Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Saturday. Cheltenham/Abington photos courtesy of Jon Sklut. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL Liberty/Freedom Crossover
CHELTENHAM 62, ABINGTON 46
The visiting Panthers found themselves trailing early but regrouped to notch the convincing win over their neighboring rivals in a crossover game. The win was their eighth in as many games.
“I want to say we were down 11-3 in the first quarter, but after that, we settled in and were able to close the gap,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said. “We battled back and took the lead by
one, and from that point on, it was back and forth. We were able to pull away and get the convincing win.”
The Panthers, who led 18-17 after one quarter, outscored their hosts 15-5 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 33-22 lead on their way the big win.
“As a team, we only had 12 assists, so that’s something we really, really want to change,” Fleury said. “This was a hard part of our schedule, and we’re coming from COVID like everybody does.
“Just for our community and our kids – the respect they’ll be able to get from their peers to start the season like this. That’s not the ultimate goal, but it is good to start this way. We’re still very hungry, we still have things we need to clean up. We know Abington will have a good remainder of the season.”
Rasheem Dearry’s 18 points led the Panthers. He also had five rebounds. Justin Savage added 15 points, a team high eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Freshman Josiah Hutson added 14 points, and Elias Walker had eight points and five assists. Nasir Edens and Kevin Addison-Anderson both had five rebounds.
“We have great kids who come from great families, and we’re just trying to continue to put our guys in college, so they can turn around and come back and mentor and give back to the community that has given them so much,” Fleury said.
For the Ghosts, freshman Paul Glants led the way with 14 points, which included a pair of 3s. Derrius Lucas added 11 points and two blocked shots while Connor Fields contributed 10 points and nine rebounds. Fhenyx Scutt had seven points and a team high four steals.
The Ghosts connected on 18 of 51 shots from the field, which included a 5-for-15 effort at the foul line. They sank just 5 of 18 from the foul line (27.7 percent).
Cheltenham (8-0, 5-0 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Friday, and Abington (3-4, 3-2) will host the Academy of Palumbo in a non-league game Tuesday.
Cheltenham 18-15-15-14 62
Abington 17-5-13-11 46
Cheltenham (62) – Rasheem Dearry 6 4-6 18; Josiah Hutson 4 4-4 14; Elias Walker 3 2-3 8; Nasir Edens 1 1-2 3; Justin Savage 6 2-2 15; Brandon Bush 0 0-2 0; Kevin Addison-Anderson 1 2-2 4; TOTALS 21 15-21 62.
Abington (46) – Connor Fields 4 2-7 10; Fhenyx Scutt 2 1-2 7; Jeremiah Lee 1 0-1 2; Jimmy Marino 0 0-2 0; Paul Glants 6 0-0 14; Derrius Lucas 5 0-3 11; Kayjel Morris 0 2-3 2; TOTALS 18 5-18 46.
3-point goals: Cheltenham – Rasheem Dearry 2, Josiah Hutson 2, Justin Savage; Abington – Fhenyx Scutt 2, Paul Glants 2, Derrius Lucas.
Non-league
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 61, WILLIAM TENNENT 38
The Titans were struggling, dropping three of four games, and something had to change.
“We kind of had to revisit who we were after playing Bensalem,” South coach Jason Campbell said of his team’s loss to the Owls on Thursday. “They played really, really well against us, but we certainly didn’t play our best basketball, and I felt like we haven’t played our best basketball in the last week and a half or so.
“I think it all boils down to doing a better job, starting with defense and bearing down and all of us playing together cohesively and communicating, moving with the ball and sticking with our philosophies. We, for some reason, got away from that.”
Circumstances certainly played a role in the Titans’ struggles.
“Part of that it was, one, just being on the road at times,” Campbell said. “And, two, with the holiday schedule and where it fell – not having as much practice because we can’t practice on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and then January 2 was a Sunday and January 3 was a Monday where Central Bucks School District was closed, and then we had to play Pennridge on Tuesday.
“We came out strong in that game, we were up by 10 and then we didn’t play well and we ended up winning it at the buzzer. Then we had to face Bensalem with one day of practice. Our practice was already over when we found out our game was going to be moved up (to Thursday). We didn’t mind moving the game up because of the impending weather, so it was good to get the game in. We had not played our best basketball in that game either offensively or defensively.”
The Titans’ coach challenged his players after Thursday’s 67-53 loss to Bensalem.
