Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday. PW/Springfield Township photos provided courtesy of Michael Rice. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f582224377
SOL Colonial/Patriot Crossovers
Central Bucks South 71, Bensalem 61
Against a team known for its pressure defense, CB South turned in its most complete offensive effort of the season, as the backcourt combination of seniors Chris Granito and Flynn Carroll combined for 47 points in a 10-point road win for the Titans.
It was the fourth win in the last five games for CB South.
“It might be our most complete game of the year,” said Titans coach Louie Ditri. “Obviously, scoring 71 points, our offense came to play tonight. Especially the backcourt, and Tyler Meinel too. He only scored 13 points, but I told him that tonight was the best he’s played all year. He distributed the ball and played great defense.
“Chris Granito and Flynn Carroll combined for 47 points. I told them on the bus, ‘I don’t know if we’ve ever had a backcourt score 47 points in a game here at South, and I’ve been here for 19 years.’”
Bensalem is a team built around its pressure defense and making life uncomfortable for opposing ballhandlers.
“One thing we definitely worked on is press breakers,” Ditri said. “That’s been a difficult spot for us at times. We tweaked some stuff and really handled their press well.
“Defense, we manned up on No. 11 (Antonio Morris). Tyler made him work for it. He scored 14, but it was a hard 14. He earned it. Owen Wheeler and Sean Rieber did a nice job on (Eric Gonzalez).
“(Jaidyn Moffitt) went off for 20 points – he’s a nice young player – but defensively we bared down as a group and that led to better offense for us.”
Granito finished with a game-high 26, while Carroll had 21. Meinel finished with 13.
“It was a tough game tonight,” said Bensalem coach Ron Morris. “CB South shot the ball really well. They were making some tough shots. Every time we got some momentum, they would hold us off. Great job by their coaching staff and players.”
For South (6-9, 6-3 SOL), it’s been a long road back since an 0-5 start to the season.
“I felt Thursday was probably our best practice of year,” Ditri said. “Wednesday wasn’t great, but Thursday was. We had two practices and film study as well. We film studied our opponents and also film studied ourselves, and that’s big for us. When you don’t have as many practices, when you do, you need to get on the court and work. We’ve had our players scouting our opponents, focusing on our opponents and that’s helped them get prepared for the game.
“We all know we have to win as many games as possible if we want to make the district playoffs. The kids know that, and they even took it up a notch with their effort. They know every game, in theory, is a playoff game for us.”
The Titans are off until Tuesday when they host Harry S. Truman.
Bensalem (8-5, 5-4 SOL), which is 1-4 in its last five games, looks to rebound Saturday with a nonleague game at Wissahickon.
Central Bucks South (71)
Dylan Valentine 1 0-0 2; Flynn Carroll 6 8-8 21; Dalton VanZanten 3 1-2 7; Christopher Grenito 8 4-6 24; Owen Wheeler 2 0-1 4; Tyler Meinel 5 1-2 13; Totals 25 14-19 71.
Bensalem (61)
Eric Gonzalez 3 3-4 12; Micah White 3 0-0 6; Amir Drummond 1 6-9 8; Nate Cooper 1 0-0 2; Antonio Morris 6 1-2 14; Jack Wineburg 0 1-2 1; Jaidyn Moffitt 7 4-7 20; Totals 21 15-24 61
Central Bucks South 16-17-21-17 71
Bensalem 8-14-19-20 61
3-point goals: CBS -Christopher Grenito 4, Nolan Meinel 2, Flynn Carroll; Bensalem – Eric Gonzalez 3, Jaidyn Moffitt 2, Antonio Morris.
Pennridge 43, Council Rock North 41 (OT)
In a defensive struggle that saw both teams have a tough time putting the ball in the basket in the fourth quarter and then in overtime, Pennridge emerged with the win thanks to a pair of late free throws by senior Tommy Cramer.
Cramer’s free throws with 3 seconds remaining broke a 41-41 tie, and Pennridge was able to hold on for the win, its sixth win in the last seven games.
“For us, Council Rock North is long; probably the biggest and thickest team we’re going to see across the board,” said Rams coach Dean Behrens. “They’ve probably played three or four overtime games and every game they play is close. They beat Haverford and Haverford is really good.
“Tonight, was two teams, I thought, who played as hard as they could. It wasn’t the prettiest basketball you’ll ever see, but guys were diving on the floor, guys were battling on the boards.”
