Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Tuesday. CB West/CB South photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. New Hope-Solebury/Lower Moreland photos courtesy of Karla Donohoe. Check back for galleries of both games: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f582224377
SOL Patriot Division
Pennsbury 64, Bensalem 54 (OT)
Bensalem has given Pennsbury problems twice this season. The Owls won the first game by three and Tuesday led the first place Falcons by 19 at halftime.
But this time, Pennsbury came storming back, eventually tying the game and winning it from the free throw line in overtime for the 64-54 win.
“It was excruciating,” Pennsbury coach Wes Emme said about the first half. “We shot 4-for-25, turned the ball over 10 times and (Bensalem) made a whole bunch of shots.
“I think we knew coming in what the stakes were. I think we had a lot of pressure and felt that pressure. It’s the first time in this situation. And I think that (Bensalem coach Ron Morris) is one of the better coaches I get a chance to coach against. They’re having a tough run right now, but they were super prepared, and they were locked in.”
After a 24-point second quarter, Bensalem led 34-15 at halftime. Pennsbury outscored the Owls 15-5 to get back into the game.
“Fortunately for us, we kept within striking distance,” Emme said. “Connor Taddei hit a couple shots in the first half, and we were close enough to get it to nine or 10 going into the fourth. That’s what we talked about at halftime. There’s no 19-point play to get you back in the game. We had to get stops.”
The Falcons caught the Owls in the fourth and had a three-point lead, when Bensalem’s Eric Gonzalez hit a 3-pointer late to send the game to overtime.
Ty Kocak scored 25 points in the second half – 27 for the game – including 12 in the fourth quarter and four in overtime.
“Any Division III (college) in the country that’s not talking to him or even a scholarship Division II school, right now, after what I’ve witnessed, are missing something,” Emme said. “The good thing about Ty is he’s really good at getting to the rim. Everyone knows he’s going to the rim and he still has a way to get to the rim.
“He was faced-guard tonight, and he’s always ridden up and down the floor by the other team’s best defender and he still scores.”
In overtime, Taddei hit a 3-pointer earlier and then went 12-for-12 from the free throw line to help Pennsbury pull away. Taddei had 26 points. As a team, it went 25-for-27 from the line.
Bensalem was led by Gonzalez with 13 and Amir Drummond with 10.
“Tonight, was another tough battle,” Bensalem coach Ron Morris said. “We came out with great defensive intensity. Our defense led to offense. Great job by Coach Emme and their program for battling back. This loss is on me. I need to do a better job getting our guys in position to execute and get stops. We will continue to learn, grow and grind.”
Pennsbury (13-6, 10-4 SOL) has a one-game lead in the Patriot Division with two to play, including Friday at Council Rock South. The Falcons are No. 13 in the District One power ratings.
Bensalem (10-9, 7-7 SOL) has lost four of its last five games and sits at No. 24 in the district power ratings. It plays Friday night at Harry S. Truman.
Pennsbury (64)
Teddy Mangan 1 0-0 2; Mike Roccograndi 0 2-2 2; Danny Cohen 1 0-0 3; Connor Taddei 5 12-12 26; Ty Kocak 9 9-11 27; Ryan Zuckerman 1 2-4 4; Totals 17 25-29 64.
Bensalem (54)
Eric Gonzalez 4 3-7 13; Noah Morris 2 0-0 6; Micah White 3 0-0 7; Amir Drummond 3 4-9 10; Nate Cooper 1 0-0 2; Antonio Morris 2 1-2 6; Jack Wineburg 2 0-1 4; Jaidyn Moffitt 2 2-2 6; Totals 19 10-17 54.
Pennsbury 5-10-15-16-18 64
Bensalem 10-24-5-7-8- 54
3-point goals; Pennsbury – Connor Taddei 4, Danny Cohen; Bensalem – Eric Gonzalez 2, Noah Morris 2, Micah White, Antonio Morris.
Council Rock South 54, Council Rock North 45
Rivalry games sometimes bring out the best in a team, and that was definitely the case for Council Rock South on Tuesday night. The Golden Hawks played a huge second half and knocked off a Council Rock North team that needed a win to stay alive in the District One playoff chase.
