PW, Abington, Upper Dublin & Cheltenham were winners in the SOL Tournament. Wissahickon also earned a non-league win. PW/CB East photos provided courtesy of Larry Small & Michael Rice Photography & Upper Dublin/CR South photos courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for galleries of both games. (Chanse Salone photos courtesy of Souderton BB). CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ BOYS’ BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
SOL Tournament
#1 Plymouth Whitemarsh 56, #8 Central Bucks East 47
It wasn’t quite like the first time around between these two squads, but top-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh still got the job done against visiting CB East on Friday, picking up its 15th win in a row.
PW beat CB East 79-44 in a crossover game on Jan. 16.
Friday, the Colonials jumped up big with a 19-5 first quarter, but the Patriots battled back to stay within eight at halftime and 10 going into the fourth quarter.
Key Players: PW was led by Mani Sajid, who scored 10 points in the first quarter, on the way to a game-high 22. Michael Pereira added 15 points, 10 in the second half.
For CB East, Henry Barchak had 18 points, and Connor Mekanik was also in double figures with 13.
Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Jim Donofrio:
–The rematch: “Having won the first half of Suburban 1 by such wide margins and then trying to explain to them that basketball doesn’t always work that way, you rarely repeat that. But teams are going to try. The way Suburban 1 is set up now, if you’re in this post-season tournament, there’s a chance you’re seeing people three or four times in three weeks, and that just makes for really odd psychologies.
“We won by a convincing margin first time (against CB East) on our court. The game started tonight, it’s 12-3. We’re looking strong. We’re moving the ball on offense beautifully. But what happens – I think the kids got caught up in a 5 percent drop in self-discipline. Let’s do a little
lunging, let’s go for the ball a little more aggressively, let’s trap on our own – some undisciplined stuff that comes with a little bit of comfort.
“And as a guy that’s done it forever and anyone that coaches knows, you know that CB East is going to be improving all season long. They’re not going away. And all it takes against any opponent is – if we make one or two plays where we’re undisciplined, where we lunge for a ball in the backcourt and jog back, and then big Mike Pereira has to show up to help, and then, boom, the ball goes to the corner and there’s a three. Now it’s 19-9. Now a crooked number happens. You go through a screen a little differently, you miss a few chip shots. That’s how a basketball game turns. Now it’s an 8 to10-point game instead of looking like it’s going to go 20-plus. And that’s playoff basketball, which is kind of the value of these games. So, where our head is at right now – I think we have to refocus better. I think we have to grow up a little bit in terms of getting our edge back.
“Losing a lot can be hard on you. Winning a lot – we all want to do it, but that can also mess with your head. We were very undisciplined late in the third and the fourth defensively. You hope that we’re going to pick up and learn from these last four or five games and trust what we’re selling you. Each game is different defensively. It’s not just we’re high energy and we’re confident, so the opponent’s going to bow down to our will. They’re not. They’re smart. And they’re getting the ball to the
right guys, and guys are shooting with confidence.
“I just saw the other day that Michigan State, BYU and Gonzaga all lost. Three top 20 teams, all on the same night. Division 1 teams. You want to figure out how to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. It’s all psychology now. It’s all ways to motivate yourself, ways to stay humble, ways to respect the opponent, and all those things. But they’re kids, and the world’s telling them how great they are. I think that’s where we’re at. Hopefully, it doesn’t take a bad loss.”
–A familiar foe: “I don’t know that Upper Dublin wants to see us three times, twice in four days. I’ve done this a long time. I’ve had a lot of ways of doing psychologies on your team for getting them up. The game plan for Tuesday night isn’t even cold yet. We’re just going to play the fifth quarter. Honestly, I get the idea of it, but I don’t know. The format is really not conducive to flowing into the playoffs and having your kids be revved up.”
CB East coach Erik Henrysen:
“I thought we battled tonight. A few weeks ago, we went to PW a little short-handed, and they gave us a good thumping. Tonight, we didn’t get off to a great start, but once we settled in, we found some success.
“PW is so talented, and they can beat you in different ways. We gave them a little scare but couldn’t make that final run.
“I’m proud of my guys and our program. We try to do things the right way. Even after falling behind, we had an entire program still locked into the game plan.
