Jarrad Saffren recaps Wednesday’s SOL boys’ basketball action. CB West/CB South photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Jarrad Saffren
Eight Suburban One League boys basketball teams played league games on Wednesday night. Two—Upper Moreland and Harry S. Truman—played non-league games.
Abington, Pennridge, Council Rock North and Central Bucks South earned big wins. Upper Moreland earned a decisive one. Harry S. Truman fell a little short at Phoenixville.
All six results and recaps are below.
SOL Continental
Pennridge 52, Central Bucks East 51
Pennridge led by four with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter. Then CB East’s Kyle Cassidy buried two straight threes to put the Patriots up by one with 18 seconds to go. The Rams pushed the ball up the floor, and Sean Yoder dumped the ball to Tyrese Lewis in the paint.
Lewis went up and got fouled, and CB East called a time out.
“I think it helped him settle,” said Pennridge coach Dean Behrens.
Lewis hit both free throws, putting the Rams up by one with two seconds left.
“The gym got loud and you can’t simulate that,” Behrens said. “You can’t get your blood flowing like that in practice, so that was great that he hit them.”
A Patriots player picked up the ball on the baseline. Lewis guarded the inbounds passer and raised his arms above his head. CB East called time again.
After the timeout, East inbounded to Cassidy, who took a dribble and launched a shot from beyond half court.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God it’s gonna go in,’” Behrens said. “But we survived.”
Pennridge trailed by four at halftime, but won the third quarter 18-10, setting up the dramatic fourth. Yoder dropped 18 of his 22 points in the second half. Jon Post complemented Yoder with 19 points.
“Yoder and Post performed well tonight. Sean really had a nice third quarter. We pressed and went up-tempo a little more,” Behrens said. “We got the ball inside extremely well. Jon and Tyrese got good post touches against zone and man. Jon hit a lot of shots around the foul line. Plus Sean ran the pick and roll well and we did a good job on the offensive glass.”
Pennridge ended a three-game losing streak with this win, improving to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in league play.
“It was a big win because if we lost we’d be 0-2 (in league play) and East would be 3-0,” Behrens said. “Now you have CB South at 3-0, West at 2-1 and East at 2-1, so we needed this.”
Cassidy led CB East with 13 points. Nick Roggio and Leo Masterson added 11 and 10, respectively. Jesse Rivera had eight.
Pennridge battles Souderton on Friday night at seven. CB East (7-3, 2-1 SOL) hosts CB West on Friday night at six.
Pennridge 10-10-18-14 52
Central Bucks East 13-11-10-17 51
Pennridge (52) – Sean Yoder 22, Jon Post 19, Tyrese Lewis 8, Pestrak 3.
Central Bucks East (51) – Ben Markowitz 3, Kyle Cassidy 13, Collin Stein 6, Nick Roggio 11, Leo Masterson 10, Jesse Rivera 8.
Central Bucks South 46, Central Bucks West 40
In a battle of rivals that were 2-0 in league play, CB South improved to 3-0, taking over sole possession of first place. The Titans won the fourth quarter 13-7, making the difference in the final score. Nate Robinson (24) and Tommy Kuypers (12) combined for 36 of CB South’s 46 points.
“It was a big win. (Wes) is a well-coached program, solid team and on the road. Our guys are well conditioned being on the road. We’ve had a number of road games already. You have to play good, solid defense and you have to rebound to win on the road,” said CB South coach Jason Campbell. “The difference in the fourth was us doing a better job rebounding and not giving up second chance opportunities. (Collin) MacAdams and (Jake) Reichwein were getting those early, so I challenged my big guys during a timeout early in the fourth. Nate Robinson was big on the rebounds, and he helped the big guys.”
Robinson did literally everything for the Titans, and Kuypers did quite a bit, too. “Robinson was great throughout the game on offense and defense. He was great getting to the rim and knocked down a few threes. He also set guys up,” Campbell said. “Kuypers really played big tonight. He’s a couple inches shorter than his guy and he played well against him. The Prezelski twins (Brady and Cole) also played great defense.”
CB South was 6-of-6 on foul shots in the fourth quarter.
“That was clutch,” Campbell said. “It’s the biggest win of the season so far. I told our guys it’s harder to stay at the top than it is to lose and fall back, so you have to focus mentally and physically if you want to win a conference championship. All of these teams are well-coached.”
Collin MacAdams led CB West with 16 points and seven rebounds. Shane McCusker added nine points, and Jake Reichwein had seven points, six rebounds and drew three charges. Jack Mulhearn added six rebounds, five assists and four points.
CB South (6-2, 3-0 SOL) plays William Tennent on Friday night at seven. CB West (6-3, 2-1 SOL) battles CB East on Friday night at six.
Central Bucks South 13-13-7-13 46
Central Bucks West 10-11-12-7 40
CB South (46) – Brady Prezelski 2, Cole Prezelski 2, Nate Robinson 24, Brock D’Aulerio 2, Tommy Kuypers 12, Ian McCaw 4
CB West (40) – Shane McCusker 9, Jack Mulhearn 4, Collin MacAdams 16, Jake Reichwein 7, Jack Neri 4
SOL National
Abington 71, Neshaminy 49
Abington ended a two-game losing streak, handed Neshaminy its first loss (7-1) and gave coach Charles Grasty his 150th career win. Grasty is now 150-50 (.750) as Abington’s coach. He took over the program in 2010.
“It’s cool. It shows the program is going in the right direction. We’ve had some really good players. It’s a credit to all the guys who came through. I’m not changing the game. I’ve just been here long,” Grasty said. “I’ve had the same staff the whole time and I lean on them a lot. It’s a credit to all the players and staff. I don’t have magic or any secrets. Guys grew up in Abington and want to play for Abington. We feel we have a special community. We get a lot of support.”
