Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Thursday’s games featuring boys’ basketball team, including Abington’s contest against nationally ranked Findlay Prep in Florida. Pennsbury/Neshaminy photos provided courtesy of Jesse Garber (http://jsgarber.zenfolio.com/p563012983)
By Jarrad Saffren
Six Suburban One League boys basketball teams played league games on Thursday night. Souderton played a non-league game against Boyertown. Those games were revealing and exciting, but they took a backseat to Abington’s non-league game in Montverde, Fla, against a national power.
Abington represented public high schools everywhere in the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament, an event packed with preparatory academies that recruit standouts from across the country, just to get them ready for power conference, Division I college basketball. The Galloping Ghosts are the only public school team in the tournament, and, against the country’s sixth-ranked team, according to USA Today, Findlay Prep, they showed that it’s still okay for elite prospects to play with their childhood friends at their neighborhood high school.
Find more on all five results and recaps, especially Abington’s, below.
Non-League
Findlay Prep 91, Abington 83
Ok, so the Ghosts didn’t win. But the fact that they competed, and won the last three quarters, was uplifting enough. Public school with three college prospects competes with prep factory that has a roster full of them, including two 7-foot centers. There has not been a great sports movie in years. I think we found the script for the next one.
“I’m not one for moral victories, but the positive we took is we know our guys can compete on a national level. We felt like we dug down and kept fighting and kept fighting,” said Abington coach Charles Grasty. “Now they know they can compete with these guys. Every guy on their team is a Division I player and our guys dug down, but we dug too big of a hole in the first quarter.”
Abington fell behind 19-0 and trailed 35-10 after one quarter. Grasty told his guys to pack the paint on defense to counter Findlay Prep’s size. It didn’t work.
“Their guards came out and went crazy,” Grasty said.
In a game like this, Abington would have to ride its college prospect trio of Eric Dixon, Robbie Heath and Lucas Monroe, and they responded after Findlay’s early run, making four straight baskets to cut the deficit to 19-8.
“We realized we could play with them,” Grasty said. “There was a lot of effort and confidence there.”
Findlay Prep, riding a dude who’s going to Oregon, another dude who’s going to Memphis, a third dude who’s going to Alabama or Arkansas, and a fourth dude who’s going to Texas Tech, answered with a 16-2 run to end the quarter.
That’s when the Ghosts started playing ball, dropping 73 points over the last three quarters, winning them 73-56. They never came all the way back, but they made Findlay Prep sweat, a lot.
Dixon, Heath and Monroe all had their best games of the year. Heath had 28 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, drilling three three-pointers. Dixon put up 26 points and seven boards, also making three threes. Monroe posted 22 points and five rebounds, shooting 6-of-8 from the line.
Dixon and Heath have been having games like that for three and four years, respectively. But Monroe is really coming into his own as a prospect, too, and Thursday night may put him on the map.
“Lucas might have missed two or three shots. He played great. He rebounded. We weren’t even sure if he was gonna play because he hurt his ankle in the Pennsbury game. He taped it up and was a warrior out there, just played through it,” Grasty said. “He had a very good shot selection. His confidence is growing each game.”
Grasty is an old school high school basketball guy. He played for Abington, graduated from Abington and then came back to teach and coach at the school because he loves the community. He doesn’t recruit, and is known for saying, “We just coach whoever shows up for practice on the first day.”
So he was proud of his guys for representing high school basketball in its purest form, for showing that elite prospects can play for their neighborhood high school and still compete with the best.
“We’re the only public school here and our conversations with reporters today were about being able to compete with these teams as a public school. The guys made the community proud. We represented them in the right way,” Grasty said. “It’s a big tournament, standing room only, it’s a great experience. Findlay Prep has kids from all over the world. It’s a fact. We’re the only public school here. We’re from Abington. That is our community. Let’s try to represent our community.”
Grasty brought everyone in the program to this tournament. He wanted the young guys to soak it in and see that playing for Abington can get them noticed by college scouts.
“Our young guys are seeing this atmosphere and they wanted to go to the gym and practice tonight. That’s where we’d love to take our program,” Grasty said. “We can’t get kids from all over the country, but still. When our young guys see that, they talk to guys younger than them and it has that effect.”