“It was really good for us,” said CR South coach Andrew Rogers. “I’m really excited for our guys. They’ve been really working hard, we have a lot of different guys playing, and they’re working hard at practice. Being North amps up the energy and makes it more exciting,
“It was good to go get one tonight. We did a really good job. We were able to get a lead. North does a great job; they have a great program. They cut into the lead and got it close, but we were able to extend it and make plays down the stretch, key stops and key rebounds. “
Timmy Rahill led the Golden Hawks with 20 points and six rebounds. Matt Robinson had 16 points, four rebounds and two assists.
“Timmy Rahill played really well,” Rogers said. “He really rebounded well, especially down the stretch. He was able to get rebounds and set up key possessions for us.
“Matt Robinson played really well. He closed the game out with foul shots at the end for us. Matt’s been our senior leader all year long.”
CR North, which had four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, was led by Adam Mahtat with 17 points and Oliver Schaefer with nine.
The Indians (10-9, 7-7 SOL), now No. 29 in the district power ratings, have to win out and hope for help, starting with a nonleague game at Morrisville on Thursday.
CR South is back in action Friday at home against first-place Pennsbury.
CR South (54)
Matt Robinson 5 2-2 16; Timmy Rahill 8 2-4 20; Gabe Cerulli 3 0-0 7; Mike Burns 2 1-2 6; Jordan Getz 2 0-0 5.
CR North (45)
Oliver Schafer 3 0-0 9; Tyler Rodowicz 2 0-0 4; Cole McCarthy 1 1-2 3; Adam Mahtat 6 0-0 17; Jack Blum 3 0-0 8; Luke Blum 2 0-0 4.
CR South 9 10 17 18 – 54
CR North 7 13 11 14 – 45
3-point goals: CRS-Robinson 4, Rahill 2, Cerulli, Burns, Getz; CRN-Schaefer 3, Mahtat 3, J. Blum 2
Neshaminy 61, Harry S. Truman 33
Sean Curley had 14 points and Neshaminy remained in the division title hunt with a 28-point win over visiting Truman on Tuesday.
Joey Zack and Elvin Perez had 10 points each for Neshaminy, which led 19-5 after one and 35-13 at halftime.
Tre Winton had nine points for Truman.
Neshaminy (13-7, 9-5 SOL) is one game back of first-place Pennsbury in the division standings with two games to play, and is No 19 in the District One Class 6A power rankings. It hosts Council Rock North on Friday.
Truman (2-17, 0-14 SOL) next plays Friday at home against Bensalem.
Harry S. Truman (33)
Kahalil King 1 0-0 2; Khavier Adams 3 0-0 6; Aaron Nathan 2 0-0 4; Shawn Monroe 0 0-2 0; Tre Winton 3 2-4 9; Shaq Chapman 3 0-0 6; Davae Vaghun 1 0-0 2; Randolph Cox 1 0-0 2; Rodgers 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 2-6 33.
Neshaminy (61)
Joey Zack 5 0-0 10; Ashton Lovelce 1 1-2 3; Emeer Coombs 1 0-0 3; Colin Cloud 2 0-0 5; Bolma Gobah 3 3-6 9; Jake Jordan 1 0-0 2; Guy Horton 1 0-0 2; Elvin Perez 4 0-0 10; Sean Curley 4 3-3 14; Nate Townsend 2 0-1 4. Totals 24 7-12 61.
Truman 5 8 9 11 – 33
Neshaminy 19 16 15 11 – 61
3-point goals: HST-Winton; N-Curley 3, Perez 2, Cloud
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks East 61, Pennridge 59
Joey Giordano hit a pull-up jumper as time expired and first-place CB East escaped Pennridge with a two-point win in an exciting battle on Tuesday.
“This game could have gone either way,” said Patriots coach Erik Henrysen. “Fortunately, we had the ball last.
“Pennridge battled and (Xavier) Peters really caused us problems. (Matt) Campione came up big down the stretch as well. It was back-and-forth right up to the final horn.”
Pennridge’s sophomore point guard, Peters, scored a team-high 17 points. Tommy Cramer added 14.
