Upper Dublin defeated Upper Moreland in the SOL Tournament title game to capture its second championship in as many years. Photos courtesy of Michael Rice Photography & Greg Lindsay. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ BOYS’ BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
SOL Tournament
#1 UPPER DUBLIN 55, #2 UPPER MORELAND 53
Upper Dublin was on its way to another big win. Or at least so it seemed.
After opening up a 15-4 lead out of the gate, the Cards still led by 11 at halftime, and it was a 10-point game with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter. The idea they might need late game heroics was – to say the least – unlikely.
Yet, that’s exactly what happened.
Trailing by three with time winding down in the fourth quarter after a basket by UM’s Jadon Cybok at the end of the press, the Cards had to scratch and claw for this one. A steal and layup by
Kobe Bazemore pulled the Cards to within one with 37 seconds remaining, and after a UM turnover, Ryan Mulroy – who was fouled on a dunk attempt – buried 1 of 2 to even the score 53-53 with 14 seconds on the scoreboard clock.
“I’ve got to make my foul shots – foul shots win games, so that’s something I’m going to go back and practice and keep working on,” Mulroy said. “In my head, I was like – I have to make both these. At least I made the second one.”
With overtime appearing imminent, Bazemore came up with another steal – this one on the inbounds pass – and found Mulroy for the biggest basket of the night, the game-winner.
“The key was just to anticipate the next pass,” Bazemore said. “My staple is defense, and I was getting steals, so when we really needed it, I just knew where to read it. He did it the first three times, and I missed it, so on the final time, I knew I had to get there a little quicker.”
A win was in the books when the Golden Bears’ desperation shot fell short, setting off a jubilant celebration as the UD players were mobbed by their student section.
The win gave the Cards their second title in as many years – the first SOL team in the 10-year history of the tournament to repeat, and the fact that this one was hard earned made it especially sweet.
“It means a lot more,” Bazemore said. “It helped that the fans really got into the game. When we win by 10 or 20, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you won.’ This time it was a nail biter. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, and we just pulled it out. It was very fun.”
“That was just a great defensive effort by our team right there,” Mulroy said. “I have confidence in our team that we were going to get a steal there. We’re very good at pressing.
“That’s what teams expect us to do when they’re scouting us, so I was very (confident) that we were going to get a steal there.”
Mulroy was brilliant in the win, scoring a game high 33 points.
“It feels good to win this game,” Mulroy said. “We don’t like putting ourselves in that type of position, but we know down the road – these types of wins are going to help us going forward.
“It’s not easy to win 24 in a row. We’ve had such a great year. The way our guys just keep fighting, battling, not giving up no matter what the score is, how much time is left – we’re going to keep playing our game. It’s been a really good year so far, and this win feels really good.”
A fast start: Mulroy had a whole lot to do with Upper Dublin’s fast start, scoring his team’s first 11 points with an assortment of drives and cuts.
“I’m not the type of guy – I don’t need to score all the points and everything,” Mulroy said. “I’ll do whatever I can to win. I love winning, but today I saw an advantage, and I was able to attack the basket really well.”
The senior standout, who had 13 first-quarter points, had 21 points by halftime, and the Cardinals led 35-24. Colson Campbell’s 10 points led the Golden Bears.
Mulroy scored his only bucket in the third quarter on a fast break after a UM turnover, putting UD on top 43-33 with just over a minute remaining in the frame. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Campbell and Cybok pulled the Bears to within four, 43-39, after three quarters.
Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Larry Hughes connected on a pair of baskets to put the Bears on top 48-45.
“They started hitting shots,” Mulroy said. “We weren’t really executing on the defensive side, and when we’re not doing that stuff, they’re going to come back and win the game.
“We’re a really good defensive team, but we can’t take off plays, so we were taking off plays at the end of the game. They have some really good shooters, they were knocking down shots, and we put ourselves in that position, but we had great resiliency, bouncing back, and we were able to get this win today.”
Mulroy scored back-to-back buckets to put UD on top 49-48 with 3:30 remaining. Five straight points from Cybok sandwiched around Mulroy foul shot gave the Bears a 53-50 lead, setting the stage for the fantastic finish.
“They did a really good job in the second half,” Mulroy said. “They were in a 3-2 zone. We don’t want to settle for 3s a lot. Our goal was attacking the rim, and that’s what I did in the first half.
“They packed it in a little bit, so I couldn’t attack as much, and our team couldn’t. We were able to adjust and execute at the end. You have to expect stuff like that’s going to happen. You can’t always rely on one thing. You have to do other stuff.
“We’ll take the win. A win’s a win. We’re excited to be back-to-back for the first time in the SOL.”
Key players: Ryan Mulroy’s 33 points led UD and included a 3-for-6 effort at the foul line. Justin Ragsdale added eight points.
For Upper Moreland, Jadon Cybok had 17 points, which included five 3-pointers. Colson Campbell added 16 points – 10 in the first half. Larry Hughes was the third player in double figures for UM with 12 points.
Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks: “I am very disappointed with plenty of things that happened in this game, but I’m very proud that deep down – they pulled every ounce of effort and focus they had left and pulled it out.
“I’m proud of them for that because that hopefully helps us and gives us that belief that we can still pull it off.”
–Mulroy delivers: “He was phenomenal. He was throwing up two hours ago, but he played fine. Ryan is Ryan. This will go down as one of his great games, especially considering what he went through pregame. Just the effort and the fight and the will to win. He’s going to go down as one of the best players in school history. He’ll probably go down as the best winner in school history. His win percentage is through the roof. He will not quit, and he makes plays at the end all the time to pull it out.”
–Defensive pressure: “We had our back against the wall, and it was – ‘All right, we better ramp it up.’ Our focus and effort in the second half really almost cost us the championship. We’re fortunate to have won it. There were several alternatives where we ended up losing this. Eventually, we locked in and finally really brought it. I don’t know if it was fatigue from the weekend and the Super Bowl. It certainly didn’t help. I am proud of them of them for pulling it out at the end.”
–Back-to-back titles: “It’s a big deal in this league with 24 teams – teams like PW, Abington and Cheltenham and the Central Bucks schools that have had great teams. Pennridge had really good teams. To go back-to-back for the first time – you don’t know when you’ll be able to do this again. Now we enter a club of teams that have won it multiple times. It’s definitely special, so I hope we cherish it.”
Next up: Both Upper Dublin (24-1, 10-0 SOL) and Upper Moreland (20-5, 9-1) have opening round byes and will return to action in the second round of the District 1 5A Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Upper Dublin is the tournament’s top seed, and Upper Moreland is seeded fourth.
Upper Moreland 13-11-15-14 53
Upper Dublin 22-13-8-12 55
Upper Moreland (53) – Nate Best 0 3-4 3; Colson Campbell 5 5-7 16; Anthony Carson 1 0-2 2; Luke Roussel 1 0-0 3; Larry Hughes 6 0-0 12; Jadon Cybok 6 0-0 17; TOTALS 19 8-13 53.
Upper Dublin (55) – Kobe Bazemore 1 0-0 2; Ryan Mulroy 15 3-6 33; Idris Rines 1 0-0 3; Justin Ragsdale 3 2-4 8; Reilly McLaughlin 2 0-0 4; Brandon Altman 1 0-0 3; Horace Jackson 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 24 5-10 55.
3-point goals: UM Jadon Cybok 5, Luke Roussel, Colson Campbell; UD – Idris Rines, Brandon Altman.
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