Check the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday. Upper Dublin/Wissahickon photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison, and Abington/Hatboro-Horsham photos courtesy of Mike Sperando. CLICK HERE for galleries of both games.
SOL American Conference
Abington 78, Hatboro-Horsham 43
Abington pulled away from Hatboro-Horsham after a tight first quarter to notch a victory Friday night.
The win moved the Ghosts to 6-0 in the conference with a home Tuesday matchup against neighborhood-rival Cheltenham looming. The Panthers are also 6-0 in conference action.
Overall, the Ghosts are off to a 10-1 start, marking the first time since the 1982-83 season that they won 10 of their first 11 games.
The Hatters led in this one, 16-14, after one quarter before Abington used a 22-point second quarter to snare a 36-24 advantage by halftime.
The Hatters’ Khalid Johnson, who finished with a team-high 23 points, had 16 of them in the first half (thanks, in part, to four first-quarter 3-pointers).
Abington standout and Villanova University-commit Eric Dixon poured in a game-high 35 points to go along with 11 rebounds and two blocks. The 35 points pushed Dixon’s career total to 1,920. University of Pennsylvania-commit Lucas Monroe had 14 points, six rebounds, six steals and four assists in the victory.
Darius Brown contributed 11 points, which included three 3-pointers, and Maurice Henry chipped in with six assists and three steals.
Abington connected on 30-of-58 shots from the field (51.7 percent) and 11-of-13 at the foul line (84.6 percent).
Solomon McNair added 11 points for the Hatters.
Abington (10-1, 6-0 SOL) will host Cheltenham on Tuesday, and Hatboro-Horsham (2-10, 0-6) will travel to Souderton for a non-league game on Monday.
Abington 14-22-27-15 78
Hatboro-Horsham 16-8-9-10 43
Abington (78) – Darius Brown 11, Lucas Monroe 14, Eric Dixon 35, Manir Waller 3, Derek Sussman 3, Jason Scott 4, Howie Burrell 5, Jack Moynihan 3.
Hatboro-Horsham (32) – Khalid Johnson 23, Solomon McNair 11, Zeheir Cheeze 2, Gianni Cerisier 2, Amir Bookard 3, Walker 2.
Cheltenham 68, Springfield Township 56
Cheltenham had four players in double figures in Friday night’s win over Springfield Township.
The victory moved the Panthers to 6-0 in conference and set up a Tuesday matchup against neighborhood-rival Abington, which is also 6-0 in conference play.
Against the Spartans, the Panthers used a balanced attack that saw Zahree Harrison (team-high 17 points), Tim Myarick (12 points), Jaelen McGlonne (11 points) and Kyin Healey (11 points) combined for 51 points. Jalen Pickens was next for Cheltenham with nine points.
“It was a conference win,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said. “There are things we could do better, but overall, it’s a win. We’re happy.”
Healey also collected 10 rebounds while Myarick had six rebounds. Harrison contributed five assists, and McGlonne paced the defense with three steals.
Wilson Krewson paced the Spartans with a game-high 19 points and James Joseph was next with eight points.
Cheltenham (9-4, 6-0 SOL) will travel to Abington on Tuesday, and Springfield Township (6-7, 1-5) will host Upper Dublin on Tuesday.
Springfield Township 7-11-20-18 56
Cheltenham 18-16-22-22 68
Springfield Township (56) – Amir Williams 5, Jordan Pauls 6, James Joseph 8, Ethan Hamilton 2, Wilson Krewson 19, DeJaun Waters 2, Zach Edmonds 2, Max Perry 2, Matt Leibfreid 1, Ben Rittenhouse 4, Austin Maggioncalda 5.
Cheltenham (68) – Zahree Harrison 17, Jalen Pickens 9, Tim Myarick 12, Elijah Harvey 1, Brandon Scott 5, Jaelen McGlonne 11, Sean Emfinger 2, Kyin Healey 11.
Upper Dublin 53, Wissahickon 47
Neighborhood-rivals Upper Dublin and Wissahickon went at it for 32 minutes in a game that saw the Cardinals prevail in the end to post their first win over the Trojans in three seasons.
“We were able to pull out a hard-fought victory against a tough Wissahickon team,” Upper Dublin coach Chris Monahan said. “They just wouldn’t go away. Every time we built a four to six-point lead, Wissahickon would come back and tie or take the lead against us.”
The Cardinals led by just two, at 26-24 at halftime, and, again by just two after three quarters (37-35) before a 16-point fourth quarter enabled them to seal the verdict.
“We got balanced scoring from Drew (Stover), Corby (Watkins), Bazel (Brady) and Jason (Williams),” Monahan said.“Jason and Bazel each made timely threes in the second half and Brian Klammer did a tremendous job defensively. It was a very good team win with a lot of guys contributing.”
