Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday. All SOS photo galleries for boys’ basketball can be viewed by clicking HERE.
SOL Patriot/Colonial crossover
Bensalem 43, Central Bucks West 42
Records and status in their respective divisions were thrown out the window in this one, but despite a serious test, Bensalem maintained first place in the SOL Patriot Division with the one-point win on the road at CB West.
“A win is a win,” said Owls coach Ron Morris. “Any way you can get a win is tough, especially on the road. It was a great atmosphere, it was loud. It was like a playoff game.
“Even though (CB West’s) record is 1-9, every game is close with them. So, they could probably be a couple possessions from being 8-2. Adam (Sherman) does a good job. They were well prepared, they knew what we like to do, and it’s good for your basketball team to be able to win different ways and face adversity – play slow, play fast. The sign of a good team is to be able to play different ways.”
The Bucks built a lead in the first half and led by two, 24-22 at halftime. It was tied after three quarters and came down to the final minute of the game.
“We were up four, and they hit a ‘3’,” Morris said. “It was a one-point game, and we missed the front end of a one-and-one. We told our guys to foul because we had two to give.
“They set up their press offense. We had Allen Myers on the ball just to distract. They inbounded to the foul line extended, and then they threw it long from there. As the kid caught it and dribbled, Jeremy (Rodriguez) came from behind and just took it, and then we ran the last three seconds out. It was intense.”
Sanders led Bensalem with 15 points, while Rodriguez had 10 and Myers nine points.
“Aaron Sanders played very well, keeping the guys in it in the first half,” Morris said. “Allen Myers again was a huge factor underneath. Jack Wineburg had some nice blocks. Antonio Morris sparked us off the bench with intense defense. Aaron (Sanders) and Jeremy (Rodriguez) had some big buckets down the stretch.”
John Lee’s 14 points led the Bucks, who also received nine points from Donte Mancini and seven from Michael Fountain.
Bensalem (9-2, 7-1 SOL) hosts North Penn in another crossover game on Tuesday.
CB West (1-10, 1-6 SOL) has a Saturday game at home against Hatboro-Horsham.
Bensalem (43)
Jeremy Rodriguez 4 2-3 10; Tra Edwards 1 0-0 3; Allen Myers 4 1-4 9; Eric Gonzalez 1 0-0 2; Aaron Sanders 5 3-5 15; Antonio Morris 1 0-1 2; Jack Wineburg 1 0-0 2; Totals 17 6-13 43
Central Bucks West (42)
Matt Engle 1 0-0 2; Kyle Kubit 1 0-1 2; Charlie Cashman 1 0-0 3; Donte Mancini 3 1-1 9; Colin McKenna 0 1-2 1; Bowen Gugger 2 0-0 4; John Lee 6 0-0 14; Michael Fountain 3 1-1 7; Totals 17 3-5 42
Bensalem 10 12 9 12 – 43
CB West 16 8 7 11 – 42
Council Rock North 54, Central Bucks East 52 (3 OT)
Jack Blum knocked down a pair of free throws at the end of regulation to tie it up, just seconds after this one looked over, and that was what Council Rock North needed, as it pulled out this cross-divisional game in three overtimes.
“It was a crazy, wild game, that’s for sure,” said Indians coach Jesse Krasna. “Personally, I know CB East is really good. They shot the ball really well. That’s the norm for them. I thought we did a pretty good job defending them, but they made shots whether we had them covered or not.
“The kid, Jacob Cummiskey, is really hard to guard. He puts so much pressure on the defense, he gets to the rim and he was making ‘3s’ tonight.”
This back-and-forth game started with CR North going up 11-0, followed by a 9-0 run by CB East to get right back into it. Bernie Parent had nine points in the first quarter for CR North, while Cummiskey had 14 of his team-high 18 in the first half.
The game came down to the final seconds of regulation.
“It was a tie game and (CB East) had the ball with eight seconds left,” Krasna said. “Brett Young made a really good move to the basket and scored with maybe a second left. I had two timeouts, so I called timeout immediately. There was .4 seconds on the clock, and the whistle was blown before the buzzer sounded. Their fans and the East bench went crazy. They thought they’d won the game and were celebrating on the court. But I got the timeout. The refs gave them a technical foul, by rule.
“Jack Blum stepped to the free throw line and knocked down two free throws calmly. Going back to last season, we probably won five or six close games because Jack Blum made pressure free throws. We knew he was going to step up and knock them down and he did. His teammates did too.”
Neither team scored in the first OT, and both had long stretches where they held the ball for last shots.
