Check out the winners in SOL boys’ basketball action on Friday. Check back for Lisa Henderson’s photos of the CB South/North Penn game. Neshaminy/Bensalem photos provided courtesy of Jesse Garber. To view photos of the Neshaminy/Bensalem game, please click on the following link: http://JSGarber.zenfolio.com/p717494763
National Conference
BENSALEM 57, NESHAMINY 40
The Owls received huge offensive performances from Rich Dean and Ward Roberts as both scored 21 points, combining for 42 of their team’s points.
Bensalem led 18-12 after one quarter and took a 28-18 lead into halftime. The Owls outscored the ‘Skins 17-7 in the third quarter to up their advantage to 45-25 heading into the final quarter when Neshaminy staged a late surge.
Charles Dominic led the Redskins with 14 points, Shammond Thomas added 12, and Zach Tredway contributed nine.
Bensalem (6-7, 3-5 SOL) will host Upper Moreland in Saturday’s SOL Challenge at 12:30 p.m. Neshaminy (2-10, 1-7) will travel to Quakertown for a 5:30 p.m. contest Saturday.
Neshaminy 12-6-7-15 40
Bensalem 18-10-17-8 53
Neshaminy: Shammond Thomas 12, Matt McGinty 3, Billy Warren 5, Anthony Papeo 4, Zach Tredway 9, Pat Campbell 2, Charles Dominic 14. Chris Arcidiacono 1.
Bensalem: Brandon Vaughn 2, Rich Dean 21, Anthony Greene 3, Ward Roberts 21, Taco Douglas 4, John Dumeny 2.
Continental Conference
PENNRIDGE 49, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 41
Pennridge likes to push the ball up and down the court. The faster the better. On Friday night, Central Bucks East effectively slowed down the high octane Rams’ offense, but when it mattered most, the Rams – who trailed until late in the fourth quarter – found a way to win it down the stretch.
“They wanted to slow us down,” coach Dean Behrens said. “Not that they took the air out of the ball, but they ran their offense really well.
“Their kid Justin O’Neil probably hit three threes in the first half. I don’t think our energy level was where it usually is, and they got back quickly.”
The Patriots, who led 14-9 after one quarter, took a 25-17 lead into halftime and still led by four heading into the final quarter.
“We missed some shots they contested – they had a 6-8 kid in the middle,” said Behrens of Blake Peterson. “I was more upset about our defense.
“We came out with a little more energy in the second half, but East played very well. I thought they played great.”
Late in the fourth quarter, the Rams began their comeback in earnest.
“There was a situation where we were down four, and (they) had a nice backdoor and missed the layup,” Behrens said. “We get the rebound, we come down the floor and Dan Long hits a three.
“Instead of them being up six, we’re now down one. Then we got a stop, we’re moving the ball around, they’re double teaming Max Wagner, and Steve Lowry had a wide open look at a three, and he nailed it.
“That was a big shot for Steve. I felt good for him. He feels as though he’s been struggling this year, and that was a big shot. He actually passed it up the first time, and he didn’t take. We got it reversed again, he was in rhythm, and he took it.”
Lowry’s clutch three-pointer turned a 41-40 deficit into a 43-41 Pennridge lead.
The Rams sealed the win by nailing six straight foul shots down the stretch with Kyle Yoder burying a pair and Dan Long connecting on four straight.
“People think, ‘Oh, they won by eight,’ but really it probably was a one possession game,” Behrens said. “We made every foul shot in the fourth quarter.
“I thought East played very well. One or two plays different and East beats us. It’s always difficult playing a team the second time, especially down there. It was a highly contested game. It was two high school teams playing hard, and we were just fortunate enough to come out on the right end.
“Going into the fourth quarter, it looked like East was going to take this one, but give our kids credit. There was a little bit of mental toughness. They never gave up. They believed, and we believed in them. Guys like Dan Long, Steve Lowry and Ryan Cuthbert have been through a lot of these games, so they kind of know how to win. That made a difference, and obviously, Max Wagner was a big difference tonight.”
Wagner led all scorers with 21 points while Long added 14 and Lowry had eight points.
East was led by the 21-point effort of Justin O’Neil while Tommy Strasburger had 14 points.
Blake Peterson had three blocks and became the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots, breaking the previous mark established by Fred Pope (’03). Peterson now has 116 blocked shots.
Pennridge (13-2, 7-1 SOL) will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh for a SOL Challenge contest against the undefeated Colonials at 8 p.m. Central Bucks East (8-6, 3-5) will host Wissahickon on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Pennridge 9-8-14-18 49
Central Bucks East 14-11-10-6 41
Pennridge: Dan Long 14, Max Wagner 21, Kyle Yoder Devon Balmer 2, Steve Lowry 8, Ryan Gallaway 2.
Central Bucks East: Tommy Strasburger 14, Blake Peterson 4, Justin O’Neil 21, Matt Pattyson 2.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 54, NORTH PENN 43
A defensive adjustment at halftime helped key a gutsy second half comeback by the Titans, who trailed 19-10 after one quarter and still were staring at a 26-20 hole at halftime. South outscored North Penn 12-8 in the third quarter to make it a two-point game and then closed it out with a decisive 22-9 fourth quarter to win 
going away.
“In the first quarter, North Penn got some open looks and knocked down some three’s,” South coach Jason Campbell said. “We were losing sight of our man. We were double teaming spots that we don’t usually double team in, and they were finding the open man down on the block.
“In the second half, we ended up going to a three-two zone, and we put Ian Vogt in the middle of that. Ian’s been fantastic this year, and he was the catalyst. He started the whole defense, and we had Ryan Joerger on the back end getting steals and Nate Robinson.
