SOL Boys’ Basketball Wrap (1-17-24)

Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Wednesday.

SOL Patriot/Colonial crossover

CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 44, PENNSBURY 31

Defense has been the calling card of the Bucks this season, and they limited the host Falcons to just 17 first-half points, but they managed just 17 of their own and found themselves deadlocked at halftime.

“Pennsbury slowed the game down by being very patient on offense,” West coach Adam Sherman said. “It made it difficult for us to find our rhythm on offense.”

The Bucks began to find their stride in the third quarter, and sparked by six points from both Roman Kulesa and Sam Jankowski, they outscored the Falcons 14-10 and then put some distance between themselves and their host with 13-4 fourth quarter. Kulesa led the charge with eight fourth-quarter points.

Kulesa’s 15 points – 14 in the second half – led the Bucks.

“Roman Kulesa was our spark – he made some huge defensive plays and offensive rebounds in the second half that gave us the energy we needed to take a bigger lead in the fourth quarter,” Sherman said.

Julian Phillips added eight points, including a pair of 3s in the first quarter. Bowen Gugger had seven points, and Jankowski added six.

For the Falcons, Connor Taddei’s nine points led the way. Teddy Mangan added eight, and Danny Cohen had six.

Central Bucks West (12-4, 6-4 SOL) will be on the road at Neshaminy for a crossover game Friday, and Pennsbury (7-9, 4-6) will travel to Central Bucks South on Thursday.

Central Bucks West 8-9-14-13 44

Pennsbury 6-11-10-4 31

Central Bucks West (44) – Matt Engle 0 3-4 3; Bowen Gugger 3 1-2 7; Roman Kulesa 6 2-4 15; Sam Jankowski 3 0-2 6; Julian Phillips 3 0-0 8; Dan Gallagher 2 0-0 5; TOTALS 17 6-12 44

Pennsbury (31) – Teddy Mangan 2 4-4 8; Danny Cohen 2 2-2 6; Grayson Gozum 0 2-2 2; Connor Taddei 3 2-2 9; Eric David 1 0-0 2; Simon Dlugi 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 10 10-10 31.

3-point goals: CBW – Julian Phillips 2, Dan Gallagher, Roman Kulesa; Pennsbury – Connor Taddei.

SOL Liberty/Freedom crossover

WISSAHICKON 62, LOWER MORELAND 61 (OT)

The Trojans kept fans on the edge of their seats in this one.

Wissahickon had a six-point lead and possession of the ball with less than a minute remaining in regulation only to watch it disappear, thanks to a gutsy effort by the visiting Lions.

“We threw the ball away with an inbounds, (Kevin Hegedus) hit a 3,” Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said.

Still trailing by three and with time winding down, the Lions had the ball.

“Their kid – John Kroll – gets the ball and was about to raise up, our player got his hand on the ball, they called a foul and called it a shooting motion, so he got three shots,” Wilson said. “We’re up by three, and I thought, ‘The most they can do is tie.’

“He makes the first, misses the second, and on the third one he throws it directly at the rim. It comes back. Josh Paultis tries to get the rebound, (Kroll) sort of jumps over our Josh, they call Josh for backing into him on the free throw line, and now he gets two more free throws.”

Kroll buried both with .4 seconds remaining, knotting the score and setting the stage for overtime.

“Right out of overtime, Dom (Vacchiano) hits a huge 3,” Wilson said. “They come down and miss a shot, and Brayden (Ryan) hits a huge 3. We’re thinking, ‘Okay, here we go,’ but they went down and hit two big shots. It was just back and forth the entire time.”

Three-point baskets by Carl Barnette and Matt Tammaro kept the Lions in it. Kroll also had four points in the quarter – a basket and 2-for-2 at the foul line. For the Trojans. Palutis connected on and Gabe Lassiter twice connected on 1-of-2 at the foul line. Dom Vacchiano also was 1-for-2 at the stripe, and the Trojans eked out a win.

“I felt like we could never pull away,” Wilson said. “They just made play after play or we missed a free throw, but we somehow managed to get a win.

“They were clawing every single time. Credit to Lower Moreland. For a team that struggled against Abington and only scored 17 points – they came out and executed, put that game in their past, and for the first half of the game, they were the better team. They were the aggressor, they were the ones executing. We seemed a little out of sorts. We settled down in the second half and overtime.”

Coming up huge for the Trojans were Dom Vacchiano and Brayden Ryan, who combined for 42 points. Ryan scored 10 points in a first quarter that saw the two teams battle to a 15-15 tie.

“They were huge,” Wilson said. “They weren’t playing a box-and-one, but they were trying to deny, deny Dom. Wherever he went, there was a Lions’ shirt on him. He went to the corner, there was a guy there. They were just on him everywhere he went.

“We always tell players – if they’re going to give that much attention to one player, you should be insulted that they don’t think you can score, and Brayden took that to heart and really made some nice plays.”

The Lions outscored the Trojans in the second quarter and took a 31-26 lead into halftime. Hegedus had nine points in the first half to lead a balanced attack, and Nathan Fellah had seven. Ryan’s 12 points led the Trojans.

Dom Vacchiano – whose 22 points led all scorers – had 12 points in the second half and added four more in overtime. Ryan finished with 20 while Palutis added seven.

For the Lions, Hegedus and Kroll both had 19 points while Fellah finished with 12. Barnette added nine points and Tammaro had seven.

