By Scott Huff
The chase for the Suburban One League Continental Conference looks like it might just go down to the proverbial wire.
And three of the horses in that race Pennridge, North Penn, and Souderton all took giant strides toward that finish line with key conference wins on Thursday.
Rams Top Hatters on the Road
Pennridge (15-4, 9-2) remained on top of the Continental mountain with a 69-50 victory over host Hatboro-Horsham (7-10, 4-7).
“We fell behind early, but we made some plays at the beginning of the second period to take the lead for good,” said Pennridge head coach Dean Behrens. “That (Mike) Brown is one good high school basketball player, and I thought he might just beat us single handedly. He might have been one of the best players we played against all year.”
Brown – who helped the Hatters take a first period lead – finished with a game-high 23 points. Travis Bryan added nine points for Hatboro-Horsham.
“We did a much better job of working the clock and playing with patience tonight,” said Behrens. “We went over some film against East, and we saw some things we needed to improve on – being patient was one of those things.
“I thought that Rocky Ferrier played his best game of the season,” added Behrens as Ferrier scored 14 points. “And I thought we did a good job of sharing the basketball.”
In addition to Ferrier, the Rams had double figure scoring from Tim Abruzzo who scored a team-high 18 points. Mike Guldin added 14 points for PHS, while Jared Schaffer chipped in with 11 points for the winners.
“This was a very good win for us to get on the road,” said Behrens. “But this race is far from over.”
Pennridge 12 22 16 19 * 69
Hatboro-Horsham 14 8 13 15 * 50
North Penn has another Good Knight
North Penn (14-4, 8-3) stayed on the heels of Pennridge in the conference race with a key 57-33 victory over Central Bucks East (9-8, 6-5).
“What Pennridge does is out of our hands now,” said North Penn head coach Ron Hassler. “We have to set new goals, and our goal is to get ready for the district playoffs.
“Right now we are in a very good position,” added Hassler. “We have been missing parts of our team all season due to injury, and now we finally have the pieces back together.”
Those pieces put together a winning picture against CB East.
Taylor Koffke led the Knights with 12 points, while eight other players scored points for the winners.
“Matt Possanza has been able to take on a new role for this team,” said Hassler. “Now that we have some players back – like Janeus (Somers) being an inside presence – he can do some special things in the passing game.
“Dexter Shy has shown a tremendous amount of energy and has gained the respect of his team mates,” added Hassler. “I really like where we are as a team right now.”
East – who has now followed a seven game winning streak with a three game losing skid – was led in scoring by Lou Pannella with 10 points.
“Pennridge is no longer our target – we don’t play them again,” said Hassler. “But if they lose, we want to be right there.”
Central Bucks East 4 13 4 12 * 33
North Penn 12 15 16 14 * 57
Big Red wins Big Game
Souderton (12-7, 7-4) remained on the heels of North Penn with a 54-42 conference victory over Quakertown (1-18, 0-11).
“A lot of things would have to go our way for us to win a championship, but we have a big game with Pennridge (tonight), and we have to go in with a revengeful attitude,” said first year Souderton head coach Dennis Stanton. “They jumped out on us 18-4 the first time we played them, and we can’t let that happen again.”
The Big Red took care of business with the win over struggling Quakertown. The Panthers – who was led in scoring by Corey Jorgensen with a team-high 10 points - have now lost 17 consecutive games.
Mark Wonderling scored a game-high 16 points for Souderton, while teammate Dan Falenki scored in twin digits with 10 points.
“We did an outstanding job with protecting the basketball tonight,” said Stanton. “We finished with only three turnovers and had 19 assists.”
Souderton 17 12 14 11 * 54
Quakertown 12 9 8 13 * 42
‘Other’ Thursday Night Hoops
William Tennent (6-12) had an awesome game turned in by Cole Weber as the Panthers clawed MaST Charter (6-10) – 66-51 – in a non-league game.
Weber – who bombed home six three-point field goals – scored a game-high 24 points. Jack Rauchut scored 16 points for the Panthers, while Mike Wasserleben scored in double figures with 11 points.
William Tennent 12 20 16 18 * 66
MaST Charter 10 11 16 14 * 51
Wednesday Night Basketball
Neshaminy (16-2, 9-2) overcame a nine-point deficit in the last two and one-half minutes to defeat visiting Bensalem (14-4, 9-2) – 52-50.
The victory moves the Redskins into a second place tie with the Owls in the Suburban One League National Conference.
Both teams trail unbeaten Council Rock North (17-1, 11-0) in the conference standings.
Villanova-bound Ryan Arcidiacono led Neshaminy with a game-high 19 points. Dwight Williams scored 10 fourth period points and finished the game with 14 points. Mike McGarry also scored in twin digits for the Skins with 10 points.
Alex Agyedu was the high scorer for Bensalem with a team-high 15 points. Leo Vincent added nine points for the Owls, while Calvin Brown added eight markers.
Bensalem 18 7 10 15 * 50
Neshaminy 7 9 13 23 * 52
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Wissahickon (9-8, 4-5) had four players score in double figures as the Trojans skinned Upper Moreland (2-15, 0-9) – 77-31 – in a Suburban One League American Conference game.
Jordan Reed led Wissy with a game-high 20 points. Anthony McKie and Jordan Freed each scored 11 points for the Trojans, while Jabari Kibler scored 10 points.
Dave Driscoll was the lone scorer in twin digits for the Golden Bears with a team-high 10 points. Matt Kohn added nine points for Upper Moreland.
Wissahickon 17 25 19 16 * 77
Upper Moreland 11 4 10 6 * 31
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Upper Merion (9-9) evened its season record as the Vikings sailed to a 63-51 non-league victory over Marple Newtown (6-11).
James Mobley scored a game-high 26 points for Upper Merion that included six three-point field goals. Dallas Chesky – who nailed four three-pointers – scored 16 points for the winners. Ryan McGee scored in twin digits for the Vikes with 10 points.
Marple Newtown 9 11 14 17 * 51
Upper Merion 16 21 15 11 * 63
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