“We used the three-two, and I went to the fullcourt press. Chris Hones, our center, stepped in a few times when they were trying to break the halfcourt trap, and he got his hand on the ball, threw it up to Ian, and we wound up getting transition points out of it. That was really the difference in the game.”
The Titans were without junior guar Alex Karras for a good portion of the game because of a laceration.
“It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that we got him back in the game, and he certainly made a difference with our offense,” Campbell said. “I thought our backup guard, Dan Tecce, did a really good job of keeping us within our offense.
“Tim Waddington, as usual, stepped up in the second half. He had a big fourth quarter.”
Waddington led all scorers with 17 points and Nate Robinson added 12.
“They were big,” Campbell said.
Vogt and Joerger both added eight points.
For the Knights, Reece Udinski’s nine points led the way. Matt Pickford added seven while Justin Cueto and Noah Kwortnik both had six.
Central Bucks South (9-6, 5-3 SOL) will travel to Abington for Saturday’s SOL Challenge (2 p.m.) North Penn (5-9, 2-6) will face Council Rock South at Bensalem on Saturday at 11 a.m.
North Penn 19-7-8-9 43
Central Bucks South 10-10-12-22 54
North Penn: Justin Cueto 6, Matt Pickford 7, Lance Lindsay-Ford 4, Chris Coleman 5, Reece Udinski 9, JJ Melchior 3, Kishan Davara 3, Noah Kwortnik 6.
Central Bucks South: Alex Karras 2, Nate Robinson 12, Dan Tecce 2, Ian Vogt 8, Ryan Joerger 8, Tim Waddington 17, Chris Hones 3, Sam Al-Asha 2.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 79, QUAKERTOWN 59
Connor Lynch put on a dazzling display of long-range shooting on Friday night, burying 8-of-10 shots from beyond the arc and torching the visiting Panthers for 27 points. Twenty-four of those points came before halftime when Lynch was a near-perfect 7-of-8 on three-point attempts.
Lynch wasn’t the only West player with a hot hand. Cal Reichwein also connected on four shots from beyond the arc and finished with 20 points to go along with six assists. Bill Power added 15 points and Luke Irons had nine.
Quakertown was led by the 23-point effort of Griffin Schmidt, and Nick Drosnock added 14 points. JR Grimmage chipped in with eight.
The Bucks led by just a 15-14 score after one quarter, but sparked by Lynch’s deadly shooting, they outscored their visitors by 10 in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 40-29 lead on their way to the convincing win.
Central Bucks West (13-2, 8-0 SOL) will travel to Abington for an 11 a.m. contest against William Tennent in Saturday’s SOL Challenge. Quakertown (3-11, 0-8) will host Neshaminy on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Quakertown 14-15-16-14 59
Central Bucks West15-25-19-20 79
Quakertown: Ty Harrison 5, JR Grimmage 8, Ryan Howard 3, Rob Mestayer 2, Dakota Suchanec 4, Nick Drosnock 14, Griffin Schmidt 23.
Central Bucks West: Luke Irons 9, Cal Reichwein 20, Bill Power 15, Connor Lynch 27, Ben Riegel 3, August Meyer 2, Liam Cooney 3.
American Conference
WISSAHICKON 52, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 35
The Trojans took a tenuous 16-15 lead into halftime and still led by just four (31-27) heading into the final quarter when they exploded for 21 points while the visiting Spartans managed just eight.
Zach Reiner led the Trojans with a game high 21 points while Zach Gelman added 10. Max Rapoport added seven points and Michael Howard, six points.
For the Spartans, Ryan Daley finished in double figures with 14, and Quentin Johnson added nine.
Wissahickon (6-8, 3-5 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East for an SOL Challenge contest on Saturday at 5 p.m. Springfield (3-11, 0-7) will travel to Upper Merion for a 4 p.m. contest.
Springfield 8-7-12-8 35
Wissahickon9-7-15-21 52
Springfield: Ryan Daley 14, Justin Hill 5, Quentin Johnson 9, Larry Clark 3, Matt Corrado 4.
Wissahickon: Zach Reiner 21, Zach Gelman 10, Max Rapoport 7, Michael Howard 6, Alex Tappen 3, Noah Curran 3, Shane Ford 2.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 64, UPPER MORELAND 35
The Colonials seized early control of Friday’s contest, opening up a 13-2 lead after one period. It was a 25-13 game at halftime, and the Colonials went on to outscore their visitors 39-22 in the second half.
Xzavier Malone scored 13 points to lead a balanced PW attack that saw 10 players get into the scoring column. Mike Lotito and Grady Minick each added 11 points.
Brett Brossman led the Golden Bears with 14 points. Shane Stone added nine, and Brendan O’Donnell, six points.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (14-0, 8-0 SOL) will host Pennridge in Saturday’s SOL Challenge at 8 p.m. Upper Moreland (7-8, 3-5) will travel to Bensalem for a 12:30 p.m. contest Saturday.
Upper Moreland 2-11-12-10 35
Plymouth Whitemarsh 13-12-22-17 64
Upper Moreland: Brendan O’Donnell 6, Ryan Coyle 3, Casey Decker 3, Brett Brossman 14, Shane Stone 9.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Xzavier Malone 13, Mike Lotito 11, Oakley Spencer 2, Kevin Ashenfelter 5, Davon Burrell 5, Grady Minick 11, Ahmin Williams 2, Ahmad Williams 4, Glover 3, Matt Walker 3.
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