Jarrad Saffren recaps Friday’s SOL boys basketball action. CB South/Souderton photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos…CLICK HERE.
By Jarrad Saffren
It was a light Friday night in the Suburban One League.
All but two SOL boys basketball teams are playing in the SOL Challenge Saturday.
So a lot of teams took Friday night, a weekly league game night, off.
Twelve SOL teams played league games Friday night.
The National Conference did not have any games. The Continental and American both had three.
All six results and recaps are below.
SOL American
Cheltenham 53, Upper Dublin 44
Trevonn Pitts, Cheltenham’s leading scorer and double-double machine, had a quiet night, putting up just eight points and eight rebounds.
Upper Dublin double-teamed Pitts throughout the game.
“But the double teams gave our shooters the opportunity to shoot,” Cheltenham coach John Timms said.
Cheltenham’s Jack Clark buried three threes in the first quarter, leading the Panthers to a 25-8 lead after eight minutes.
“Jack Clark got us off to a big start,” Timms said.
Upper Dublin clawed back into the game for the next three quarters, cutting Cheltenham’s lead to six in the fourth. But Cheltenham held on.
“We started out like we were gonna score a lot. But we were short-handed and it’s a league game, so it’s gonna be tough,” Timms said. “All league games are tough. You are fortunate to win by 15-20, so don’t come in expecting that. We expected a tough game and that’s what we got.”
Cheltenham was missing sixth man Rodney Carson, who started the last two games in place of Tim Spencer, who had an ankle injury. Spencer was still nursing the injury Friday night, but he played through it.
But Cheltenham missed Carson.
“He brings energy,” Timms said. “He’s a Jamal Crawford-type.”
Clark and Ahmad Bickley replaced Pitts’ and Carson’s production. Clark led Cheltenham with 17 points. Bickley added 16. Tim Myarick scored six.
But Cheltenham’s defense won this game. Upper Dublin scored 10 points or less in three of four quarters.
“Those guys played hard. They know what we run and we know what they run,” Timms said. “Then it becomes a battle of wills. Upper Dublin gained confidence as the game went on.”
Mike Ryan led Upper Dublin with 12 points. Jalen Heim and Najee Scott both scored seven.
Cheltenham (9-3, 6-1 SOL) plays Central Bucks West Saturday at two. Upper Dublin (1-10, 1-5 SOL) plays Abington at four.
Cheltenham 25-4-8-16 53
Upper Dublin 8-10-9-17 44
Cheltenham (53) – Trevonn Pitts 8, Ahmad Bickley 16, Jack Clark 17, Jordan Paris 2, Tim Spencer 2, Tim Myarick 6, Kyin Healey 1.
Upper Dublin (44) – Mike Cotton 4, Najee Scott 7, Corby Watkins 5, Cory Stover 6, Mike Ryan 12, R Besachio 3, Jalen Heim 7.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 59, Upper Moreland 49
Upper Moreland gave Plymouth Whitemarsh a tough game. But the Colonials pulled away in the fourth quarter.
“They are a good team,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “Damian Washington is a great shooter. Ryan Coyle is a great point guard. I was really impressed with him.”
PW improved to 11-2 overall and 6-0 in SOL American play. But Donofrio, ever the perfectionist, sees an unfinished product.
“We are basically a team that does one thing well. We are a good defensive team, a really good defensive team. We defend most areas of the court extremely well, and that creates offense,” Donofrio said. “But we need work on offense. Like I’ve said before, we don’t have an Xzavier Malone-type who can just take over and open things up for everybody else. So different guys need to do different things.”
Matt Walker is the shooter. He dropped 16 points Friday night. Ahmin Williams and Ahmad Williams are the drivers. They scored 17 and 12 points Friday night, respectively. All three made six field goals.
“Matt Walker and the Williams twins keep producing for us, and they need to,” Donofrio said. “We need the varsity guys from last year, the ones who got minutes during the district and state playoff run, to lead everybody else.”
Naheem McLeod, PW’s 7-foot sophomore center, is the key to PW’s half court offense. McLeod, a raw talent who lags when PW plays fast, draws constant double teams in half court sets.