Watkins led the Flying Cardinals with 15 points while Stover had 14. Brady added eight while Klammer and Williams both had five.
Eddie Fortescue led the way for the Trojans with a game-high 17 points while teammates Matt Compas and D’Shan Love had seven each. Carmen Ostroski’s six rebounds led the Trojans under the boards.
“We’ve had the better of them for the last (two or three) years,” Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said. “I even told our guys before the game – ‘If you think this is the Upper Dublin of old, it’s not. It’s like anybody – if you hit somebody long enough, they’re eventually going to get back up and fight back. If we don’t go into this game with the same sense of purpose and intensity, we’re going to struggle in this game.’
“Give credit where credit is due – (Upper Dublin) won 50-50 balls, they executed at points when they needed to. It was a grind-it-out game. They made the plays when they had to. It was just a very impressive job by their coaches, by their players.
“As rough as it’s been for us this year, our problems aren’t theirs. We’ve got to continue to work on finding chemistry and doing things we need to do to win ballgames. My hat’s off to them.”
The Flying Cardinals scored 13 points off of 11 Trojan turnovers while the Trojans scored just four off of three UD turnovers.
Upper Dublin (7-5, 2-4 SOL) will host Upper Merion in a non-league game on Saturday at 7 p.m., and Wissahickon (5-8, 2-4) will host Central Bucks East in a non-league contest Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Wissahickon 11-13-11-12 47
Upper Dublin 12-14-11-16 53
Wissahickon (47) – Eddie Fortescue 17, Matt Compas 7, D’Shan Love 7, Harrison Williams 6, Willis 4, Tyler Caso 4, Carmen Ostroski 2.
Upper Dublin (53) – Drew Stover 14, Corby Watkins 15, Bazel Brady 8, Jason Williams 5, Brian Klammer 5, Mike Slivka 2, Micah Bootman 4.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 69, Upper Moreland 46
Anthony Straface and Caelin Peters combined for 42 points to help power Plymouth Whitemarsh to a win over Upper Moreland on Friday.
The Colonials jumped out to a big lead after one quarter (19-7) and were able to sustain their advantage the rest of the way en route to the victory.
Straface led all scorers with 22 points and Peters chipped in with 20. Jason Cherry contributed eight points for Plymouth Whitemarsh.
The Golden Bears, who put up a solid 31 points after halftime, were led by Byron Hopkins and Jahire Johnson, who both had 13 points. Jourdan Gregg was next for Upper Moreland with 10 points.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (7-4, 4-2 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday, and Upper Moreland (8-4, 3-3) will be on the road at Wissahickon on Tuesday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 19-8-23-19 69
Upper Moreland 7-8-16-15 46
Plymouth Whitemarsh (69) – Anthony Straface 22, Ray Tomassetti 3, Caelin Peters 20, Naheem McLeod 5, Kyree Pendleton 6, Jordan Evans 5, Jason Cherry 8.
Upper Moreland (46) – Byron Hopkins 13, Beau Woollens 2, Jahire Johnson 13, Jourdan Gregg 10, Jake Tiernan 2, Tyler Ibbotson 5, Garrett Garofalo 1.
SOLContinental Conference
Central Bucks South 54, North Penn 52
Central Bucks South scored the game’s last five points to pull out a thrilling win over host North Penn on Friday night.
The victory moved the Titans to 4-1 in conference play and tied with Pennridge for the top spot in the standings. The Knights dipped to 3-2 in conference with the loss.
The Titans held a seven-point lead at 49-42 with just under four minutes left before the Knights roared back with a 10-0 run capped by a fast-break basket by Mike Chaffee (team-high 17 points).
“The gym just erupted with cheering, but we were able to respond,” CB South coach Jason Campbell said.
The Titans did indeed as Alex Dietz found Cole Prezelski for a corner 3-pointer to tie the game at 52-52 with two minutes, 20 seconds remaining.Then, with 28 seconds to go, Dietz drove to the basket before dishing to Tommy Kuypers for the winning basket.
“Dietz drove and drew the help defense and then finds Kuypers, who snuck in behind the defense for a layup,” Campbell said.
The Knights weren’t done, though, as A.J. Mitchell drove to the basket only to have his attempt rejected by Ian McCaw with less than five seconds to play, cementing the win for the Titans.
“It looked like A.J. Mitchell was going to score the tying bucket, but Ian McCaw sprinted over to help and rejected the shot,” Campbell said.
Kuypers finished with a game-high 18 points to go along with eight rebounds. Cole Prezelski added 12, and McCaw had nine points. Matt Kannengieszer added seven points to a balanced Titan attack.