The Rams led 17-13 after one. CB East had a big second quarter to go up 28-24 at the half, and that lead was 45-43 after three.
Junior Jacob Cummiskey scored 26 points to lead the Patriots, while Giordano finished with 19.
“We were able to get monster games out of our backcourt,” Henrysen said. “Giordano and Cummiskey were awesome. They trust each other and feed off one another. Tonight, they combined for all 16 of our fourth quarter points.
“Every game is a battle and tonight was another example. A league road win on the last day of January isn’t easy. We didn’t play a perfect game, but we are pleased with the result.”
CB East (18-2, 13-1 SOL) has a two-game lead over North Penn with two games to play. The Patriots, who remain at No. 3 in the District One Class 6A power rankings, play at Souderton on Friday night.
Pennridge (13-7, 8-6 SOL), No. 16 in the district rankings, hosts CB West on Friday.
CB East (61)
Joey Giordano 8 3-3 19; Jacob Cummiskey 9 5-6 26; Nick Condo 1 0-0 2; Tyler Dandrea 3 0-0 7; Justin DiRoberto 1 1-1 3; Kyle Berndt 1 0-0 2; Nolan Jacob 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 9-10 61.
Pennridge (59)
Caden Fisher 3 1-2 7; Jake Buesing 3 1-1 9; Gannon Perlini 2 0-0 4; Matt Campione 3 0-0 6; Xavier Peters 7 2-2 17; Tommy Cramer 5 3-4 14; Ryan Hass 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 7-9 59.
CB East 13 15 17 16 – 61
Pennridge 17 7 19 16 – 59
3-point goals: CBE-Cummiskey 3, Dandrea; P-Buesing 2, Peters, Cramer
Central Bucks West 64, Central Bucks South 57
Facing a team that’s played very well in January and after a dreadful start is right in the mix for a District One Class 6A playoff spot, CB West had a chance to play spoiler on Tuesday.
And they did just that.
The Bucks pulled off one of the season’s biggest upsets – 63-57 – sending CB South off the bubble for one of the 24 spots in districts with just two games remaining.
For CB West, which snapped a four-game losing streak, senior Charlie Cashman made things happen early, with six 3-pointers and 20 points in the first half.
“It’s been a long year,” said Bucks coach Adam Sherman. “We haven’t come out on the right end of things. Tonight, we started well. We got a great performance out of Charlie Cashman. He was 7-for-8 on 3-pointers and ended up with 25 points.
“And (defensively), even though (CB South’s Tyler) Meinel scored 20-some points, I thought Bowen Gugger and Trey Reed did a great job limiting his touches and disrupting what he likes to do.”
When these two teams played back in December, CB West led by two with 10 seconds remaining, only to see a late foul call and a pair of free throws send the game to overtime, where the Titans pulled away for the win.
“We lost a heartbreaking one to them in overtime,” Sherman said. “That was a hard one to swallow and I think it motivated us a little bit. We were looking where we have been able to advance against them. We thought playing hard-nosed man (to-man) defense was a good way to play them.
“If you look at our scores, the kids continue to play hard the whole year. We’ve defended well. We’re in games defensively, but all year we’ve struggled on the offensive end. We haven’t found any consistency on offense.
“It was nice to see Charlie go off like that. It made things easier for everything else. They face-guarded him in the second half and that opened things up for us.”
Also for CB West, Matt Engle scored 12 points, including nine in the fourth quarter and 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
Meinel scored 24 points for CB South, 15 in the second half. Chris Granito added nine points.
The Titans (9-11, 9-5 SOL) slipped to No. 27 in the district ratings with the loss. It has two must-win games remaining, including Friday night at home against second-place North Penn.
CB West (6-14, 4-10 SOL) also has two games remaining, including at Pennridge on Friday.
CB West (64)
Jackson Wisnowski 1 0-0 3; Matt Engle 2 7-8 12; Julian Phillips 3 1-2 8; Charlie Cashman 9 0-0 25; Colin McKenna 0 1-2 1; Bowen Gugger 1 2-2 4; Trey Reed 1 1-1 3; Michael Fountain 3 1-2 8.