“We are getting healthy and I think I am seeing some of the team that started the year 10-1. It’s about districts now. We can build off of tonight, and gaining momentum going into round one of the playoffs is critical.”
Up Next: Friday’s win sets up another rematch for PW on Saturday, against Liberty Division rival and No. 5 seed Upper Dublin. CB East will play next Friday in the opening round of the Class 6A district tournament.
CB East 5 16 10 16 – 47
PW 19 9 12 16 – 56
CB East (47)
Connor Mekanik 5 1-2 13; Henry Barchak 7 2-2 18; Quinn Slack 2 0-0 5; Brady Colbert 2 0-0 5; Jackson Lutz 2 0-0 4; Keegan Marascio 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 3-4 47.
PW (56)
Terron Davis 1 0-0 2; Mani Sajid 9 0-0 22; Michael Pereira 7 1-2 15; Buddy Denard 2 0-0 6; Zhaiden Gray 3 0-0 8; Micah Thompson 1 1-2 3. Totals 23 2-4 56.
3-point goals: CBE-Mekanik 2, Barchak 2, Slack, Colbert; PW-Sajid 4, Denard 2, Gray 2
#7 Abington 72, #2 Souderton 58
On the road, looking to do some damage in the Suburban One League Tournament, seventh-seeded Abington did just that, knocking off Colonial Division champ Souderton 72-58 to move on to Saturday’s semifinal round.
The win also allowed the Galloping Ghosts a little bit of payback from a 19-point loss to the Indians on Jan. 16.
Friday, Abington scored the first 13 points of the game and led by 11 after one quarter and nine points at halftime. Souderton rallied in the second half to within three late in the third quarter, but the Ghosts were able to pull away for the victory.
“(Souderton’s Chanse Salone) was supposed to get a 1,000 tonight, and their coach says to me, ‘Congrats on a great season, good luck.’ I said, ‘This should be fun,’ and he’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re not real happy we drew you guys.’ I said, ‘Well, we were happy we drew you.’
“Our kids wanted to play them again because they felt dissatisfied after the first time we played them, and they were hungry for this game, and we came out hungry.”
Salone did hit his 1,000th career point in the game, becoming the first Souderton player since AJ Picard in 2009 to achieve the milestone.
Key Players: Abington’s Faison Garland and Xander Grasty combined for 18 points in the first quarter, and finished with 24 and 18 points, respectively, to lead Abington. Amare Stone added 11 points.
Souderton’s Marques Brown scored 19 points, including 13 in the second quarter. Chanse Salone added 14, and Nate Rusike had 10.
Abington coach Dan Marsh:
–The first game: “Xander (Grasty) didn’t play the second half (of the first game) because he got rocked, and we thought he might have a concussion. Turns out he didn’t. We did not play well without Xander, but we learned from that, which was good. Like my assistant Gary Massey said, ‘It’s good for them to learn to play without him.’ We didn’t play great without him, but we certainly learned from it on film.”
–Turner answers the call: “We were without Kyler Pickron (illness), and Aiden Turner stepped up and started for us and played well. He’s literally never started for us, and he played well. He moves really well laterally. We know that he’s good defensively, and we put him on (Nate Rusike), and he held him to 10 points.”
–Garland delivers: “Our coaching staff just had a conversation with Faison Garland about letting the game come to him, because we felt like in the last couple of games he wasn’t playing well and he was chasing shots. He said, ‘Yeah, I guess I was trying to score more.’ I’m like, ‘Listen, just play off of Xander,’ so he plays off Xander tonight and scores 24.
“I said to him after the game, ‘Did you chase shots tonight?’ He said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ I’m like, ‘No, you didn’t. You played the way we want you to play, and you got more points than you had all season. I’m
proud of him.”
Souderton coach Brendan Stanton:
“Abington deserved this one. They came out with more urgency and were on fire to start. I think they opened 13-0. Anytime that happens, as a coach you have to look yourself in the mirror. We didn’t come out with the prerequisite first and that’s on me.
“I was proud of how our guys fought back and made it a one‑possession with about four minutes left, but they answered with a big transition 3. They seemed to answer every run we made.”
–Salone’s milestone: “Big shoutout to Chanse Salone on reaching 1,000 points. He’s the first boys player here to do it in over 15 years, and he’s earned it with the work he puts in. He impacts the game in so many ways. You only hit a 1,000 points if you can score, but the way he creates for others and rebounds for his size is very special. He’s a big reason for the success we’ve had as a team these last two years.”