This game, and Abington’s next one in this tournament, will also prepare the Ghosts for the district playoffs. They won’t see a Findlay Prep in District One.
“We won’t see teams that can get up and down like that. They scored 91 points,” Grasty said. “A lot of teams we’ll see wanna slow it down and pack it in. We also need to use this game to see the effort we played. Even if a team isn’t Findlay Prep, let’s go out and assume they are Findlay Prep.”
Abington (12-3, 8-0 SOL) plays Westminster Academy, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday at four.
Abington 10-32-21-20 83
Abington (83) – Eric Dixon 26, Darius Brown 2, Xavier Crawford 5, Lucas Monroe 22, Robbie Heath 28
Souderton 52, Boyertown 43
Souderton won for the second straight game and for the third time in four games, improving to 7-10. The Indians are now 26th in the District One Class 6A Power Rankings, two spots behind the last playoff spot.
“We’re starting to click. We’ve been having that feeling that we’ll click soon, and it’s happening now, when it needs to,” said Souderton coach Tim Brown. “Every game matters a ton. It’s really crunch time.”
Souderton won the first three quarters, holding Boyertown to 15 points combined in the second and third.
“We were really good defensively, pressuring them when they crossed half court,” Brown said. “Our guys made them uncomfortable and kept them out of the paint.”
Tomas Hanrahan led Souderton, and all scorers, with 22 points.
“Tomas was huge tonight. He’s continuing to be aggressive. When he’s attacking like he did, it opens up so much for us. He’s also doing a better job keeping his teammates happy while being aggressive. It was also his best defensive day. He really locked in on his guy, which was huge,” Brown said. “Dom Natale came in and brought a different type of energy. And Trevor Watts got O boards and was a beast inside. Other than that, our contributions were pretty even.”
Watts and Natale both scored seven points.
Souderton (7-10, 3-5 SOL) plays Hatboro-Horsham on Monday night at seven.
Souderton 15-9-14-14 52
Boyertown 13-7-8-15 43
Souderton (52) – Tomas Hanrahan 22, Trevor Watts 7, Dom Natale 7, Andrew Vince 6, Mekhi Williams 4, Stephen Luchansky 3, Kavi Ramchandani 2, Antonio Rodriguez 1.
Boyertown (43) – Kapp 16, Benning 10, Thomas 7, Tamasitis 5, Salata 4, Borgmann 1.
SOL Continental
Central Bucks West 56, Central Bucks South 38
Collin MacAdams, Jake Reichwein and Shane McCusker usually lead CB West to victories. But on Thursday night, MacAdams (six) and Reichwein (nine) combined for just 15 points, and McCusker only played for 30 seconds before succumbing to a sprained ankle.
CB West’s younger standouts, like Jack Mulhearn, Mika Munari and Jack Neri, who have been contributing all year, were forced into the limelight on Thursday night, and they delivered, leading the Bucks to a big league win. Mulhearn (11), Munari (11) and Neri (10) all scored in double figures. Mulhearn also had seven assists and only one turnover.
“Our young guys really stepped up. Jack Neri started and gave us awesome minutes. He rebounded well and scored. Mika Munari also gave us great minutes,” said Bucks coach Adam Sherman. “To have a junior and two sophomores give you double digits was huge for us. It was neat to see. It was a nice team effort, pretty well-rounded in the box score.”
West improved to 7-2 in league play with this win, pulling into a first-place tie with CB South. The Bucks also moved up to seventh in the District One 6A power rankings. The Titans dropped to ninth.
CB West (13-4, 7-2 SOL) hosts Boys Latin on Friday night at seven. CB South (12-5, 7-2 SOL) plays Spring-Ford on Saturday at 1:30.
Central Bucks West (56) – Stephen Delash 2, Chase Heller 2, Mika Munari 11, Connor Briece 1, Davis Zerweck 4, Jack Mulhearn 11, Collin MacAdams 6, Jake Reichwein 9, Jack Neri 10.
Central Bucks South (38) – Cole Prezelski 3, Jack Johns 2, Alex Dietz 10, Mark Kannengieszer 3, Tommy Kuypers 18, Ian McCaw 2.