In the third overtime, CR North led by one late and Ryan Burkett then came up with a big rebound on an East miss and knocked down one of two free throws with three seconds left to put the Indians up by two and that ended up being the final score.
“Ryan Burkett came out of nowhere and grabbed the rebound in traffic,” Krasna said. “He hadn’t been in the game before that, came in ready to play, mentally and physically. That was the biggest point of his career with that rebound.
“He’s a senior that didn’t play at all last year because of COVID. It is his first experience playing varsity basketball. Even as a sophomore, he didn’t play that much on JV. On his own, he worked really hard. He was as committed in the offseason as much as any of our kids. He’s really improved a lot. He’s learned our way of playing and embraced it.”
Adam Mahtat scored 23 for CR North to lead all scorers. Parent added 18.
“Adam Mahtat was so good all night,” Krasna said. “His ability to stretch the defense by making perimeter shots has been huge all year, but tonight he was aggressive attacking the rim. He’s been working really hard on expanding his game in practice and is making himself into a multi dimensional player because of it.
“Shane Anhalt had two game changing-plays in OT. He drew a huge charge and got an offensive put back late where he just took off like a rocket pursuing the ball. The energy and IQ he brings off the bench is so valuable to our team.
“Logan Saifer rebounded, defended and cut well. His movement off the ball created a lot of scoring opportunities for our team.
“Bernie was Bernie. He came out in attack mode with nine first quarter points, didn’t force anything when East threw multiple defenders his way and closed the game out with a high degree of difficulty finish in traffic.”
CB East was led by Cummiskey’s 19 points, while Aidan Weaver added 13 points.
CR North (9-3, 5-2 SOL) next plays on Tuesday at home against CB West. CB East (8-4, 4-4 SOL) has a nonleague game Monday against Constitution High School as part of the Post & Pivot Dream Classic.
CR North (54)
Shane Anhalt 1 0-0 2; Bernie Parent 8 1-4 18; Adam Mahtat 9 4-5 23; Jack Blum 2 2-2 6; Ryan Burkett 0 1-2 1; Logan Saifer 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 8-13 54.
CB East (52)
Tyriq Toney-Bailey 1 1-1 3; Jacob Cummiskey 7 1-3 19; Liam Cummiskey 2 0-0 6; Nick Rivera 3 0-0 6; Brett Young 2 0-0 5; Aidan Weaver 6 0-1 13. Totals 21 3-5 52.
CR North 15 8 12 10 0 4 5 – 54
CB East 9 12 14 10 0 4 3 – 52
3-point goals: CRN-Mahtat 1, Parent 1; CBE-J. Cummiskey 4, L. Cummiskey 2, Young 1, Weaver 1
Harry S. Truman 69, Central Bucks South 61
On paper, this one didn’t look like one to watch going in, as the first place team in the SOL Colonial – CB South – took on the last place team in the SOL Patriot – Harry S. Truman.
But games aren’t played on paper, and host Truman played its best game of the season by far to pull off the huge upset on Friday.
“A win like this, against CB South, who I believe is like 15th in (District One), is a testament to my players,” said Tigers coach Tyrone Lewis. “We had two bad losses Monday and Tuesday, and now it’s Friday and we have to play a top 15 team in the district. To pull it off was the perfect storm.
“I think we have a really good team and we showed that tonight. They played together and looked like a team. When we play like that, we’re hard to beat. It’s the proudest moment in my coaching career, and since I’ve been coach at my (alma mater). The players deserve all the credit. We challenged them yesterday at practice and they responded.”
Ethan Flail scored 20 points for the Tigers to lead the way, including seven in the fourth quarter. Makai Jackson had 18 points, 11 in the first half. Shanbul Lewis added 11 points, and Wyatt Spinks scored eight, including two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
“It took a team effort tonight,” Lewis said. “It was a great win for us. We led the whole way, from start to finish. Makai and Ethan, my two best guys, played like the two best players on the floor tonight. … I played nine guys tonight, and all nine scored. Everybody contributed. The guys paid attention to the scouting report. It was like a perfect storm.”
CB South was led by Tyler Meinel, who scored 25 points, including 20 in the second half.
Truman (3-6, 1-5 SOL) is back in action Saturday afternoon at Academy Park. CB South (7-5, 5-3 SOL) also plays Saturday at Downingtown East.