Wednesday night’s win was certainly a credit to Grasty’s players. Eric Dixon had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Lucas Monroe posted 15 points, 16 boards and six assists. Hassan Whitby (8), Dante Knox (6), Darius Brown (6) and Robbie Heath (6) all scored at least six for Abington.
Whitby buried two threes. Heath also had four steals and six assists. Knox put up four steals and three assists.
“Our size hurt them. Dixon used his size and imposed his will down low. Lucas did a good job with his length on the guards. We were able to get run outs and hit shots. We played inside out and spread it around,” Grasty said. “Xavier Crawford gave us a huge spark.”
Abington held Neshaminy’s leading scorer, Chris Arcidiacono, to eight points.
“As a team, we slowed him down. Lucas’s length gave him a hard time and made him take tough shots,” Grasty said. “Arch is a really good player. We thought if we could use our length against Arch and get out on their shooters, we could use our size, and we did.”
Both of Abington’s losses came to non-league foes, Neumann-Goretti and Archbishop Carroll. But with this win, Abington is now 3-0 in league play and alone in first place.
“It was definitely a good test tonight. We didn’t play our best in the losses and they (Neumann and Carroll) took us out of our stuff,” Grasty said. “Our guys were disappointed and wanted to get back at it, no matter who they played.”
Charles Dominick led Neshaminy with 13 points. Danny Bodine added 12.
Abington (5-2, 3-0 SOL) plays CR North on Friday night at six. Neshaminy (7-1, 1-1 SOL) battles Pennsbury on Thursday night at six.
Council Rock North 50, Bensalem 43
Council Rock North earned its first league win of 2017-18 (1-2). Brady Haggerty led CR North with 18 points. Parker Ehlin added 10 points and held Ward Roberts, Bensalem’s leading scorer, to six. Haggerty and Matt McAlister went 4-of-4 from the foul line late in the fourth quarter.
“I thought our guys really battled, like they have all year. We’ve been talking about making winning plays during crunch time, and we made them tonight,” said North coach Jesse Krasna. “DJ Mischak took a huge charge. We had a lot of guys that stepped up and contributed.”
Ehlin and his teammates executed Krasna’s strategy against Roberts.
“We did a good job making it difficult for him to catch,” Krasna said. “Ward is so talented and we wanted to try to limit his touches, and when he did have the ball, we wanted to have multiple defenders ready so he’d have to give it up.”
James Leible led Bensalem with 11 points, and Taco Douglas added nine.
CR North (2-4, 1-2 SOL) hosts Abington on Friday night at six. Bensalem (3-5, 1-2 SOL) plays Truman on Friday night at seven.
Bensalem 12-10-13-8 43
Council Rock North 18-3-12-17 50
Bensalem (43) – Taco Douglas 9, Ward Roberts 6, Keith Parrish 6, James Legible 11, Lamont Hasker 8, Carlos Gonzalez 3
Council Rock North (50) – Mischak 3, Wyatt 3, Walton 2, Ehlin 10, Taggerty 18, McAlister 6, Ahluwalia 2, Wan 6.
Non-League
Upper Moreland 57, Upper Merion 38
Upper Moreland built a 14-4 first quarter lead and held it for the rest of the game. Ryan Coyle led the Golden Bears with 20 points. Jake Villanueva had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Christian O’Donnell also scored 12.
“We played well in the first quarter. Some guys hit shots. We preach coming out with intensity and playing good defense from the get-go and our guys did a good job of that, the whole starting five,” said Upper Moreland coach Sean Feeley. “We’re an unselfish team at our best. We share the ball and get good shots. Our spacing and passing were good tonight.”
All of the Golden Bears played their roles on Wednesday night, especially in that first quarter and the second half, when they outscored Upper Merion 35-26, turning a 10-point halftime edge into a 19-point decision.
“Ryan Coyle is our point man and he executed the game plan. Brett Brossman was our defensive leader. He plays with good positioning and does a very good job of talking,” Feeley said. “Christian O’Donnell has been playing consistent basketball this year. Jake Villanueva was awesome offensively and grabbed a ton of rebounds.”
Brossman also had six points on two threes.
Upper Moreland (4-5, 1-2 SOL) plays Springfield Township on Friday night at seven.
Upper Moreland 14-8-18-17 57
Upper Merion 4-8-12-14 38
Phoenixville 62, Harry S. Truman 52
Truman took a 7-0 lead, but Phoenixville answered with a 16-2 run to end the first quarter. The Tigers spent the rest of the game trying to come back, but never got closer than four.
“Our inability to clamp down and stop them in the half court hurt us. We didn’t get beat by transition. They made everything. We lost the 50-50 battle. Our intensity was there at times,” said Truman coach Byron Conover. “We got within five and couldn’t get over the hump by making shots. Our inability to finish around the rim got us tonight. We couldn’t focus in at times, which is unlike us.”
Truman’s lack of focus started early – after it took the 7-0 lead, and it started on the defensive end.
“We started fouling and they tied the game on the line,” Conover said. “We weren’t rotating on defense. We moved on the catch instead of the pass. They also made some daggers once we got close.”
The Tigers also struggled on the boards.
“We couldn’t corral their 6’6 kid,” Conover said. “He must have out-rebounded us by himself.”
Zierr Reid (13), Javeer Peterson (12) and Gabe Gipli (9) paced Truman in the scoring department.
Truman (5-2, 1-0 SOL) plays Bensalem on Friday night at seven.
Phoenixville 16-11-18-17 62
Harry S. Truman 9-14-14-15 52
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