CB South (57)
Kyle Klein 2 0-0 4; Dylan Valentine 1 0-0 2; Flynn Carroll 2 1-2 6; Dalton VanZanten 2 4-6 8; Chris Granito 2 3-3 9; Owen Wheeler 1 0-0 2; Tyler Meinel 7 9-9 24; Sean Rieber 1 0-0 2.
CB West 18 12 14 20 – 64
CB South 14 11 11 21 – 57
3-point goals: CBW-Cashman 7, Wisnowski, Engle, Phillips, Fountain; CBS-Granito 2, Carroll, Meinel
North Penn 50, Souderton 47
Mario Sgro had 10 fourth-quarter points, all four of his team’s field goals over the final eight minutes, including the game-winning shot late as North Penn held off pesky rival Souderton for the team’s 11th straight win.
With the win, the Knights remained two games behind first-place CB East in the Colonial Division standings, with two to play.
Sgro and Ryan Zeltt had 10 points each to lead North Penn scorers, while Ryan Deininger added nine.
Souderton, which scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to erase what had been a 15-point deficit, was led by Aiden Maue, who scored 12 points, and James Blair added nine points.
North Penn (16-4, 11-3 SOL), still No. 7 in the District One power rankings, plays at CB South on Friday night.
Souderton plays at CB East on Friday.
North Penn (50)
Ahmaar Godhania 1 0-0 3; Mario Sgro 4 0-0 10; Norm Gee 1 2-2 5; Teddy McAllister 1 0-0 2; Ryan Zeltt 4 1-2 10; Amir Hammond 1 0-0 3; Ryan Deininger 4 0-0 9; Corey Meade 2 4-4 8. Totals 18 7-8 50.
Souderton (47)
Jared Zimmerman 2 2-2 7; Nolan Watkins 1 0-0 3; James Blair 4 0-0 9; Chanse Salone 3 2-3 8; Aiden Maue 5 0-2 12; Levi John 3 0-0 8. Totals 18 4-7 47.
North Penn 12 15 10 13 – 50
Souderton 8 11 8 20 – 47
3-point goals: NP-Sgro 2, Gee, Zeltt, Hammond, Deininger; S-John 2, Maue 2, Blair, Watkins, Zimmerman
SOL Liberty Division
Upper Dublin 44, Abington 39
Upper Dublin went into Tuesday’s game at Abington riding a 12-game win streak, a run that goes back to a pair of losses in December, against Abington and Plymouth Whitemarsh.
After Tuesday, the Flying Cardinals avenged one of those two with a rematch with PW on tap for Thursday night.
“We weren’t happy how we played the last time we played Abington,” said Cardinals coach Derek Brooks. “Give Abington a lot of credit for that first game. They played hard, attacked us and the game plan was good. I’m not saying they didn’t deserve to win that game, because they did, but we wanted to have a better performance today. We definitely had this one circled on the calendar.”
Upper Dublin relied on its defense in this one, holding the Galloping Ghosts to just 39 points, 15 in the second half. Abington shot 38 percent (14-for-36) from the field.
“Again, for us, it’s our defense,” Brooks said. “We were absolutely atrocious from the free throw line (11-for-27), but we played great defense.
“I thought we rebounded much better this time. Last time, they beat us up on the glass. And our defense was so good, as it’s been throughout this streak. If you hold a team to 39 points, you can afford to go 11-for-27 from the line. Obviously, we don’t want that to continue, but it’s nice to know you can have a night like that, and still find a way to win.”
All nine UD players scored, led by DJ Cerisier with 12 points and Ryan Mulroy with 10. Brooks credited the play of Griffin Pensabene and Terrell Turner off the bench.
Jeremiah Lee had 14 points and eight rebounds for Abington, which led 8-0 early in the first quarter and 24-22 at halftime. Kellen Ingram and Josh Young grabbed seven rebounds each, Kamani Brasheer had five rebounds and Paul Glants had four assists.
Upper Dublin (16-4, 12-2 SOL) plays at first-place PW on Thursday night. The Cardinals unofficially sits at No. 5 in the District One Class 5A power ratings with two games remaining.