Up Next: Abington will host Cheltenham Saturday (6 p.m.) in a semifinal game. Souderton should draw a first-round bye in the district playoffs and host a second-round game on Feb. 17.
Abington 21 18 17 16 – 72
Souderton 10 21 19 8 – 58
Abington (72)
Aiden Turner 2 1-2 5; Amare Stone 3 5-6 11; Malcom Lucas 0 1-2 1; Xander Grasty 8 0-0 18; Faison Garland 8 6-6 24; Elijah Cruickshank 3 0-0 7; Jordan Holden 0 2-3 2; Michael O’Rourke 1 1-1 3. Totals – 25 16-20 72.
Souderton (58)
Chanse Salone 5 2-2 14; Koby Rollerson 3 0-0 8; Epps 3 0-0 7; Nate Rusike 3 3-4 10; Marques Brown 7 2-2 19. Totals – 21 7-8 58.
3-point goals: A-Garland 2, Grasty 2, Cruickshank, O’Rourke; S-Brown 3, Salone 2, Rollerson 2, Rusike, Epps.
#3 Cheltenham 48, #6 Central Bucks South 46
Cheltenham jumped out to a fast start and still had a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but then went cold against visiting CB South Friday night.
But the Panthers made a big defensive stop and overcame just a five-point final eight minutes to advance to the semifinals with a 48-46 win.
“Defensively, we played well, but we got stagnant offensively and weren’t as sharp,” said Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury. “We doubled down on defense. The points didn’t matter to us. It was just defending possession by possession. It was great.
“We had several school board members come and talk to the guys prior to the game. I think that kind of honed in on the message of winning together, losing together and staying together as a family. We were grateful for that support. I was grateful for the fact that the kids did not care about what or who, just how we got it done.”
Neither team shot well from the free throw line, but Cheltenham’s Mark Hill went 3-for-4 in the fourth quarter. As a team, the Panthers were 5-for-10 from the line. CB South was 6-for-15, including 2-for-6 in the fourth quarter.
Key Players: Mark Hill led all scorers with 15 points, 10 of which came in the second half. Jaedn Mosely added nine points with three 3-pointers in the first half.
CB South was led by Kayote Adebayo with 12 points, and Davis Van Zanten with 10.
Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury:
–The ending: “Mark Hill made 1 of 2 foul shots that pushed it to 48-46. They came over half court and called a timeout. We got into a defensive set. There was about 12-13 seconds left. They ran a couple actions, got two shots at the basket. We were able to secure a rebound, and that was the end of the game.”
–Props: “I thought Tyree Martin and Peyton McClendon inside were a very good presence for us. They took up space, they created space and angles for our guards.
“I thought Mark Hill, Isaiah Dill, Chris Harmon Jaedn Mosley, Micah Millis and Isa Vargas defensively put their imprint on the game. They made unselfish plays. They made multiple efforts on defense that, after scramble situations that made them have to make an additional pass or an additional read, that allowed our defense to recover. I think they did that the last two games, and we just have to continue to build.”
CB South coach Louie Ditri:
“We came out a little slow and Cheltenham did a great job shooting the ball in the first quarter. The second quarter was an even one. I felt we did a better job in the second half on both ends of the court. But credit to Cheltenham, they kept playing hard and finished with the win.”
Up Next: Cheltenham will host Abington in a semifinal on Saturday (6pm). It’s a rivalry game Fleury looks forward to since he views former Abington coach Charles Grasty – now athletic director – his mentor.
“The fact his kid is playing is even better for me – added motivation but still with endearment,” the Panthers’ coach said. “We wish them success outside of playing us and respect Grasty and Abington.”
CB South will likely draw a first-round bye in the district playoffs, and next play in the second round on Feb. 17.
CB South 11 9 16 10 – 46
Cheltenham 17 11 15 5 – 48
CB South (46)
Kayote Adebayo 5 2-7 12; Alex Shahin 2 0-0 4; Shane Farrell 1 0-0 3; Brayden Barrett 3 1-2 9; Davis Van Zanten 5 0-0 10; Leo Medwid 2 3-6 8. Totals – 18 6-15 46.