“We had to figure out how we were going to come together as a team, play both ends of the floor, starting with defense, and be accountable individually for ourselves,” Campbell said. “I said, ‘You guys give me all the right answers of what we need to do better. I hear you guys talking about things on the floor, what we should have done, but we all individually are accountable.’
“I said, ‘I’ll take the losses, you guys have earned the wins, but we’re better than what we’re putting out there.’ Our captains, Mike Farley leading the group, was going to talk to the team yesterday. I didn’t get into what they were going to do, but I told them to look at film. My assistant coach, Mike Razler, put together a bunch of clips from the Bensalem game the guys could look at as well as part of their conversation.”
It was a rejuvenated Titans’ squad that took the court against the Panthers on Saturday. They opened up a 17-7 lead after one quarter and took a commanding 30-13 lead into halftime on their way to the decisive win.
“I thought we came out today playing as a full team, and our defense was fantastic,” Campbell said. “I was so impressed with how we played today – in our stance the whole game, how they switched and hedged and called for the help and declared ball and rebounded the ball, and it all led to good offense after that. We shared the ball, made the extra pass. It was what we knew we could do. It was a good day today. I really felt proud of our guys and how they were able to bounce back after a tough game we played on Thursday.”
Three Titans finished the game in double figures, led by the 15-point effort of Michael Farley. Tyler Meinel added 14 points, and Aidan Van Zanten had 11 points.
“I thought everyone played very well,” Campbell said. “Tyler Meinel played great. He came out and he rebounded the ball. We tracked him for 13 rebounds with the majority of them being defensive rebounds, and anytime Tyler Meinel gets a double-double, we win. This is either the third or fourth time he’s had a double-double, and we always win when he has a double-double. He had three blocked shots, he played great defense. I thought his defense was probably most improved of the players over the past week and a half or two weeks. It was nice to see him come out here and put more effort into it, and it showed.
“Michael Farley played great again today. Aidan Van Zanten came off our bench today scoring 11, but he played within himself, didn’t try to force anything or do too much, so I was happy with his efforts. I thought Chris Granito, even though he shows up with two points, he had six assists. He just shared the ball, made the extra passes. Jay Macalindong playing great basketball out of the guard spot where he had five rebounds. Seeing guys doing multiple things well that they’re capable of doing, and they certainly were doing that today.”
For the Panthers, Kirby Mooney led the way with 12 points, and Jeremy Henry added 11.
Central Bucks South (6-4, 4-2 SOL) will travel to Council Rock North on Tuesday for a crossover game, and William Tennent (3-4, 3-1) will host Upper Dublin on Tuesday.
Central Bucks South 17-13-17-14 61
William Tennent 7-6-12-13 38
Central Bucks South (61) – Jsse Rotunno 1, Jay Macalindong 5, Nolan Helsel 3, Aidan Van Zanten 11, Joe Rooney 8, Chris Giranito 2, Tyler Meinel 14, Michael Farley 15, Sean Rieber 2.
William Tennent (38) – Jeremy Henry 11, George Marion 5, Kirby Mooney 12, Isiah Dawson 1, Conner Fithian 4, Timothy Stanfield 5.
UPPER DUBLIN 61, HOLY GHOST PREP 28
The Flying Cardinals won for the seventh time in nine games, and once again, it was the consummate team effort. They led 13-6 after one quarter and took a 32-16 lead into halftime on their way to the impressive non-league win.
“We got off to a good start, which is something we’ve struggled with all season long,” Upper Dublin coach Chris Monahan said. “We’ve been a pretty good second half team, going into halftime maybe up a point, maybe down, maybe tied, but we got off to a good start in the first quarter.
“The story of us is we have five guys on the court at one time that can all score and in a variety of ways, whether that’s shooting 3s or getting to the basket. Today was a lot of that. In the first quarter, all five of the starters scored, and that continued into the second quarter and really throughout the game.”
DJ Cerisier’s 14 points led a balanced attack, and Ryan Mulroy added 10 points. The Cardinals buried 24 of 30 shots from the foul line.
“DJ was the high man today, but Colin (O’Sullivan) had eight, Mason Pensabene comes off the bench to get six, Ryan Mulroy comes off the bench to get 10, Seaton Kukla has his eight,” Monahan said. “It’s a fun group that way. On any given night, we have somebody that can get double digits, and other guys that will get close to it.”
