanted to do to be successful.
“Our bench was huge in the second half. McKie Walker and Ryan Schernecke came off the bench and gave us a spark, and that really was what propelled us in the second half.”
The Golden Bears limited the Hawks to just six points in the third quarter, but they still trailed by just one heading into the final frame, 30-29. They closed it out with an impressive 24-point fourth quarter.
“In the fourth quarter, anyone who played – it was a great effort out of the whole team,” Heiland said. “Everyone was patient, letting the game come to them rather than forcing it. We made some key shots.
“Byron Hopkins and Jahaire Johnson hit some huge 3s late in the game, and Jourdan Gregg and Byron also had some big and-one layups to seal the deal. The second half was the tale of the game for Upper Moreland. We looked like a different team out there in the second half – one through 10, it was just a really good all-around team effort.
“In the first half, they were getting second shots, offensive rebounds, and in the second half we really did a nice job of limiting those second chance point opportunities, and that allowed us to then play the game at our own pace get us in the offensive sets and tempos that helped us out.”
Johnson and Matt Tiernan both finished the game in double figures with 16 and 12 points respectively. Hopkins added nine, and Walker had eight
For the Golden Hawks, Gavin Holloran’s 12 points led the way. Zach Schwartz had nine points and Anthony Burns, seven points.
Upper Moreland (5-2, 4-1 SOL) will host William Tennent on Tuesday, and Council Rock South (4-6, 3-4) will host Bensalem on Tuesday.
Council Rock South 9-15-6-13 44
Upper Moreland 6-10-13-24 53
Council Rock South (44) –Zach Schwartz 9, Stephen Dosa 2, Anthony Burns 7, Gavin Stock 5, Joe Venuto 4, Shane Dawson 2, Gavin Holloran 12, Brendan Lynn 3.
Upper Moreland (53) – Byron Hopkins 9, Jahaire Johnson 16, Jourdan Gregg 4, McKie Walker 8, Matt Tiernan 12, Ryan Schernecke 4.
3-point goals: CRS – Zach Schwartz, Anthony Burns, Gavin Stock, Brendan Lynn, UM – Jahaire Johnson 2, McKie Walker 2, Byron Hopkins.
UPPER DUBLIN 73, QUAKERTOWN 49
The Flying Cardinals brought a welcome end to a four-game losing streak, opening up a 17-9 lead after one quarter and going into halftime with a 36-20 advantage. They never looked back.
“This was a game that our team needed – breaking a four-game losing streak and coming off a blowout loss last night at PW,” UD coach Chris Monahan said. “Throughout this streak, we’ve struggled to put together a solid 32 minutes and we’ve struggled to shoot the ball. Tonight we were in control of the game from the beginning and maintained control throughout.”
The Cardinals received double-digit scoring efforts from three players. Senior Drew Stover once again led the way with 22 points, but he had plenty of help. Sophomore DJ Cerisier added 19 points, and Colin O’Sullivan had 16, which included three 3-pointers. Seaton Kukla had nine points, including a pair of 3s.
It was Cerisier jumpstarting the Cardinals with 10 first-quarter points. By halftime he had 14 points while Stover had eight, and the visiting Flying Cardinals led by 16.
“Quakertown is very tough and they’re well coached,” Monahan said. “They made it very difficult for Drew to get anything going early. However, we got three 3s in the first quarter from Seaton Kukla, Anthony Fatiga, and DJ Cerisier.
“We had three more 3s in the third quarter to keep the lead in double digits – one from Noah Lee and two from Colin O’Sullivan. Colin wasn’t able to play against PW because of contact tracing and we struggled without him.
“He does so much for us in terms of controlling the game and the tempo. Quakertown didn’t go away at all though. They cut the lead to single digits, but we responded well. Drew had 11 in the fourth quarter. Colin made a big three, and we shot 8 for 9 from the foul line in the quarter to build the lead back up.”
For the Panthers, Kayden Roley led the way with 10 points. Matt Catalano added eight while Jack Gordon and Ozzy Grimmage both had seven. Luke Bauer chipped in with six.
Upper Dublin (6-5, 3-4 SOL) will host Wissahickon on Tuesday, and Quakertown (0-11, 0-8) will be on the road at Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday.
Upper Dublin 17-19-14-23 73
Quakertown 9-11-18-11 49
Upper Dublin (73) – Drew Stover 8 6-7 22; Colin O’Sullivan 4 5-6 16; DJ Cerisier 8 2-3 19; Seaton Kukla 3 1-2 9; Noah Lee 1 0-0 3; Anthony Fatiga 1 00 3; Griffin Pensabene 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 25 16-20 73.
Quakertown (49) – Ty Wilkin 1 0-0 2; Luke Bauer 3 0-0 6; Kayden Roley 4 1-2 10; Matt Catalano 3 0-0 8; Jack Gordon 2 2-2 7; Ozzy Grimmage 2 3-4 7; Zach Fondl 1 3-4 3; Brendon Ruzicka 1 0-0 2; Tomlinson 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 18 9-12 49.