Cheltenham (48)
Chris Harmon 3 2-4 8; Mark Hill 6 3-4 15; Isaiah Dill 2 0-0 4; Jaden Mosley 3 0-0 9; Micah Millis 1 0-0 2; Tyree Martin 4 0-3 8; Peyton McClendon 1 0-0 2. Totals – 20 5-11 48.
3-point goals: CBS-Barrett 2, Farrell, Medwid; C-Mosely 3
#5 Upper Dublin 67, #4 Council Rock South 45
Motivated to keep its hopes of a repeat SOL championship alive and earn a third shot at division nemesis Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin went on the road to play a quarterfinal game against a red-hot CR South team.
The Golden Hawks won seven straight games to close the regular season to capture the program’s first Patriot Division title.
But on Friday, the Flying Cardinals left little room for doubt, jumping up early, led by 18 at halftime on the way to the 22-point victory.
“You never know the psyche of the other team when you’re going into a game,” said UD coach Derek Brooks. “So we thought one of two things would happen tonight. Either (CR South is) feeling great, riding high. I thought they played great against Pennsbury the other night, winning a division title, coming back like that is a hell of an accomplishment.
“Or we thought maybe they would be like, ‘This was great, but we’ve got Upper Dublin, who’s, had some experience in this tournament, and is a good team.’
“We weren’t sure how they would kind of handle it. I didn’t think they were afraid of us by any means. I thought they came out aggressive and scored some easy buckets. But fortunately, we scored so well in that first quarter and getting that lead was good.”
Key Players: Horace Jackson had a big night for UD with 22 points, including 15 in the first half. Justin Ragsdale (15) and Kobe Bazemore (12) were also in double figures.
Ryan Delp finished in double figures with 12 for CR South.
UD coach Derek Brooks:
“We got off to a good start. They threw a zone at us, which we thought it was like a 50-50 chance that they would go zone or man. We have a lot of good shooting, so even when teams feel like maybe they might struggle going man, we think they maybe won’t go zone because we’ve been doing well against zone this year. But yeah, they threw a zone at us. I thought we handled it well, moved the ball, got good looks and scored 18 in the first quarter, which is obviously great.
“And then, defensively, they got 11. They’re a good offensive team. They run Princeton stuff, and they execute it really well. A lot of ball movement, and it’s hard to guard if you’re not switching screens or stuff like that, which we were not. We went regular man-to-man. So we did a decent job in the first quarter. We held them to 11. In the second quarter, we were much better, held them to six.
“And then they came out, and they either went on a 9-0 run or a 6-0 run to start the third. So we kind of let them back in it. But, fortunately, we responded well and then got it up to 20 and were able to keep it at about that distance from there.”
–Props: “it was pretty well-rounded. I thought Kobe Bazemore had a really good night distributing and scoring the ball. Horace Jackson had 22, and he just makes it look so easy at times. But he was great finishing around the rim. I thought Justin Ragsdale had a great game, scored 15. Maybe only missed one shot. But he was super efficient today, and I thought his effort, decision-making was pretty good. And I thought everyone else kind of chipped in as well. Jake Scherzer gave us a nice lift off the bench in the first half, scoring seven.”
–One More Time: “This will be the sixth time we’ve played PW in two years. This will be the eighth time we’ve played them in three years so, and I think what’s kind of cool is that over these last three years, we’ve had a bunch of seniors who were playing as sophomores who played in all these games and same thing on the PW side.
“So, it’s kind of the last dance for this group that’s played and had a lot of battles against one another. I think in the seven games it’s 4-3 us, so we hope we can keep that lead tomorrow. But we know we’ve got our hands full. It will be interesting.”
CR South coach Jim Cassidy:
“Credit to coach Brooks and Upper Dublin. They’ve been an upper echelon SOL program for a number of years now and they showed why tonight. They have a well-rounded squad, they run good stuff on both ends of the floor, and so they can beat you a number of different ways. It was a good experience for us, being able to get a taste of what’s required if we want to build upon some of our successes this season.
“As far as districts are concerned, we have to put this one behind us immediately and get right back to work. I think our gas tank was a little low after an emotional win on Tuesday, but the reality is that we have plenty of work to do ahead of next Friday because we’re going to see teams on the level of an Upper Dublin from here on out.”