Pennridge led 34-33 going into the fourth but managed to score just five points in the third quarter. CR North scored just six points in the fourth, one on a 3-pointer by Oliver Schaefer that tied the game at 39.
Each team had just one field goal in overtime. Cramer was fouled on a putback attempt of a Xavier Peter miss to earn the decisive free throws.
Peters led Pennridge on the night with 11, while Cramer, Gannon Perlini and Ryan Hass had eight each. Leading scorer Matt Campione had just two points, but the boxscore doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Matt had a tough night,” Behrens said. “They really guarded him and were long on him. But Matt did a heck of a job on the (Jack) Blum kid. His defense was spot on. He struggled offensively, but didn’t let it affect his defense, because if it did, we would have lost. That was really important. No matter what our scoring is, defense will win us games.”
Adam Mahtat had 11 for CR North, while Cole McCarthy added 10.
Pennridge (9-5, 5-4 SOL) has a quick turnaround, hosting Perkiomen Valley in a tough nonleague game Saturday afternoon (1:30 p.m.).
CR North (7-7, 4-5 SOL) hosts Souderton on Tuesday.
CR North (41)
Oliver Schaefer 2 0-0 6; Tyler Radowitz 0 2-2 2; Cole McCarthy 4 0-0 10; Micah Oxley 2 0-0 4; Adam Mahtat 4 1-1 11; Jack Blum 4 0-0 8. Totals 16 3-3 4.
Pennridge (43)
Caden Fisher 2 2-2 6; Gannon Perlini 3 0-0 8; Matt Campione 1 0-0 2; Xavier Peters 4 3-4 11; Tommy Cramer 3 2-2 8; Ryan Hass 3 0-0 8. Totals 16 7-9 43.
CR North 10 14 9 6 2 – 41
Pennridge 7 17 10 5 4 – 43
3-point goals: CRN-Schaefer 2, McCarthy 2, Mahtat; P-Perlini 2, Hass 2.
Neshaminy 57, Souderton 50
Coming off of three straight losses, Neshaminy needed a win to stop the bleeding. And if it was going to happen Friday, it would be on the road at Souderton.
Nate Townsend scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, and he had a key 3-pointer and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line as Neshaminy got back on track and pulled out the seven-point win over the host Indians.
“We lost three straight,” said Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle. “The first two we couldn’t put the ball in the ocean. The last one was a really good match with Pennridge at their place. To get this win was good for our morale.”
But make no mistake, it wasn’t an easy win by any stretch.
“It was a back-and-forth game the whole time,” Tingle said. “We shot the ball well. They shot the ball well.”
Townsend finished with 20 points and seven assists. Guy Horton had nine points and five rebounds. Sean Curley had eight points, and Ryan Meehan hit three of four free throws to help salt the game away in the fourth quarter.
Neshaminy was 11-for-14 from the line in the fourth.
Souderton finished just 3-for-8 from the line for the game.
The Indians were led by Nate Hemsing, who had 16 points. James Blair and Aiden Maue had 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Neshaminy (8-6, 5-4 SOL) next plays at CB East on Tuesday.
Souderton (5-9, 4-5 SOL) will look to bounce back at Council Rock North Tuesday.
Neshaminy (57)
Joey Zack 3 0-0 6; Ashton Lovelace 1 0-1 2; Emeer Coombs 2 2-4 7; Ryan Meehan 1 3-4 5; Guy Horton 4 0-0 9; Sean Curley 3 2-2 8; Nate Townsend 7 4-4 20. Totals 21 11-15 57.
Souderton (50)
Nate Hemsing 5 3-5 16; James Blair 5 0-0 12; Chanse Salone 3 0-2 7; Aidan Maue 4 0-1 10; Levi John 1 0-0 3. Totals 19 3-8 50.
Neshaminy 19 13 9 16 – 57
Souderton 17 9 10 14 – 50
3-point goals: N-Townsend 2, Horton, Coombs
Central Bucks West 68, Harry S Truman 34
A 21-6 first quarter set the tone on the road early for the Bucks, who blew out Truman for their third win in four games, improving to 6-10 overall on the season.
Eleven different Bucks scored in the game, led by Michael Fountain and Julian Phillips with 12 points each. Colin McKenna and Sam Jankowski had seven points each in the very balanced scoring effort.
Truman was led by Khavier Adams with nine points.
CB West (6-10, 4-6 SOL) hosts Pennsbury on Tuesday.
Truman plays (1-12, 0-9 SOL) at CB South on Tuesday.