3-point goals: UD – Colin O’Sullivan 3, Seaton Kukla 2, DJ Cerisier, Noah Lee, Anthony Fatiga, Quakertown – Matt Catalano 2, Kayden Roley, Jack Gordon.
PENNRIDGE 49, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 29
The Rams played their third game in four days and made it a clean sweep of their post-snowstorm schedule with their third win of the week.
“We’re playing our best basketball of the year,” Pennridge coach Dean Behrens said. “I think I’m doing a better job of matching our personnel up. We figured out a better rotation.
“I think our kids really bought into that we’re going to hang our hat on defense. The kids know we haven’t been consistent shooting. We’ll go through quarters where we’re lights out and sometimes we can’t find the basket. If you hang your hat on defense and rebounding, you’re always going to be in the game.”
Colin Post (17 points) and Luke Yoder (13 points) led the Rams. Matt Campione added six on a pair of 3s.
“We had some balanced scoring the last two days,” Behrens said. “Obviously everyone looks at Luke (Yoder) and Colin Post, but Matt Campione, who’s a sophomore, hit two 3s, and they were big shots at the time – instead of being up five, we’re up eight.
“Obviously, Luke and Colin continued to not only be tough offensively, we’re asking Colin Post every game to play the best player on defense. It’s like, ‘We expect you to do this, and we expect you to score, so don’t forget that either.’ That’s hard, but he’s bought in.
“I think the boys have bought in to what we’re doing, and I think we’ve come up with a little bit of a rotation. Now the kids’ confidence has gone up because we won three in a row. We’re 7-4, and I think they felt like we could have beaten Upper Dublin and Souderton. We ran out of gas against East, but we gave East a good run, so they’re feeling good about themselves. We can’t feel too good. We’re never just going to just walk on the floor and beat people, we’ve got to earn it.
“Today’s game was a culmination of good team chemistry, good team defense, great rebounding – Luke was amazing on the boards, Colin Monahan did a good job on the boards, and we limited them to one shot and done. We took good shots. Not a lot of them fell but enough of them fell.”
The Rams outscored their visitors in each of the four quarters, opening up 25-15 halftime lead.
“Overall, I think my assistant coaches – coach (Jeff) Bishop, coach (Steve) Love and coach (Nick) Dunn – have done a great job with our defense and our defensive rotations, and the kids have really bought into that,” Behrens said.
Adam Mahtat’s seven points led the Indians, who received six points from both Garrett Gromlich and Connor Rushing.
“Unfortunately for Council Rock North, they didn’t have Bernie Parent,” Behrens said of the Indians’ standout point guard. “He’s hurt. He’s a good player, and I would have liked to see how we would have stacked up with them with him.
“Regardless, we held them to 29 points. I’ll hang my hat on that all day. Last night we held West to 40 and probably held them to 30 until they pulled their starters and we pulled ours, so for 28 minutes, we held them to 30 points. I’ll take that every night.”
Pennridge (7-4, 5-3 SOL) will travel to Souderton on Tuesday for a rematch with the Indians, who defeated the Rams in the initial meeting between the two teams.
“That left a bad taste in our mouth because it was Souderton,” Behrens said. “I thought Souderton outplayed us, and they deserved to win. Any time you play in our league, I feel it’s a 50-50 game. You’ve got a chance to win, but you’ve got a chance to lose.
“The team that plays the hardest and executes usually comes out with a win. I think anybody can beat anybody in our league, especially this year because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Council Rock North (4-3, 4-2) will host Neshaminy on Tuesday.
Council Rock North 7-8-5-9 29
Pennridge 11-14-10-14 49
Council Rock North (29) – Garrett Gromlich 2 1-4 6; Ryan McCaffery 1 0-0 2; Patrick Curry 1 0-0 2; Mikey Sylvester 2 1-1 5; Adam Mahtat 3 1-2 7; Jack Blum 0 1-2 1; Connor Rushing 3 0-0 6; TOTALS 12 4-9 29.
Pennridge (49) – Justin Nichols 1 0-0 2; Luke Yoder 6 1-1 13; Justin McCormick 1 0-0 2; Colin Poast 7 3-4 17; Matthew Campione 2 0-0 6; TJ Grenda 2 0-0 4; Colin Monahan 2 0-0 5; TOTALS 21 4-5 49.
3-point goals: CRN – Garrett Gromlich, Pennridge – Matt Campione 2, Colin Monahan.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 61, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 38
Less than 24 hours after clinching a share of the SOL Liberty Division title with a win over Upper Dublin, the Colonials made the trek to Doylestown for a non-league game.
“Today was a big test for a couple of main reasons,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “I learned a long time from guys I coached under that every team has a certain amount of emotional energy for an entire season. You need to know exactly how much of that to withdraw.