Wissahickon (6-9, 5-4 SOL) will travel to Springfield Township for a crossover game Friday, and Lower Moreland (6-9, 3-7) will host Upper Dublin on Friday.

Lower Moreland 15-16-9-11-10 61

Wissahickon 15-11-13-12-11 62

Lower Moreland (61) – Carl Barnette 4 0-0 9; Mason Tammaro 3 0-0 7; Kevin Hegedus 8 0-0 19; John Kroll 3 7-11 14; Nathan Fellah 5 2-4 12; TOTALS 23 9-15 61.

Wissahickon (62) – Michael Maltin 1 0-0 2; Brayden Ryan 8 1-1 20; Nico Vacchiano 2 0-0 4; Caj Jones 1 0-0 3; Gabe Lassiter 1 2-6 4; Josh Palutis 3 1-2 7; Dom Vacchiano 9 3-5 22; TOTALS 25 7-14 62.

3-point goals: LM – Kevin Hegedus 3, Carl Barnette, Mason Tammaro, John Kroll; Wissahickon – Brayden Ryan 3, Caj Jones, Dom Vacchiano.

UPPER MORELAND 56, HATBORO-HORSHAM 32

The Golden Bears went into halftime with an 18-13 lead but took control of the game with a 17-5 third quarter burst on their way to the decisive win.

“I was very happy with our second half play,” UM coach Dan Heiland said. “The first half – we started out slow. Hatboro did a nice job of playing at their pace, controlling the tempo offensively and really doing a good job limiting us offensively to not get the shots we wanted and not let us get great scoring opportunities.

“In the second half, we ramped up the defense a little bit, dug in and had a little more pride. We did a good job defensively in the first half, but we had a little more pride in our defense in the second half, and that helped lead to some transition points offensively for us. We just executed more. We made some big shots in the third quarter.”

Colson Campbell was a catalyst in the third quarter, scoring 11 of his game-high 18 points in the frame. Sean Murphy added 12 points, and Nate Best had eight.

Nate Best had all eight of his points late in the second half and also came up big for the Golden Bears.

“He did a great job bringing the ball up, getting us in our sets and defensively causing havoc out there – making shots down the stretch when we needed it to close out the game,” Heiland said. “He just played with a lot of confidence, and I was happy to see that as a coach.”

For the Hatters, Kenny Lutz led the way with 11 points, and Ryan Smith added eight.

Upper Moreland (10-5, 7-3 SOL) will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh for a crossover game on Thursday, and Hatboro-Horsham (2-10, 0-8) will host Cheltenham on Friday.

Hatboro-Horsham 6-7-5-14 32

Upper Moreland 11-7-17-21 56

Hatboro-Horsham (32) – Jayden Tion 1 0-0 2; Ryan Smith 4 0-0 8; Sean McCue 0 2-2 2; Kenny Lutz 4 2-2 11; Jaden Thompson 0 1-2 1; Vaughn Craig 1 0-1 2; Shane Phillips 1 0-0 3; Ty Teasley 0 1-2 1; Corbin Miller 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 12 6-8 32.

Upper Moreland (56) – Nate Best 3 0-0 8; Alex Best 1 0-0 3; Colson Campbell 6 2-4 18; Anthony Carson 1 0-0 2; Aidan Tuffy 1 0-2 2; Sean Murphy 3 5-5 12; Alex Costanzo 1 2-2 4; Brayden Martin 1 0-0 2; Larry Hughes 2 1-4 5; TOTALS 19 10-17 56.

3-point goals: H-H – Kenny Lutz, Shane Phillips; UM – Colson Campbell 4, Nate Best 2, Sean Murphy, Alex Best.

UPPER DUBLIN 57, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 21

Ten players contributed scoring for the Cardinals, who opened up a 17-7 lead after one quarter and never looked back on their way to the convincing win.

“It was a good effort on both ends of the floor,” UD coach Derek Brooks said. “I liked how we executed.”

Ryan Mulroy scored 10 of his game-high 16 points in the opening quarter to ignite the Cardinals. Sophomore Brandon Altman added nine points on three 3-pointers – all in a 20-point second quarter. Horace Jackson added six points.

UD senior Chaim Zellis recorded his first varsity points with a 3 with a minute left.

For the visiting Lions, senior Liam Ross led the way with 12 points.

Upper Dublin (12-3, 9-1 SOL) will host Holy Ghost Prep in a non-league game on Thursday, and New Hope-Solebury (0-10, 0-8) will host Quakertown on Friday.

New Hope-Solebury 6-4-2-9 21

Upper Dublin 17-20-11-9 57

New Hope-Solebury (21) – Heath Miller 1 0-0 2; Aiden Wenner 2 0-0 6; John Nettles 0 1-2 1; Liam Ross 6 0-1 12; TOTALS 9 1-3 21.

Upper Dublin (57) – Chaim Zellis 1 0-0 3; Chris Kohlbrenner 1 0-0 3; Ryan Mulroy 6 4-4 16; Idris Rines 1 2-2 5; Kobe Bazemore 2 0-0 4; Noah Cohen 1 0-0 2; Brandon Altman 3 0-0 9; James Castronuovo 2 0-0 5; Anthonly Oliveira-Schultz 2 0-0 4; Horace Jackson 2 2-4 6; TOTALS 21 8-10 57.

3-point goals: NH-S – Aiden Wenner 2; UD – Brandon Altman 3, Chaim Zellis, Chris Kohlbrenner, Idris Rines, James Castronuovo.