“Anytime there’s a 7-footer in a high school game, defenders flock to him,” Donofrio said. “Naheem doesn’t yet know how to deal with 6-foot-3 kids getting low and trying to steal the ball. We try to get him as close to the basket as possible so he doesn’t have to dribble. That way he can either put up a shot or find Walker on the weak side. He’s been doing that really well.”
McLeod only scored two points Friday night. Donofrio took him out when PW started to play fast. PW had to win with defense again. But, when it learns to win with offense, McLeod will surely be at the center of it.
Shane Stone led Upper Moreland with 18 points. Coyle added 12, and Jake Villanueva had eight.
PW hosts Springfield-Montco Saturday night at seven, in the only league game of the SOL Challenge. Upper Moreland (7-6, 3-4 SOL) hosts Hatboro-Horsham Tuesday night at seven.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 16-10-17-16 59
Upper Moreland 10-12-16-11 49
Plymouth Whitemarsh (59) – Kareem Breeden 4, Naheem McLeod 2, Danny Cooper 4, Matt Walker 16, Ahmin Williams 17, Cheo Houston 2, Ahmad Williams 12, Jason Paul 2.
Upper Moreland (49) – Damian Washington 5, Ryan Coyle 12, Brett Brossman 6, Shane Stone 18, ake Villanueva 8.
Wissahickon 69, Quakertown 47
Wissahickon dominated every statistical category in Friday’s win.
The Trojans outshot Quakertown from the floor (53 percent-35 percent), three-point range (44 percent-35 percent) and the foul line (73 percent-57 percent).
They also scored 36 points in the paint and 23 off turnovers. Quakertown scored just 14 and six in those categories, respectively.
Finally, Wissahickon out-rebounded Quakertown 36-21, scoring 14 second-chance points. Quakertown only scored two.
The Trojans, who led 17-9 after one quarter, took a 30-23 lead into halftime and then outscored their visitors 39-24 in the second half.
Zach Reiner led Wissahickon with 15 points. Chaz Owens added 12. Max Rapoport scored nine.
Ryan Howard led Quakertown with 15 points, including five threes. Nick Drosnock and JR Grimmage both scored eight.
Wissahickon (7-6, 5-2 SOL) battles Neshaminy at Bensalem Saturday at 12:30. Quakertown (2-10, 1-5 SOL) hosts William Tennent Saturday night at six.
Wissahickon 17-13-16-23 69
Quakertown 9-14-8-16 47
Wissahickon (69) – Zach Reiner 15, Chaz Owens 12, Donovan Oliphant 11, Max Rapoport 9, Shane Ford 7, Marlyn Johnson 6, Alex Tappen 6, Dahmier Meadows 2, Zach Gelman 2.
Quakertown (47) – Ryan Howard 15, Nick Drosnock 8, Dakota Suchanec 6, Kevin Juszynski 3, JR Grimmage 8, Grey Mitchell 2, Sam Rice 3, Eli Ortiz 2.
SOL Continental
Central Bucks East 40, North Penn 38
Central Bucks East handed North Penn its first SOL Continental loss of 2016-17.
“It’s a big win, a really big win,” CB East coach Erik Henrysen said. “They’ve been playing so well, and this will give our guys confidence.”
North Penn led 17-10 after the first quarter. CB East trailed by six at halftime and three after three quarters. They got back in it by circumventing North Penn’s double teams.
“They threw a lot of them at us,” Henrysen said. “We were able to find the open guy and not let them fluster us.”
The Patriots tied the game late in the fourth.
Then, with 37 seconds left, East’s Elijah Seger took a charge. The Patriots got the ball back. Matt Pattyson dribbled into the lane. Defenders converged. Pattyson passed the ball to Ryan Plack.
Plack sank a buzzer-beating game-winner.
“It was a heady play by Matt,” Henrysen said. “Ryan was open.”
Pattyson finished with 10 points. Plack and Collin Stein both scored six. Seger scored nine. He also led CB East with eight rebounds.
The 5-foot-11 guard leads the team in rebounds this season.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a kid that height lead the team in rebounds,” Henrysen said. “But I’ve also never had a team this small.”