CB South (61)
Jesse Rotunno 1 0-0 2; Jay Macalindong 4 0-0 9; Nolan Helsel 0 2-2 2; Aidan Van Zanten 1 0-0 3; Joe Rooney 0 4-6 4; Chris Granito 2 0-0 5; Flynn Carroll 0 2-2 2; Tyler Meinel 11 3-3 25; Michael Farley 2 3-6 7; Sean Rieber 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 14-19 61.
Harry S. Truman (69)
Ethan Flail 8 3-5 20; Shanbul Lewis 5 1-3 11; Michael Burns 1 0-0 2; Franz Fabian 1 0-1 2; Wyatt Spinks 3 0-2 8; Khavier Adams 1 0-0 2; Makai Jackson 8 1-2 18; Antonio Carr 1 2-4 4; Shamad Edwards 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 8-16 69.
CB South 9 14 15 23 – 61
Truman 14 13 17 24 – 69
3-point goals: CBS-Macalindong 1, Aiden Van Zanten 1, Chris Granito 1; HST-Spinks 2, Jackson 1, Flail 1
Abington 55, New Hope-Solebury 32
A 15-2 first quarter set this one in motion as Abington got scoring up-and-down its lineup on the way to this lopsided victory.
Two young players stepped up with big efforts for the Galloping Ghosts, led by sophomore Kellen Ingram, who scored a team high12 points in the game.
“He was with us last year and played JV,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “He’s strictly varsity this year. He’s been coming along. He’s one of our big men – he’s about 6-4 – so he battles with Derrius (Lucas), Connor (Fields) and Danny Moynihan every day. It was good to see him have a good game scoring-wise today.
“(Freshman) Paul Glants got us going early. He had seven out of our first nine points. He got us going offensively. It was good to see that.
“We played everybody – 11 guys scored – so that was good to see these guys that work hard at practice get a chance.”
Lucas added 11 points for Abington (6-4, 5-2 SOL), which hosts Springfield on Tuesday.
New Hope was led by Charlie Albano’s 13 points. The Lions (1-12, 0-7 SOL) play at Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday.
Abington (55)
Connor Fields 1 3-4 5; Fhenyx Scutt 0 2-2 2; Paul Glants 3 0-0 7; Jimmy Marino 1 0-0 2; Jeremiah Lee 2 2-3 6; Josh Young 0 4-4 4; Kayjel Morris 1 0-0 2; Eli Louis-Benjamin 1 0-1 2; Liam Rardin 1 0-0 2; Kellen Ingram 5 2-2 12; Derrius Lucas 5 1-2 11; Totals 20 14-18 55
New Hope-Solebury (32)
Jon Wilson 1 0-0 2; Dylan Hildebrandt 3 0-2 6; Charlie Albano 5 1-2 13; Miles Demby 1 3-6 5; Justin Lehman 2 0-0 4; Liam Ross 1 0-0 2; Totals 13 4-10 32
Abington 15 12 13 15 – 55
New Hope 2 7 13 10 -32
Cheltenham 63, Hatboro-Horsham 33
The Panthers jumped up early, building a 16-point lead by halftime and cruised to the win in the second half with a balanced attack throughout.
“The team played together,” said Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury. “Elias Walker led us. He was unselfish. And the same thing with Justin Savage, who is such an integral part of everything. He takes on a different role every night.
“It was good to see (four) guys almost in double figures. We want to continue to see that. We’re going to continue to push and grow.”
Rasheem Dearry was the high scorer with 14 points, as well as three assists. Savage had nine points and seven rebounds, Josiah Hutson nine points, two assists and two steals and Brandon Bush 13 points, eight assists and three steals. Walker had five assists and three steals.
Noah Schlosser had 18 points for H-H.
Cheltenham (9-0, 6-0 SOL) hosts Wissahickon on Tuesday. The Hatters (1-10, 1-6 SOL) have a nonleague road game Saturday at CB West.
Cheltenham (63)
Rasheem Dearry 14, Josiah Hutson 9, Elias Walker 2, Nasir Edens 4, Brandon Bush 13, Joey Weimer 3, Justin Savage 9, Taavi Mateen 3, Johnathan Fevrier 2, Kevin Addison-Anderson 2.
Hatboro-Horsham (33)
Jake Grier 5, Noah Schlosser 18, Kyle Dittus 8, Chrishon Avery 2
Hatboro-Horsham 8 5 9 11 – 33
Cheltenham 17 12 21 13 – 63
SOL Liberty/Freedom crossover
Lower Moreland 46, Wissahickon 39
To win on the road at Wissahickon, Lower Moreland needed a great effort, especially on the defensive end of the floor, and that’s exactly what the Lions got in this upset cross-division victory.