Mitchell finished with 13 points for the Knights, and Kolby Barrow added 10. Matt Swanson had nine points.
Central Bucks South (10-3, 4-1 SOL) will host Central Bucks West in a rivalry game on Tuesday, and North Penn (8-4, 3-2) will host Downingtown West in a non-league game on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Central Bucks South 12-17-14-11 54
North Penn 9-11-13-19 52
Central Bucks South (54) – Cole Prezelski 12, Brady Prezelski 4, Alex Dietz 4, Matt Kannengieszer 7, Tommy Kuypers 18, Ian McCaw 9.
North Penn (52) – Tali McIver 1, AJ Mitchell 13, Kolby Barrow 10, Chris Caputo 2, Mike Chaffee 17, Matt Swanson 9.
Pennridge 54, Central Bucks East 48
Pennridge remained in a tie atop the conference, thanks to a solid win over host Central Bucks East on Friday.The Rams moved to 4-1 in the conference, the same mark as Central Bucks South.
Against the Patriots, Pennridge used a stifling defense, especially in the opening half, to collect the win.
“East can really shoot it, and I feel good that we held them under 50 points,” Pennridge coach Dean Behrens said. “They’re a tough matchup for us. I thought Trent Fisher did a great job – when we went big, he got matched up with a guard, and he did a great job. He was so long, and he really bothered their one guard. That was big.
“We feel like this was a big win for us because East had reeled off two in a row, and they only had two losses. Our kids have really played well together."
The Rams only surrendered 14 first-half points (while scoring 21 themselves) on the way to the victory.
Sean Yoder deposited a game-high 22 points for Pennridge while Jon Post had 13 and Trent Fisher 11.
“Jon Post had a nice game tonight – he was in double figures in points, he was probably close to 10 rebounds, and he had a couple of blocks,” Behrens said. “He really did it all. He and the kid (Nick) Roggio really battled tonight. Reggio had 19 but had a bunch in the fourth quarter when he hit two threes. They’ve been battling each other for a couple of years now.
“Obviously, Sean (Yoder) has been extremely consistent, but we’re getting contributions from different guys every night. We're getting good contributions from John Dominic. Jack Gillespie had a big three tonight. His brother, Pat, didn’t score tonight, but he’s had some big games from us. We feel like we’re getting contributions from a lot of different guys. My job is to try to figure out how to rotate these guys in."
Leo Masterson added 11 points for the Patriots.
Pennridge (11-2, 4-1 SOL) will be on the road at Spring-Ford on Monday for a non-league game, and Central Bucks East (9-3, 3-3) will play its fourth game in five days on Saturday when the Patriots travel to Wissahickon for a non-league game at 1:30 p.m.
Pennridge 11-10-15-18 54
Central Bucks East 5-9-14-20 48
Pennridge (54) – Sean Yoder 22, Jon Post 13, John Dominic 5, Trent Fisher 11, Jack Gillespie 3.
Central Bucks East (48) – Nick Roggio 19, Ben Markowitz 3, Leo Masterson 11, Joe Jackman 6, Anthony Giordano 4, Brendan Harte 4.
Central Bucks West 55, Quakertown 31
Central Bucks West combined stingy defense and plenty of scoring to post a win over Quakertown on Friday.
After yielding 10 points in the first quarter, the Bucks, who led 15-10 after eight minutes, only surrendered a total of nine points over the next two quarters to pull away for the
victory. That defense enabled West to lead 40-19 after three quarters.
Jack Mulhearn led the way for the Bucks with a game-high 20 points – which included three 3-pointers – and a team-best seven rebounds. He scored 12 of his points in a 17-point third quarter that put the game out of reach. Jack Neri contributed 12 points – nine in the first half – and six rebounds in the win.
Freshman Bobby Rosenberger highlighted the offense for the Panthers with a team-high 13 points.
Central Bucks West (6-6, 2-3 SOL) will travel to Methacton for a non-league game Saturday at 4:30 p.m., and Quakertown (2-8, 1-5) will host Boyertown in a non-league game Saturday at 7 p.m.
Quakertown 10-2-7-12 31
Central Bucks West 15-8-17-15 55
Quakertown (31) – Matt Catalano 4, Sean Harrison 4, Jimmy Casey 8, Bobby Rosenberger 13, Eli Ortiz 2.
Central Bucks West (55) – Connor Briece 3, Jack Mulhearn 20, Mika Munari 1, Jack Neri 12, Reed Zerweck 4, Andrew Lindenmuth 3, Owen Haney 4, John Murnen 3, Shea Lare 1, Nathan Ocampo 2, Danny Miller 2.
SOL National Conference
Council Rock South 51, William Tennent 44
Council Rock South used solid offensive contributions all around on the way to a victory over host William Tennent on Friday.