CB West (68)
Charlie Cashman 1 0-1 2; Michael Fountain 4 2-2 12; Matt Engle 1 2-2 5; Julian Phillips 4 3-3 12; Max McGlone 2 2-2 6; Colin McKenna 2 3-4 7; Max Slaymaker 1 2-3 4; Sam Jankowski 3 0-2 7; Trey Reed 2 0-2 4; Aidan Kimberly 3 0-0 6; Max Milillo 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 15-22 68.
Truman (34)
Kahalil King 1 4-6 5; Khavier Adams 3 3-3 9; Erik Nieves 0 2-2 2; Aaron Nathan 1 0-0 2; Tre Winton 3 0-0 8; Randolph Cox 2 1-2 5; Stephon Thomas 1 1-2 3. Totals 11 11-15 34.
CB West 21 12 17 18 – 68
Truman 6 12 7 9 – 34
3-point goals: CBW-Fountain 2, Engle, Phillips, Jankowski; HST-Winton.
SOL Liberty/Freedom Crossovers
Upper Dublin 48, Cheltenham 46
Ryan Mulroy scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, including a key 3-pointer late, and then – with 2.7. seconds remaining in regulation – Brady Fogle was fouled shooting a ‘3’ and made two of three free throw attempts to allow Upper Dublin to eke out a win against Cheltenham, the seventh in a row for the Flying Cardinals.
“It was an ugly one, if I had to describe it,” said UD coach Derek Brooks. “There were two good defensive performances tonight, by both teams, but not a great shooting night for either. It was close down the stretch, back-and-forth, a one or two-point game the entire fourth quarter.”
Seaton Kukla scored 17 points for the Cardinals, but also made an impact on the defensive end.
“I thought Seaton Kukla did a good job rebounding and taking away the middle on defense,” Brooks said. “I also thought Chris Kohlbrenner and Mason Pensabene did a great job on their (shooting guard).”
For UD, finding a way to win when the offense struggles was big.
“I talked to 15 people since the game ended and they all said it was an ugly game, but a win is a win,” Brooks said. “Sometimes, you have to win ugly. It doesn’t always feel the best as a coach – you want to play well and look good – but it’s good for us to have a close game and find a way to win a close game. It really could have went either way.”
Cheltenham was led by Josiah Hutson’s 14 points.
“The kids fought hard,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said. “This was our seventh loss. We have 10 games left, so we have to go on a roll. We just have to get back to locking in and believing, but this was a tough one.”
Upper Dublin (10-4, 7-2 SOL) has a nonleague game Saturday (1:30 p.m.) at Holy Ghost Prep.
Cheltenham (5-7, 4-5 SOL) plays at Quakertown on Tuesday.
Upper Dublin (48)
DJ Cerisier 2 0-0 4; Ryan Mulroy 7 3-7 18; Brady Fogle 2 2-3 6; Seaton Kukla 6 4-8 17; Griffin Pensabene 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 10-20 48.
Cheltenham (46)
Josiah Hutson 5 3-5 14; Yakeen Respes 1 0-0 2; Kamani Healey 3 2-3 8; Kevin Addison-Anderson 4 0-2 8; Osei Johnson 2 0-0 5; Malik Hughes 1 2-2 4; Nile Tinsley 1 2-2 5. Totals 17 9-14 46.
Upper Dublin 12 4 16 16 – 48
Cheltenham 7 8 18 13 – 46
3-point goals: UD-Mulroy, Kukla
William Tennent 64, Hatboro-Horsham 55
Coming off of a loss and playing a Hatboro-Horsham team that had its biggest win of the season earlier in the week, William Tennent needed a strong effort and got just that to pull past the Hatters in a crossover game on Friday.
“I thought we played good,” said Panthers coach Robert Mulville. “We kept making runs, but Hatboro kept coming back at us. We’d go up maybe like 10 points, and all of a sudden the lead would be down to five.
“To start the fourth quarter, we were able to get some stops, but we kept turning the ball over. Eventually, Isaiah Dawson hit a big ‘3’ for us with four minutes left to put us up nine. We were able to hold the ball, we got some runouts after defensive rebounds – we did a nice job rebounding the fourth quarter – and hit a streak.”
After a loss to Quakertown on Tuesday, Tennent didn’t want to let that affect the way it played on Friday.
“I was happy with the team effort,” Mulville said. “We were a little flat against Quakertown the other night, and that’s probably what cost us the game. The energy was real good in practice, they stayed positive and weren’t down on themselves after that loss.