Abington (9-10, 8-6 SOL), which is No. 22 in the district Class 6A ratings, plays at Academy of Palumbo in a nonleague game on Thursday.
Upper Dublin (44)
DJ Cerisier 3 4-10 12; Mason Pensabene 0 2-2 2; Ryan Mulroy 4 1-3 10; Brady Fogle 1 3-4 6; Seaton Kukla 2 2-5 6; John Kohlbrenner 1 0-1 2; Griffin Pensabene 1 0-0 3; Terrell Turner 1 0-0 2; Colin O’Sullivan 0 1-2 1; Totals 13 13-27 44.
Abington (39)
Jeremiah Lee 6 0-1 14; Paul Glants 1 2-2 4; Kellen Ingram 2 2-4 6; Josh Young 1 1-2 4; Lathan Miller 1 1-2 4; Aaron Jones 0 1-4 1; Kamari Brasher 3 0-0 6; Totals 14 7-15 39.
Upper Dublin 12-10-12-10 44
Abington 14-10-6-9 39
3-point goals: UD – DJ Ceresier 2, Ryan Mulroy, Brady Fogle, Griffin Pensabene; Abington – Lee 2, Young, Miller
Wissahickon 48, Quakertown 36
For Wissahickon, Tuesday night was more about its hopes for a spot in the District One Class 6A playoffs, than it was about avenging a previous loss, but even still, the Trojans felt good about going on the road and pulling away from Quakertown.
“It was huge,” said Trojans coach Kyle Wilson. “We know we’re fighting down the stretch for any opportunity we can to keep playing. The kids would like to salvage the season after a rough start. We were 2-8 and now we’re 10-10. We know the work we’ve put in in the month of January.”
Again, Quakertown wasn’t a pushover and the Panthers jumped ahead by 10 points in the first half.
“Quakertown is getting better every year,” Wilson said. “Tonight, they were getting one of their pieces back (from injury), Ty Wilken. They’re big and strong. It’s always a physical game at their place. We were down nine or 10 points early, but we tied it right at halftime, and felt like that grabbed the momentum.”
Wissahickon took over the game in the second half. Dom Vacchiano finished with 12 points to lead the game, but he did more than score.
“He plays more of a two-guard, but (Quakertown) is so big and physical, Dom has to play like a power two-guard and he had some huge rebounds,” Wilson said.
Wilson also credited the play of point guard Earl Stout and center Owen Coughlin.
The Trojans (10-10, 9-5 SOL) currently sit in the No. 28 spot in the district power rankings, four spots out of the 24-team field with two regular-season games. They host Abington in a huge game on Friday night.
Quakertown (7-13, 4-10 SOL), which was led by Miles Longacre and Ethan Tomlinson with 12 and 11 points, respectively, hosts Hatboro-Horsham on Friday.
Wissahickon (48)
Will Kirkpatrick 1 2-4 4; Jaylon Williams 3 2-2 8; Brayden Ryan 1 2-2 5; Owen Coughlin 1 0-0 2; Andrew Slackman 2 0-0 4; Dom Vacchiano 5 1-2 12; Earl Stout 3 3-3 10. Totals 16 10-13 48.
Quakertown (36)
Miles Longacre 6 0-0 12; Sam Wilken 1 2-2 5; Ethan Tomlinson 3 5-6 11; Anthony Callan 2 0-0 4; Kyle Rosenberger 2 0-1 4. Totals 14 7-9 36.
Wissahickon 12 12 10 14 – 48
Quakertown 16 8 4 8 – 36
3-point goals: W-Vacchiano 4, Ryan, Stout; Q-S. Wilken
Plymouth Whitemarsh 54, Hatboro-Horsham 30
Qudire Bennett second 21 points in the first half, nailing five 3-pointers, as Plymouth Whitemarsh blew this one wide open in the second quarter to inch closer to clinching the SOL Liberty title.
Up 16-9 after one, the Colonials held Hatboro-Horsham to just one field goal in the second quarter on the way to a 32-13 halftime lead. They then outscored the Hatters 18-5 in the third quarter.
Bennett finished with 27 points for the game, in just three quarters. Chase Coleman added 11 and Jaden Colzie finished with eight points.