The win moved the Golden Hawks to 4-2 in conference and alone in second place behind front-running Pennsbury.
“It was a good win for us,” Council Rock South coach Chris Clark said. “We battled through quite a bit of foul trouble and we stuck together.”
After battling to an 11-11 tie after one quarter, the Golden Hawks outscored the Panthers 17-14 in the second to go into halftime with a 28-25 advantage. They took a 42-35 lead into the final quarter and went on to win by seven.
Only two Golden Hawks, Michael Stewart (12 points) and Brian Schwartz (11 points), were in double figures, but Jack Rebholz added eight points and Kevin McNamee had seven to bolster the offense. McNamee scored all seven of his points in the first half to lead a balanced Golden Hawk attack.
“Brian Schwartz was huge for us,” Clark said. “He had 11 points, 10 rebounds and was also our assist leader.
“Overall, I thought we moved the ball well on offense, but our defense needs a lot of work.”
Josiah Johnson led the Panthers with a game-high 19 points and Derrik Cosenza chipped in with nine.
Council Rock South (4-8, 4-2 SOL) will travel to Council Rock North on Tuesday for a rivalry game. William Tennent (3-8, 2-3) will travel to Harry S Truman on Tuesday.
Council Rock South 11-17-14-9 51
William Tennent 11-14-10-9 44
Council Rock South (51) – Jack Rebholz 8, Luke Meakim 4, Michael Stewart 12, Kevin McNamee 7, Luca Baratta 5, Brian Schwartz 11, Connor Lewis 4.
William Tennent (44) – Josiah Johnson 19, Alex Wadsworth 2, Kip Mooney 3, David West 5, Derrik Cosenza 9, Del Matunda 6.
Council Rock North 53, Bensalem 46
Council Rock North, which was coming off a 26-point loss at the hands of Central Bucks South, received points from seven players and strung together four solid quarters to net a win over Bensalem on Friday.
“It was a big win, definitely a bounce-back win because CB South handled us on Tuesday (52-26),” Council Rock North coach Jesse Krasna said. “Offensively, that probably was our toughest performance. Our kids showed a lot of maturity and showed great leadership – they were able to come together and bounce back in what I thought was one of our better games offensively.”
The team’s strong offensive play, according to the Indians’ coach, started with the team’s guard play.
“DJ Mischak did a great job taking care of the ball and getting us into our sets on offense against pressure,” Krasna said of his point guard. “Hunter Wan caught the ball in stride going to the basket and made some tough finishes, but he also penetrated through a couple defenders and just made great passes.
“Luke Vliet made shots – he was on from the perimeter, and Josh Fisher started off the game and hit a big three. He got into the paint and made some great passes as well. James Duffy had 10 points in the second quarter. There was a series where he was virtually unguardable. He rattled off six straight points.
“Our big man, Zach Saifer, who has been giving us a lot of toughness and rebounding off the bench, gave that to us tonight, and he also got into the scorer’s column. He caught some tough passes in traffic and finished with some athletes around him. He did did a great job as well.”
The Indians led 25-21 at halftime and pushed their advantage to 40-32 after three quarters on the way to the victory.
"Parker Ehlin brought great energy off the bench,” Krasna said. “He’s just a tremendous athlete. He made it really tough for Bensalem to get the ball into the post because he’s just so active in the passing lanes. He made some great passes. Everybody was really involved, it was definitely a total team effort.”
Krasna also came away impressed by the Owls, who were led by Lamont Hasker’s 12 points and 11 from Shane Simmons.
“Bensalem presents a lot of challenges,” Krasna said. “They’re very well coached, and their two big guys – Lamont Hasker and Jeremiah Alexander (seven points) – are tremendous. They’re probably two of the top five athletes in the league in the same front court.
“They beat us up on the backboards to start the game. Lamont Hasker had three straight offensive rebound putbacks to start the game. We called a timeout, and the guys adjusted. I thought for the rest of the game we did a really good job of not letting them get easy second-chance points. That was definitely a big focus for us in terms of our game plan."
Council Rock North (9-4, 3-2 SOL) will host Council Rock South on Tuesday, and Bensalem (6-6, 3-5) will be on the road at Ridley for a non-league game Saturday at 7 p.m.
Bensalem 16-5-11-14 46
Council Rock North 15-10-15-13 53
Bensalem (46) – Nasir Williams 2, Jeremiah Alexander 7, Shane Simmons 11, TJ Igielski 9, Lamont Hasker 12, Aaron Sanders 5.
Council Rock North (53) – DJ Mischak 5, Luke Vliet 10, Hunter Wan 8, Parker Ehlin 5, James Duffy 14, Josh Fisher 5, Zach Saifer 6.
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