“Wissahickon is near the top of (the SOL Liberty),” said LM coach Seth Barron. “They’re good. We knew it was going to be a tough game. I have a lot of respect for that team, and we saw their players on video.
“It was close for a while. We actually were down at the end of the first quarter, but our defense was just really strong. We mixed up our defenses and held them to eight points in the second quarter, eight in the third and eight in the fourth.
“We keyed on their one shooter, (Earl) Stout, and tried to slow him down. He finished with 14 points, but I thought our guys did a nice job keeping him off the three-point line.”
Barron said more than one player contributed to that defense.
“It was a great team effort,” he said. “Our seniors played great. Brian Grant, playing hurt, was a warrior out there. Matt Ernst and Braden Alicea played great. Gabe Kretsinger and John Kroll, they’re two of the better defenders I’ve had. “
Ernst scored a game-high 13 points, eight in the second half, to lead Lower Moreland. Mike Pennisi scored eight first-half points, while Kroll had nine points.
For the Trojans, Earl Stout had 14 points and Morgan Wilson added 12.
LM (5-6, 4-2 SOL) plays at Upper Dublin on Tuesday. Wissahickon (8-4, 4-2 SOL) looks to bounce back Tuesday at Cheltenham.
Lower Moreland (46)
Braden Alicea 1 4-4 6; Matt Ernst 4 2-3 13; Brian Grant 2 0-0 5; Matt Pennisi 3 0-0 8; Gabe Krutsinger 1 0-0 2; John Kroll 3 1-2 9; Ian Alicea 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 7-11 46.
Wissahickon (39)
Gabe Lassiter 0 2-2 2; Josh Twersky 2 2-2 6; Jaylon Williams 1 0-0 3; Morgan Wilson 4 4-8 12; Dom Vacchiano 1 0-0 2; Earl Stout 6 2-3 14. Totals 14 10-15 39.
Lower Moreland 12 13 11 10 – 46
Wissahickon 15 8 8 8 – 39
3-point goals: LM-Ernst 3, Pennisi 2, Kroll 2; W-Williams 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 64, Springfield Twp 45
Qudire Bennett scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the first half, as the Colonials jumped out early on the way to the 19-point win over Springfield in a cross-divisional game on Friday night.
Jaden Colzie added 16 for PW, while Marshall Baker had 10.
The Colonials (6-5, 4-2 SOL) host Upper Dublin in a makeup SOL Liberty game Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Dylan McKenzie led Springfield with 26 points, while Ben Cooney had six points and seven rebounds.
Springfield (5-5, 2-5 SOL) hosts Science Leadership Academy Saturday at 3 p.m.
Springfield (45)
Dylan McKenzie 9 4-7 26; Ben Cooney 3 0-0 6; Brett Smith 3 0-1 6; Harry Rittenhouse 1 1-2 3; Kyle Smythe 1 0-0 2; Tommy Coppel 1 0-2 2. Totals 18 5-10 45.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (64)
Zende Hubbard 2 0-0 4; Jaden Colzie 7 1-2 16; Marshall Baker 3 3-4 10; Trey Jones 1 0-0 2; Taji Hubbard 1 0-0 3; Qudire Bennett 8 4-4 23; Pat Flynn 2 0-0 4; Rodney Willis 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 8-10 64.
Springfield 8 16 9 12 – 45
PW 17 18 9 20 – 64
3-point goals: S-McKenzie 4; PW-Qudire Bennett 3, Marshall Baker 1, Jaden Colzie 1
Quakertown 58, William Tennent 51
At times, this season has been a learning experience with bumps along the way for Quakertown, but Friday, the Panthers won for the second time in as many nights, rallying in the second half to knock off William Tennent at home on Senior Night.
“What it is, in the struggles we’ve had before, we’d play a good 16 minutes and then everything falls apart,” Quakertown coach Tony DaCosta said. “Now, the guys are playing 32 minutes and doing the right things. Before, we’d be competing well, then a turnover or an offensive rebound and it was like a snowball. We need to sustain it for four quarters, and it’s made a difference for us the last two games.”
It wasn’t easy.
Friday, Tennent led 21-8 at one point and as much as 17 points in the first half.
“You’ve got to give it to these guys; they did a remarkable job,” DaCosta said. “They showed the mental toughness to fight back. It was good to see. We’re a young team, and you really have to see the things you need to do win at this level. They’re starting to understand that.”
Quakertown outscored Tennent 15-5 in the third quarter, and then scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to pull away for the victory.
Ty Wilkin led the way with 20 points, while Miles Longacre added 16 points.