“Bennett was on another level tonight, and Colzie took control of the game from the point in the third,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “Our focus now is on our top seven raising their games one more notch.
“We aren’t looking past anybody – total focus on the game in front of us.”
H-H was led by Noah Schlosser with 11 points.
PW (18-2, 14-0 SOL), No. 4 in the district power rankings and with a two-game lead in the Liberty Division standings, hosts second-place Upper Dublin on Thursday night.
Hatboro-Horsham (6-14, 5-9 SOL) hosts Holy Ghost Prep in a nonleague game on Thursday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (54)
Jaden Colzie 4 0-1 8; Jimmy Flowers 1 0-0 2; Chase Coleman 4 3-3 11; Josh DeJesus 1 0-0 2; Evan Ring 0 2-2 2; Qudire Bennett 11 0-0 27; Jah Sayles 0 2-2 2. Totals 21 7-7 54
Hatboro-Horsham (30)
Jake Grier 2 0-0 4; Noah Schlosser 5 0-1 11; Kyle Dittus 0 2-2 2; Kenny Lutz 1 2-2 4; Matt Wingen 0 1-2 1; Mason Bynum 1 0-0 2; Jack Joyce 2 0-0 6. Totlas 11 5-7 30.
PW 16 16 18 4 – 54
H-H 9 4 5 12 – 30
3-point goals: PW-Bennett 5, HH-Joyce 2, Schlosser
SOL Freedom Division
William Tennent 60, Cheltenham 56
Tuesday was a huge night for William Tennent. Not only did Tennent avenge a previous loss to Cheltenham, the first in a long time for the program, but it moved closer to clinching the SOL Freedom championship.
Tennent (15-5, 10-4 SOL) has a two-game lead over Cheltenham with two games remaining and can win the title outright with a win over New Hope-Solebury at home on Friday.
“It’s huge,” said Tennent coach Robert Mulville. “It’s the first time we’ve beaten them since starting the new divisions. I know it’s the first time since I’ve been a head coach that we’ve won a game against them.
“We were more concerned how we were going to play. We planned for them all week. They’re such a good offensive rebounding team. We knew with had to defend against that, and I think we did a good job with that. Offensively, we turned the ball over a little too much, but we made good decisions down the stretch.”
Tennent led 31-20 at halftime, only to see Cheltenham battle back with a big third quarter and the game was tied late, when Kirby Mooney scored to put Tennent up by two. George Marion went 4-for-4 from the foul line to help put the game away.
“Isaiah Dawson had a really nice game,” Mulville said. ”He ended up with 13 points. He hit three ‘3s’ and they all kind of came at big moments when Cheltenham was making a run. He also had two great plays where he poked the ball away (on defense) … We talk about that all the time. Him and Danny Scheller, they always seem to get their hands on the ball, and it leads to big plays for us.”
Mooney finished with 23 points for Tennent, while Marion had 15 and Dawson 13.
Kamani Healey and Nile Tinsley had 12 points each for Cheltenham, which is seeing its hopes for a spot in the district playoff slip away, as it now sits at No. 30 with two games remaining.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said coach Patrick Fleury. “We didn’t play well in the first half. With the way that we came out, our first eight possessions, four of them were bad shots and we had four runouts that we didn’t convert with either turnovers or missed layups. We dug ourselves an early hole.
“We were able to take the lead in the fourth, but free throws and rebounding killed us, so we ended up on a 1-and-1, and we gave up the rebound. Later down the stretch, we didn’t get the baskets that we needed.
“With the group we have this year, we just have to continue to go possession by possession and realize that every possession has a bearing on the end of it. I have to be better at getting them to understand that and just play through it. We just have to keep pushing and keep working. We have four games left, and we’ve got to roll the dice.”
Cheltenham (9-9, 8-6 SOL) plays at Executive Charter High School Wednesday in a nonleague game.