Kirby Mooney had a huge night for Tennent with 31 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. George Marion had 13 points and nine rebounds. The Panthers also got solid efforts on both ends from Dawson – who missed the previous three games with an illness – as well as Evan Devor and Tony Pople, who both played big on the glass in the fourth quarter.
Noah Schlosser scored 18 for H-H, while freshman Kenny Lutz scored 16.
Tennent (10-4, 6-3 SOL) plays at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Tuesday night.
H-H (4-11, 3-6 SOL) hosts rival Upper Moreland on Tuesday.
William Tennent (64)
Kirby Mooney 11 7-11 31; Isaiah Dawson 2 0-0 6; George Marion 5 1-1 13; Sean Devine 0 2-2 2; Chris D’Ambra 1 1-2 4; Danny Scheller 2 0-0 5; Evan Devor 1 0-0 3.
Hatboro-Horsham (55)
Jake Grier 1 4-4 6; Noah Schlosser 7 4-5 18; Kyle Dittus 2 2-2 7; Kenny Lutz 7 2-4 16; Matt Winger 1 4-6 6; Vaughn Craig 1 0-0 2.
Tennent 17 16 18 13 – 64
Hatboro-Horsham 10 21 15 9 – 55
3-point goals: WT-Mooney 2, Dawson 2, Marion 2, D’Ambra, Scheller, Devor; HH-Dittus
Upper Moreland 56, Quakertown 40
Upper Moreland snapped a three-game losing streak with one of its best defensive efforts of the season on Friday, as Quakertown could never get untracked offensively and the result was a 16-point win for the Golden Bears.
“It was a full team effort,” said UM coach Dan Heiland. “We really tried to not let them get comfortable bringing the ball up the court. In scouting them, I think teams allowed them to get in what they like to do. That’s one of the things we talked about before the game.
“It was a great defensive effort from everyone. We challenged them to play better defense.”
Colson Campbell had 22 points to lead the Bears, while Alex Best added 18.
“It was a group effort,” Heiland said. “Everyone else sprinkled in points too. Colson did a great job bringing the ball up and creating shots for others. Alex did a great job defensively as well as offense. He hit two big ‘3s’ in the third quarter that helped us maintain our lead.”
Upper Moreland (11-4, 5-4 SOL) plays at Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday.
Quakertown (6-8, 3-6 SOL) hosts Cheltenham on Tuesday.
Quakertown (40)
Miles Longacre 7 1-2 15; Sam Wilkin 3 2-6 9; Ethan Tomlinson 3 0-0 6; Kyle rosenberger 3 1-2 8; Aidan Burgy 0 2-2 2; Totals 16 6-12 40.
Upper Moreland (56)
Nigel Adamson 1 2-4 4; Alex Best 8 0-0 18; Jon Clark 1 3-4 5; Ralph Tyler 3 0-0 6; Sean Murphy 0 1-2 1; Colson Campbell 8 6-7 22.
3-point goals: Q – Ethan Tomlinson, Kyle Rosenberger; UM – Alex Best 2.
Quakertown 14-7-8-11 40
Upper Moreland 13-10-8-25 56
Abington 50, Lower Moreland 42
The Ghosts and Lions went into halftime deadlocked 20-20, and after the Ghosts scored a basket to open the second half, the Lions answered with seven straight points to go on top 27-22. A 12-0 Abington run at the end of the third quarter erased that deficit, and the Ghosts – who took a 34-27 lead into the final quarter – held on to beat Lower Moreland by eight in a crossover game on Friday night.
The Galloping Ghosts, who have won five straight, struggled offensively, shooting just 39.5 percent (17-for-43) from the field and 34.7 percent (8-for-23) from 3-point range.
Jeremiah Lee and Paul Glants led a balanced scoring effort for Abington with 12 points each. Lee added 10 rebounds and five steals. Damon Rawls had eight points and seven assists. Kellen Ingram also had eight points, while Josh Young grabbed five rebounds.
Tom Przybylinski had a game-high 16 to lead Lower Moreland, while Kevin Hegedus chipped in with 12.
Abington (8-6, 7-2 SOL) is off until Tuesday when it plays at Springfield.
Lower Moreland (10-5, 4-5 SOL) hosts Wissahickon on Tuesday.