“What you may think is a really important game to get up for in game 10 may cause a problem for future games when they’re like, ‘We’ve been there, done that, heard that and can’t get back up emotionally.’”
The Colonials had no trouble getting up for Friday night’s home game against Upper Dublin, rolling to a 68-31 win over the Cardinals.
“There was a buzz in the air with the first time college coaches coming in,” Donofrio said. “There were three or four college coaches, and then 25 cheerleaders show up, and all of a sudden, it’s almost an event. I knew the scouts were coming up to see big (Drew) Stover and good for him, but I think our guys got a little insulted by that. I can’t remember in 29 years of coaching having a college coach calling me and saying – can I come to your game to see the other team play?
“We got a decent amount of pride as you can imagine. We’ve packed the old CES gym for years, and you could see a who’s who at the games for our guys. That was an easy motivator. My concern was really hitting the game on all cylinders last night, and now you have that emotional hangover, and a huge test of a team at any level. I’ve been through too many of these where you just wish you had the next day off. Everything clicked – defensively, offensively and the energy. You’re excited, you know you’ve secured at least a tie for the league title. You’re turning things around and the kids followed a game plan better than they ever have so far.
“If you’ve got to play a game on Saturday at 2:30 after that and it’s going to be CB West, I could think of a lot more teams I would rather play than an Adam Sherman team because he just knows what he’s doing, he’s going to play a style that’s not easily explainable to a young team. When you play our style, you have to play CB West and reverse all thrusters with the way you help.
“On top of that, we were a little flat energy-wise, and they come right out and get a 14-8. Halftime it was tied (25-25), and everything about it was flat. They didn’t understand how physical the West kids would play, how much heart those kids will play with. That is not a normal 1-8 team. Just like last season we were not a normal 2-8 team.”
For the Bucks, Donte Mancini and Ted Spratt both scored 10 points. Seven players contributed scoring for the Bucks in the opening half.
In the third quarter, the Colonials turned up the defense, allowing just four points while opening up a 38-29 lead. They put an exclamation point on the win with a 23-9 fourth quarter.
“Another huge plus for us was to remind them at halftime – you’re a 10-0 team,” Donofrio said. “How do you use that when the game is doing what the game will do to you – which is not always be kind to you. It was another great moment within 24 hours.
“Had we gotten all emotional and fired up at halftime, it might have just burned them all out. It was just – we’ll be okay, this is what it is. We held them to four (points) in the third, so the defense was there. All the stuff wasn’t clicking, but that’s a heck of a sign emotional strength-wise today. I told the guys, ‘You are like babies, you’re not even close yet.’ We talked about the Golden State Warriors today – can you imagine the mental energy and emotional strength it took to win 73 games in an NBA season?
“Even in a pandemic when you’ve had so much of your fall taken away and last spring taken away and playing indoors, I don’t think we can sit here and talk about tired. I’m trying to enjoy the journey. We’re very fortunate to have 11 games in, to be successful in them and just go to game 12 and learn these lessons.”
Luke DiCianno led a balanced PW attack with 16 points, which included an 8-for-9 effort at the foul line. Zende Hubbard added 14 points and was 6-for-8 at the foul line. Jaden Colzie and Zuri Jerman both had nine points for the Colonials.
“You look up and see 61-38, but this one took the whole (game), so that was good for us,” Donofrio said. “I think they learned a big lesson there because you have a big game Tuesday night against Abington.
“Had you just gone in and not played today and not been humbled by the game today – Luke said to me, ‘It’s good we played them because now we got our focus back.’ If we had taken two days off and gone to Abington thinking you’re the greatest thing, it might make it that much more difficult. It laid out really well today. I think we’re playing a lot of teams that are similar. I do think we need to see another punch-in-the-mouth team soon.”
For the Bucks, Spratt led the way with 15 points, and Mancini finished with 10. John Lee added seven points.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-0, 8-0 SOL) will host Abington Tuesday, and Central Bucks West (1-9, 1-6) will host Souderton on Friday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 8-17-13-23 61
Central Bucks West 14-11-4-9 38
Plymouth Whitemarsh (61) – Zende Hubbard 4 6-8 14; Jaden Colzie 4 0-0 9; Marshall Baker 1 0-0 3; Taji Hubbard 0 2-4 2; David Harris 1 0-0 3; Luke DiCianno 4 8-9 16; Qudire Bennett 1 2-2 4; Zuri Jerman 3 3-8 9; TOTALS 18 21-31 61.
Central Bucks West (38) – Ted Spratt 4 7-12 15; Donte Mancini 2 4-4 10; Charlie Cashman 0 2-2 2 Max Slaymaker 1 0-0 2 John Lee 1 0-1 2; Joe Gallagher 3 0-0 7; TOTALS 11 13-19 38.
3-point goals: PW – Jaden Colzie, David Harris, Marshall Baker, CBW – Donte Mancini 2, Joe Gallagher.
About the Author
