Upper Dublin boys’ basketball saw its successful season come to an end in Friday’s opening round of the PIAA 5A State Tournament. Photos courtesy of Richard Owens.
PIAA 5A opening round
#3-5 EXETER 67, #1-2 UPPER DUBLIN 60
Endings are never easy, but the Flying Cardinals should have few regrets after a season that raised the bar high for future teams. Granted, they will undoubtedly wish that they could have the first half of Friday’s state opener back, but they battled gamely, rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles, however, would not let this one slip away.
“It’s one of those things – it’s disappointing, but it was a phenomenal year,” UD coach Derek Brooks said. “If you had told us we’d be 24-5, won the league, won the SOL Tournament, made it to the district final and then, unfortunately, lost at home in states – I think any of us would have taken it.
“It always does come to an end more abrupt than you hope. Fortunately, this year we played a month longer than we did last year, so you appreciate that. It stinks it’s ending sooner than we would have liked it to, but I’m grateful for how far we did make it.”
UD – which fell behind 11-0 out of the gate – went into halftime on the short end of a 40-23 score.
“I thought our energy level was nowhere near where it needed to be,” Brooks said. “There was a night and day energy level in the first and second half for us. It was very clear.
“And they’re good. They knocked down shots, but (they had) too many second-chance points, which mostly is effort – boxing out, energy, stepping in front, getting the stop, rotating.”
On UD’s opening possession of the second half, Idris Rines hit nothing but net on a 3-pointer, an omen of better things to come, but the Cardinals still trailed 47-34 midway through the third quarter.
A basket by Noah Cohen sparked a 9-2 UD run to close out the frame, a tear that was capped by back-to-back
baskets by Reilly McLaughlin and Kobe Bazemore as UD’s full-court pressure defense was taking its toll on the Eagles.
Brady Fogle’s 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter made it a 49-46 game, but the Cardinals would get no closer until Ryan Mulroy scored with 4:35 remaining to make it a 54-52 game. Rines buried one of two at the foul line to pull the Cards to within one, and they took their first lead (55-54) after Mulroy scored on a putback of his own miss.
It looked as though the Cardinals would live to see another day, but they took their final lead with just under three minutes remaining on a bucket by Mulroy that put UD on top 58-56. The Cards managed just two points the rest of the way.
“I thought once it was like– ‘hey, you’ve got nothing to lose, you’re down 17, you’ve got no choice,’ and we played like that most of the year with that energy,” Brooks said “It was a rare occurrence for us. I don’t know if we’ve been down 17 at the half all year. It’s disappointing, but it’s a lesson for us.”
The Cardinals will lose just three seniors to graduation – Fogle, Chris Kohlbrenner and Anthony Oliveira-Schultze.
“Those three – I’m going to miss them dearly,” Brooks said. “It’s hard for me to think about it right now because it’s so fresh off the game.
“All three of them have been phenomenal kids to coach. They’ve given so much to the program. They’re all such different players, but they were such a joy to coach, every single one of them. I’m so happy for their senior year they’ll get to look back and say, ‘Hey, we had maybe the best team since 1985.’ I’m glad they got to experience that, and they gave us so much – super committed kids, great off the court. We couldn’t have been luckier to coach them. We owe them, we owe them a lot.”
With the majority of this year’s successful squad returning, Friday’s early exit will undoubtedly serve as motivation.
“I think we’re going to react well,” Brooks said. “Any time we’ve dangled a carrot in front of this group, they’ve gone after it.
“We have a couple of motivation points: Can we repeat in the SOL the way we did this year? Can we win the districts next year? Can we make a deep run in states? We already got our bulletin board material – (it’s) made that job for the offseason a little easier.”
Upper Dublin closed out its successful season with a record of 24-5 (15-1 SOL). The Cardinals captured the SOL Liberty Division title as well as the Suburban One League Tournament crown.
Exeter 23-17-9-18 67
Upper Dublin 14-9-20-17 60
Exeter (67) – Jayden Ware 2 0-0 4; Alex Kelsey 7 5-6 19; Kevin Saenz 4 0-2 9; Reese Garvin 9 4-5 24; Aiden Dauble 3 2-2 9; TOTALS 25 11-15 67.
Upper Dublin (60) – Kobe Bazemore 1 0-0 2; Chris Kohlbrenner 2 1-4 5; Brady Fogle 3 0-0 8; Ryan Mulroy 8 5-9 22; Idris Rines 4 1-2 11; Noah Cohen 2 0-0 4; James Castronuovo 1 0-0 2; Reilly McLaughlin 2 2-2 6; TOTALS 23 9-17 60.
3-point goals: Exeter – Reese Garvin 4, Aiden Dauble, Kevin Saenz; UD – Brady Fogle 2, Idris Rimes 2, Ryan Mulroy.
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