Lower Moreland (42)
Ian Alicea 0 0-2 0; Thomas Przybylinski 5 5-6 16; Kevin Hegedus 5 0-0 12; John Kroll 3 0-1 8; Gabe Krutzinger 2 0-0 4; Donato Incollingo 1 0-0 2; Nathan Fellah 0 0-1 0; Totals 16 5-10 42.
Abington (50)
Damon Rawls 3 0-0 8; Jeremiah Lee 4 0-1 12; Paul Glants 4 2-3 12; Josh Young 1 2-3 4; Kellen Ingram 4 0-1 8; Lathan Martin 0 2-2 2; Kamari Brasher 0 2-2 2; Aaron Jones 1 0-0 2; Totals 17 8-12 50.
Lower Moreland 9-11-7-15 42
Abington 14-6-14-16 50
3-point goals: LM -Kevin Hegedus 2, John Kroll 2, Thomas Przybylinski; Abington – Jeremiah Lee 4, Paul Glants 2, Damon Rawls 2.
Wissahickon 69, New Hope-Solebury 43
Dom Vacchiano and Earl Stout combined for 16 points in the opening quarter, as Wissahickon started this one out quickly and ran away from host New Hope-Solebury for the Trojans third straight win.
Wissahickon led 18-10 after one quarter and 41-22 at halftime.
Jaylon Williams, who had 12 points in the second quarter, led the Trojans with 19 points for the game, while Vacchiano ended up with 18 and Stout 12. Andrew Slackman chipped in with eight.
New Hope was led by Liam Ross, who scored 14.
Wissahickon (5-8, 5-4 SOL) is back at it Saturday with a nonleague game against Bensalem.
New Hope (0-10, 0-9 SOL) will host Upper Dublin on Tuesday.
Wissahickon (69)
Will Kirkpatrick 1 3-3 5; Jaylon Williams 7 2-2 19; Brayden Ryan 2 0-0 4; Kevin Cupid 1 0-0 2; Andrew Slackman 3 2-4 8; Dom Vacchiano 6 2-2 18; Earl Stout 5 1-2 11. Totals 26 10-13 69.
New Hope-Solebury (43)
Heath Miller 4 0-0 10; Jon Wilson 4 0-2 8; Rocco Massimino 2 0-0 6; Matt Hanley 1 0-0 3; Liam Ross 7 0-0 14; Will Keddie 0 2-2 2. Totals 18 2-4 43.
Wissahickon 18 23 16 12 – 69
New Hope 10 12 11 10 – 43
3-point goals: W-Vacchiano 4, Williams 3; NHS-Miller 2, Massimino 2, Hanley
Plymouth Whitemarsh 70, Springfield Twp 33
Fast starts and early knockout punches have been the norm for Plymouth Whitemarsh lately, and Friday the Colonials won their ninth straight league game without a loss with a 70-33 rout of Springfield in a crossover game.
PW outscored the Spartans 23-4 in the first quarter and that was pretty much it. It was 45-13 at halftime.
Chase Coleman had the hot hand for the Colonials, scoring 19 of his game-high 21 points in the first half. Jah Sayles had eight points in the first quarter and 10 for the game. Lincoln Sharpe had eight of his 10 points in the first half as well.
Brett Smith led Springfield with eight points to go along with six rebounds. Sam Greenfield had six points, and Will Hastings added five points and three assists.
PW (11-2, 9-0 SOL) maintained its two-game lead in the SOL Liberty standings with the win and will play at Methacton in a nonleague game Saturday afternoon.
Springfield (5-9, 1-8 SOL) is off until Tuesday when it hosts Abington.
Springfield (33)
Johnny Nosal 0 0-2 0; Dylan McKenzie 1 0-0 2; Miles Goodwin 1 0-0 2; Brett Smith 4 0-0 8; Ezra Parks 1 0-0 2; Trey Mapp 1 2-2 4; Sam Greenfield 2 0-0 6; Bob Hartman 2 0-0 4. Muneer Pigford 2 0-0 5. Totals 14 2-4 33.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (70)
Jaden Colzie 7 0-0 14; Jimmy Flowers 1 0-0 2; Chase Coleman 8 0-0 21; Mani Sajid 1 0-0 2; Ben Marsico 1 0-0 3; Qudire Bennett 2 0-1 4; Jah Sayles 4 0-0 1; Lincoln Sharpe 5 0-1 10; Rodney Willis 2 0-2 4. Totals 30 0-4 70.
Springfield 4 9 9 11 – 33
PW 23 22 16 9 – 70
3-point goals: S-Greenfield 2; PW-Coleman 2, Sayles 2, Marscio
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