Cheltenham (56)
Josiah Hutson 5 0-0 10; Yakeen Respes 2 0-0 4; Kamani Healy 4 4-6 12; Kevin Addison 3 0-1 7; Osei Johnson 1 0-0 2; Malik Hughes 3 1-1 7; Nile Tinsley 5 2-2 12; Xavier Thompson 1 0-0 2
WIlliam Tennent (60)
Kirby Mooney 10 3-4 23; Isiah Dawson 4 2-3 13; George Marion 3 9-10 15; Tony Pople 0 1-2 1; Danny Scheller 2 0-0 5; Evan Devor 1 0-2 3
WT 12 19 11 18 – 60
CHS 6 14 18 18 – 56
3-point goals: WT-Dawson 3, Scheller, Devor; C-Addison
Upper Moreland 58, Springfield Twp 39
Upper Moreland connected on 10 3-pointers by seven different players and pulled away from Springfield, a big one for the Golden Bears, which snapped a four-game losing streak with the 19-point win.
“It’s been a while,” said UM coach Dan Heiland. “It hasn’t been the best January, so this was much needed, especially on our Senior Night.”
After a slow start, the Bears scored 19 points to go up 31-24 at halftime and never looked back.
“What we’ve been stressing the last couple of weeks are things like energy and attitude and our approach every game and being more consistent with it,” Heiland said. “We gave up a bunch of points to Tennent (Friday). They’re a really good team and they have two really good scorers.
“Tonight, we held (Springfield) to under 40 points. You’re going to win a lot of basketball games if you hold a team under 40.”
Jon Clark finished with a team-high 18 for UM, including a pair of second-half 3s. Ralph Tyler and Alex Best had two 3s as well.
Sean Murphy added 13 points, and Tyler finished with 10.
For Springfield, which led 16-12 after the first quarter, Dylan McKenzie had 10 points and eight rebounds, Andre Henry nine points and five rebounds and Brett Smith added eight points.
UM (12-8, 6-8 SOL), currently No. 8 in the District One Class 5A rankings, plays at Cheltenham on Friday.
Springfield (7-13, 2-12 SOL) plays at Lower Moreland on Friday.
Upper Moreland (58)
Javier Velez 1 0-0 3; Alex Best 2 0-0 6; Jon Clark 5 6-8 18; Ralph Tyler 4 0-0 10; Jaryd Meehl 1 0-0 3; Sean Murphy 6 0-0 13; Colson Campbell 2 0-0 5. Totals 21 6-8 58.
Springfield (39)
Dylan McKenzie 4 1-1 9; Miles Goodwin 1 0-0 2; Brett Smith 2 5-5 9; Andre Henry 4 2-3 10; Parks 1 0-0 2; Adam Fluehr 0 2-2 2; Aiden Hood 2 0-2 5. Totals 14 10-14 39.
Springfield 16 8 5 10 – 39
UM 12 19 12 15 – 58
3-point goals: S-Hood; UM-Best 2, Clark 2, Tyler 2, Velez, Meehl, Murphy, Campbell
Lower Moreland 52, New Hope-Solebury 36
Carl Barnette scored 13 points in the second half enabling Lower Moreland to break open a close game for the 16-point win over host New Hope-Solebury, which celebrated its Senior Night Tuesday.
Barnette and John Kroll led LM with 18 points each. Kroll scored 16 of his points in the first three quarters.
LM (8-12, 6-8 SOL) is still on the outside looking in of the District One Class 5A playoff bubble, at No. 15 in the district rankings for the upcoming 12-team tournament. The Lions host Springfield on Friday.
New Hope (0-15, 0-14 SOL) was led Tuesday by Matt Hanley and Liam Ross with 10 points each. It plays at first-place William Tennent on Friday.
Lower Moreland (52)
Ian Alicea 4 0-0 8; Tom Pryzblinski 3 0-0 8; Carl Barnette 8 0-0 18; John Kroll 6 2-2 18.
New Hope-Solebury (36)
John Wilson 1 0-0 2; Rocco Massimino 2 0-0 5; John Nettles 3 0-0 9; Matt Hanley 4 1-4 10; Liam Ross 5 0-0 10; Will Keddie 0 0-2 0.
Lower Moreland 16 6 16 14 – 52
New Hope 14 5 11 6 – 36
3-point goals: LM-Kroll 4, Pryzblinski 2, Barnette 2; NHS-Nettles 3, Massimino, Hanly
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