SOL National
Pennsbury 59, Neshaminy 57
Neshaminy came out hot, drilling three first quarter threes and building a 27-16 lead early in the second quarter. Pennsbury dominated the next 16-plus minutes, outscoring Neshaminy 34-13 and taking a 50-40 lead early in the fourth. Neshaminy answered with a 17-6 run to go up 57-56 with 43.4 seconds to go.
Falcons sophomore Cooper Arnold got fouled, went to the line and swished both free throws, putting Pennsbury up 58-57. Neshaminy’s Chris Arcidiacono dribbled down and missed a three off the front rim.
Jake Martell grabbed the rebound for Pennsbury and got fouled, making one free throw and missing the second, putting Pennsbury up 59-57. Then Arcidiacono dribbled down, launched another three and watched it rim out and hit the floor. 
Pennsbury’s bench players stormed the court and mobbed their teammates. Neshaminy players walked off their home floor with long faces. A game that featured 10 lead changes went to the hotter team, Pennsbury (10-7), who has now won nine of its last 11 games. Neshaminy (9-7) has lost five straight and seven of nine.
“We prepared ourselves for this with our non-league schedule. We played Catholic League schools, teams from Scranton, some Inter-AC schools,” said Pennsbury coach Bill Coleman. “That’s how you get prepared. The guys took lessons from each one of those games.”
Three Pennsbury players—Ray-lil Winton (15), Collin Connor (15) and Chad Weldon (12)—scored in double figures. Jake Martell made five free throws in the fourth quarter. Arnold buried a three in addition to his game-winning free throws.
“I was thinking, ‘Just relax your shoulders and knock it down,’” Martell said. “Just another free throw, nothing to it, no difference. Coach is always telling me to be the guy with the ball in his hands with the game on the line, and I want to be that guy.”
Connor and Arnold are both sophomores who are starting to contribute a lot.
“We’ve had a strong six all year, but now we’re starting to see more guys come together a little more,” Weldon said. “They are starting to trust themselves and get involved.”
Weldon, Winton and Josh Arruda led the Falcons under the backboards with six rebounds each. Arruda also had four assists. Martell had three.
Chris Arcidiacono led Neshaminy, and all scorers, with 25 points, shooting 9-of-11 from the line. Anthony Papeo (13) and Danny Bodine (10) also scored in double figures. Arcidiacono also had eight rebounds while Bodine had six.
Pennsbury (10-7, 5-3 SOL) plays Neshaminy again on Tuesday, this time at the Falcons’ Nest, and at five. Neshaminy (9-7, 3-4 SOL) battles Plymouth Whitemarsh on Saturday at five.
Pennsbury 12-13-15-19 59
Neshaminy 20-10-6-21 57
Pennsbury (59) – Jake Martell 8, Collin Connor 15, Raylil Winton 15, Josh Arruda 1, Chad Weldon 12, Cooper Arnold 5, Gary Francis 3.
Neshaminy (57) – Chris Arcidiacano 25, Anthony Papeo 13, Danny Bodine 10, Greg Deluca 2, Charles Dominick 7.
Bensalem 54, Council Rock North 33
Bensalem won its third straight game by double digits, improving to 10-7 and moving up to 18th in the 6A power rankings. The Owls are using their athleticism to pressure teams into turnovers, creating easy baskets.
“We played well defensively,” said Bensalem coach Mike McCabe. “Our man-to-man pressure worked, we put a lot of pressure on them.”
James Leible and Ward Roberts led Bensalem offensively, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively. Carlos Gonzalez hit a “couple big threes,” McCabe said. Lamont Hasker and Kris Shields added nine and seven, respectively.
Bensalem won the first half 26-16 and the second half 28-17. Matt McAlister led CR North with 13 points. James Dufy added eight.
Bensalem (10-7, 5-4 SOL) plays Glen Mills on Saturday at 1:30. CR North (7-10, 3-6 SOL) hosts Perkiomen Valley on the same day and time.
Council Rock North 9-7-12-5 33
Bensalem 16-10-17-11 54
Council Rock North (33) – DJ Mischak 3, Andrew Stewart 3, Harry Wyatt 5, James Duffy 8, Matt McAlister 13, Josh Fisher 1.
Bensalem (54) – Taco Douglas 2, Ward Roberts 10, Keith Parris 4, James Leible 13, Lamont Hasker 9, Carlos Gonzalez 8, Kris Shields 7, Nick Fossile 1.
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