Seger, as he did when he took that charge, makes a lot of hustle plays that don’t show up in the box score. In the fourth quarter, he drove in and forced North Penn forward Ricky Johns to commit his fifth foul. Then he threw the ball off a North Penn player and out of bounds, preserving a possession that CB East scored on.
“He’s that type of player, always does the little things right,” Henrysen said. “Makes big plays when we need them most.”
Reece Udinski led North Penn with nine points. David Guiliani added seven.
CB East (8-6, 4-2 SOL) plays Council Rock North Saturday at 4:30. North Penn (10-4, 5-1 SOL) battles Upper Moreland Saturday at three.
Central Bucks East 10-7-13-10 40
North Penn 17-6-10-5 38
Central Bucks East (40) – Matt Pattyson 10, Elijah Seger 9, Cooper Fink 2, Collin Stein 6, Ryan Plack 6, Nick Roggio 4, Ben Markowitz 3.
North Penn (38) – Ricky Johns 3, Reece Udinski 9, Lance Ford 2, Noah Kwortnik 6, Derek Heisermana 5, Chris Coleman 6, David Giuliani 7.
Souderton 53, Central Bucks South 40
Mike Bealer stayed hot for Souderton, dropping 27 points. He has scored 80 points in his last three games, averaging 26.6 per game.
“He’s really come into his own,” Souderton coach Tim Brown said. “Shooting, driving, he’s doing everything well.”
Bealer is really feeding off his point guard, Matt Cartwright.
“Matt knows where to get Mike the ball now,” Brown said. “They are on the same page and Matt’s playing like a true point guard, mostly deferring but shooting when he should.”
Cartwright scored nine points Friday night.
Danny Tecce scored 10 points to lead Central Bucks South.
Souderton took an eight-point lead into halftime (26-18) and a 13-point lead into the fourth.
The Indians won their third straight game to improve to 6-7.
“Like I said the other day, the key is how much better we’ve been practicing,” Brown said. “We started turning every drill into a competitive game with incentives. That’s really pushed the guys to pick it up.”
Souderton (6-7, 3-3 SOL) takes on Bensalem Saturday at two. CB South (3-9, 2-4 SOL) plays Harry S. Truman Saturday at three.
Souderton 12-14-11-16 53
Central Bucks South 11-7-6-16 40
Souderton (53) – Mike Bealer 27, Matt Cartwright 9, Anthony Rodriguez 6, Kyle Lennon 3, DJ Landis 2, Trevor Watts 2, Kaleef Blackwood 2, Noah Horas 2.
Central Bucks South (40) – Danny Tecce 10, Andrew Dietz 6, Nate Johnston 5, Colin Sauers 5, Ian McCaw 4, Colin Kenney, Cole Prezelski 3, Tommy Kuypers 2, Alex Karras 2.
Central Bucks West 54, William Tennent 45
William Tennent led by one going into the fourth quarter, 36-35. But Central Bucks West won the fourth quarter 19-9.
Sophomore Jake Mulhearn, who had nine points on three threes, hit some big shots down the stretch. Liam Cooney also made three threes, scoring 11 points total.
Collin MacAdams led the Bucks with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. Jake Reichwein contributed 10 points and four boards. Shane McCusker had six points and four rebounds. Jack Traina handed out six assists to go along with four points.
Tennent’s Matt Berndlmaier and Dave West both scored 13 points.
CB West, at 5-1 in league play, pulled into a first-place tie with North Penn.
The Bucks (9-4, 5-1 SOL) play Cheltenham Saturday at two. Tennent (2-9, 0-6 SOL) plays Quakertown Saturday night at six.
William Tennent 14-11-11-9 45
Central Bucks West 17-11-7-19 54
William Tennent (45) – Pat McCauley 3, Matt Berndlmaier 13, Markeith Baxter 4, Jorge Soto 10, Dave West 13, David Gassanova 2.
Central Bucks West (54) – Jack Traina 4, Shane McCusker 6, Liam Cooney 11, Collin MacAdams 14, Jack Mulhearn 9, Jake Reichwein 10.
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