“Tonight, everybody really pulled their weight,” DaCosta said. “We made sure we didn’t give up second shots, and they got up close on their shooters. I think (Tennent) only had two ‘3s’ in the second half.”
The team’s four seniors – Owen Menszk, Stephan Frumuselu, Jahshua Thomas and Brendon Ruzicka – started and all contributed to the win.
Jeremy Henry and Tim Stanfield both scored 11 points to lead Tennent.
Quakertown (4-9, 2-6 SOL) plays at Upper Moreland on Tuesday. Tennent (3-7, 3-4 SOL) plays at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Tuesday.
William Tennent (51)
Jeremy Henry 4 2-4 11; George Marion 3 0-0 7; Kirby Mooney 4 0-3 8; Connor Fithian 1 1-1 3; Tim Stanfield 4 0-0 11; Danny Scheller 2 2-4 8; Brandon Beluch 1 1-2 3. Totals 19 4-16 51.
Quakertown (58)
Sam Wilkin 2 0-0 4; Kyle Rosenberger 1 0-2 2; Ethan Tomlinson 3 0-0 6; Ty Wilkin 6 8-11 20; Miles Longacre 5 6-8 16; Vince Micucci 1 0-0 2; Stephan Frumuselu 1 0-0 2; Max Morris 1 1-2 3. Owen Menszak 0 0-2 0. Totals 20 15-25 58.
Tennent 21 13 5 12 – 51
Quakertown 8 13 15 22 – 58
3-point goals: WT-Stanfield 3, Scheller 2, Marion 1, Henry 1
Upper Dublin 60, Upper Moreland 43
Seaton Kukla scored 20 points and Colin O’Sullivan had 18 points, as Upper Dublin overcame a two-point halftime deficit with a dominant defensive second half to pull away from Upper Moreland on Friday.
“At halftime, we talked about we wanted to clean up the turnovers, we wanted to guard a little better and we wanted to rebound, and really, the story was the defense,” said Flying Cardinals coach Chris Monahan. “DJ Cerisier did a good job trying to keep the ball out of Byron Hopkins’ hands. He’s a handful.
“We were able to get steals, we were able to get turnovers that got us into transition. Our offense was really generated out of the defense. You look at that third quarter holding them to six points and us getting a lot of turnovers and points off the turnovers let us take the lead and take control of the game.
Kukla scored 11 of his points in a back-and-forth first half. O’Sullivan had four 3-pointers for the game, including 13 second-half points.
“The game got off to a real fast start,” Monahan said. “I think for the first 10 possessions, nobody was stopping anybody else. We scored, they scored, and then we settled in a little bit defensively at the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter.
“I thought we had pretty good control of the game, but the end of the half was just a disaster for us in terms of turnovers, giving up offensive rebounds. They go on a 9-0 run, they hit a three pretty much at the buzzer, and all of a sudden, we’re down at halftime after I thought we played, predominantly, a pretty good first half.”
Matt Tiernan had 11 points to lead all UM scorers.
“It’s a great win,” Monahan said. “Upper Moreland is going to win a lot of games. They’ve got two kids, in Hopkins and Tiernan, that are certainly all-league caliber type players that are having good years, and then they’ve got guys around them that can all shoot the ball. They’re a very difficult team to play against. We’re psyched. It’s a great win for us.”
Upper Dublin (9-2, 6-0 SOL) has a key SOL Liberty game Saturday (5:30 p.m.) at Plymouth Whitemarsh. Upper Moreland (7-4, 3-4 SOL) is back in action Tuesday, at home against Quakertown.
Upper Moreland (43)
Sean Dallahan 1 0-0 2; Byron Hopkins 3 3-9 9; Bo Meakim 3 0-0 7; Rashim Lancit 2 0-0 6; Matt Tiernan 4 3-7 11; Jared McCellan 0 1-2 1; Stefano Garofalo 3 1-2 7. Totals 16 8-20 43.
Upper Dublin (60)
DJ Cerisier 5 0-0 10; Chris Kohlbrenner 2 0-0 5; Colin O’Sullivan 6 2-2 18; Ryan Mulroy 1 0-0 3; Griffin Pensabene 1 1-2 3; Elliot Johnson 1 0-0 2; Seaton Kukla 7 4-4 20. Totlas 23 7-8 60.
Upper Moreland 13 16 6 8 – 43
Upper Dublin 18 9 13 20 – 60
3-point goals: UM-Lancit 2, Meakim 1; UD-O’Sullivan 4, Kukla 2, Mulroy 1
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