Up Next: Upper Dublin will play PW in the semifinals on Saturday(4pm). CR South will open up the District One playoffs with a first-round game on Friday.
Upper Dublin 18 17 14 18 – 67
CR South 11 6 12 16 – 45
Upper Dublin (67)
Kobe Bazemore 4 2-2 12; Brandon Altman 0 2-2 2; Noah Cohen 1 0-0 3; Horace Jackson 10 1-1 22; Justin Ragsdale 7 0-0 15; Jake Scherzer 2 3-3 9; Luke Caron 1 0-0 2; Lawson Tyler 1 0-0 2. Totals – 26 8-8 67.
CR South (45)
Ryan Delp 4 2-2 12; Lucian Mirc 2 0-0 4; Brendan Balmer 1 2-2 5; Joe Madara 2 4-4 8; Pat Malone 1 0-0 3; Aidan Lydon 3 0-0 7; Bondishy 2 1-1 6. Totals – 15 9-9 45.
3-point goals: UD-Bazemore 2, Cohen, Jackson, Ragsdale, Scherzer 2; CRS-Delp 2, Balmer, Malone, Lydon, Bondishy.
Non-League
Wissahickon 71, Lincoln Leadership Academy 43
After two big wins earlier in the week to catapult itself back into the District One playoff picture, Wissahickon couldn’t afford a slip up Friday night in its non-league, regular-season finale against visiting Lincoln Leadership Academy. A loss could very well have bumped the Trojans right back out of districts.
But that wasn’t about to happen.
A 41-point first half saw to that, as Wissahickon dominated this one from the start and clinched its spot in the postseason with a 71-43 victory.
“Well, you know, it was funny because, Upper Moreland being a 14-win team, we’re like, okay, we jumped up to 23, moved two spots,” said coach Kyle Wilson. “But then I ended up looking at the numbers and talked to a friend who’s a mathematician, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, if you win, you move up some, but, you know, if you lose, you might not be in it.’
“And I was like, ‘Oh. I didn’t think that. I wasn’t thinking outside of it. And one of my other coaches calls me, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s it.’ So, you know, we were torn, like, you know, what do we say to the players?
“And then one of our players said, ‘Coach, you know, (what happens if) we lose, right? I’m like, okay, they know. So, we went into it with that attitude.”
Key Players: Nico Vacchiano scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, with three 3-pointers and a 11-point second quarter. Zach Schwartz had 22 points, with four 3-pointers, including three in the third quarter.
Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson:
“We control our own destiny this week. We’re not familiar with this team. They’re not familiar with us. They played last night. I said, and they’re traveling down here. I said, ‘Come in at 4, we’ll go over film, we’ll look at things.
“I mean, our kids played probably their best four quarters of basketball tonight that I’ve seen them play this year. So it’s nice to watch them clicking on all cylinders at this point in the season going into the playoffs.”
–Props: “Nico was just unbelievable. But we got a nice boost also out of Zach Schwartz. Nico had 24, Zach had 22. But, Nico was scoring outside and he had a two-hand dunk on a kid, right? He had some plays that were just, wow, you know, just so impressive.”
Up Next: Wissahickon will play in the opening round of the Class 6A district playoffs on Friday night.
Lincoln Leadership 6 18 9 10 – 43
Wissahickon 15 25 16 15 – 71
Lincoln Leadership (43)
Decani Velez 2 0-0 5; Robert Baker 6 1-2 15; Tyler Forbes 3 0-2 6; Brandon Parker 1 0-0 2; Edber Lockhart 2 1-2 5; Logan Henegan 1 0-0 3; Deion Martin 1 0-0 2; Edel Rodriguez 1 0-0 2; Brandon Young 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 3-8 43.
Wissahickon (71)
Zach Schwartz 9 0-1 22; Logan McCloud 2 0-0 5; Luke Slobtkin 1 2-2 4; Owen Haughey 2 1-2 6; Chase Neumeister 1 0-0 2; Nico Vacchiano 10 1-1 24; Jack Weiss 1 0-0 2; Malachi Hodges 1 0-0 2; Jona Selleriek 1 0-0 2; Delmar Taliaferro 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 4-6 71.
3-point goals: LL-Baker 2, Velez, Henegan; W-Schwartz 4, McCloud, Haughey, Vacchiano 3
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