Scoring just 28 points was a season low for the Firebirds, who averaged 52.5 points a game through six games heading into Saturday’s contest.
“They only had six in the first quarter and 16 at the half, but they missed some shots around the rim,” Monahan said. “We messed up some coverages, and they missed some open 3s. Some of the low numbers in the first half were the result of them missing shots.
“I think we cleaned a lot of that up in the second half. They have kids that can fill it up from three, and we did a good job contesting. They have some height, we did a good job keeping them off the offensive boards. It was a very, very good team win for us all around.”
Upper Dublin (7-2, 4-0 SOL) will travel to William Tennent on Tuesday.
Holy Ghost Prep 6-10-11-1 28
Upper Dublin 13-19-15-14 61
Holy Ghost Prep (28) – Shane Reilly 2 0-0 5; Noah McDermott 0 1-2 1; Mark Tomasetti 1 3-3 5; Dylan Shead 3 0-0 6; Dasani McNeely-Bronson 1 1-1 3; Ian Hendrix 1 1-3 4; Mel Lindsey 1 2-2 4; TOTALS 9 8-11 28.
Upper Dublin (61) – DJ Cresisier 6 1-3 14; Noah Lee 0 1-2 1; Chris Kohlbrenner 1 5-6 7; Mason Pensabene 1 4-4 6; Colin O’Sullivan 1 6-7 8; Ryan Mulroy 3 3-4 10; Griffin Pensabene 2 0-0 5; Coleman Zamborsky 0 2-2 2; Seaton Kukla 3 2-2 8; TOTALS 17 24-30 61.
3-point goals: Holy Ghost – Shane Reilly, Ian Hendrix; UD – DJ Cresisier, Ryan Mulroy, Griffin Pensabene.
WISSAHICKON 68, CENTRAL 43
The Trojans, who led 11-4 after one quarter, erupted for 23 points in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 34-20 lead. A 20-point third quarter put the game out of reach.
Sophomore Dom Vacchiano was the catalyst in the 23-point second quarter, scoring 10 of his game high 17 points in the frame. Included in his 17 points were three 3-pointers.
“Dom has been playing really well for us – every game he seems to get better,” Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said. “Even though he played a few varsity minutes last year, you expect that learning curve, and every game – he listens, he’s coachable, and when you instruct him, he tries to adjust. Yes, he shoots the three well, but he does so many other things. He’s grabbing rebounds, cutting to the basket. He’s becoming a nice complete player and complementing the other players out there on the floor really well.
“He’s been giving us a great lift in multiple positions. He’s really a guard, but sometimes he plays wing, sometimes he plays power forward, sometimes he plays the middle. He’s a very versatile kid, and he seems to do well in whatever role we put him in, so I was very pleased to see him do that again. He had a nice game against PW and and then a solid follow-up against Central. It was really nice to see him start to build some consistency.”
Junior point guard Earl Stout added 16 points, which included a 5-for-6 effort at the foul line, and senior Morgan Wilson – who scored nine of his 11 points in the third quarter – was key off the bench.
“Earl Stout played well, but Morgan Wilson also gave us a lift,” Wilson said. “He had some side effects from getting his booster, and in practice on Thursday, he wasn’t feeling great, and he asked me, ‘Coach, do you mind if I sit down for the last part of practice,’ which is so out of character for Morgan. He said his headache was killing him, and he was feeling a little nauseous. Our game got cancelled so we had practice yesterday, and he came and sat out practice, and he was still feeling really bad. I said, ‘Look, I’m going to bring you off the bench.’”
The scenario that unfolded in Saturday’s game was not what either coach or player could have anticipated.
“Literally, within the first two minutes, Josh Twersky reached for a ball down on the ground, and a player from the other team came through and his knee caught Josh right in the mouth and chipped his front two teeth,” Wilson said. “He went to the locker room and came back within a few minutes and was ready to go back in. They called the second foul on Josh when he went down to reach and caught the guy’s knee.
“I was going to put him in with two fouls late in the second quarter, but he got a technical. One of our kids took a charge, and he jumped up (to celebrate) and stepped a little ways onto the court, so we were without him most of the first half. We sort of got Morgan in quicker than we expected, and Morgan just played great. He blocked some shots, he had a bunch of nice assists, and he finished with 11 points.
“It was nice to see Morgan Wilson step in and one of our other captains, Phil Dias, who didn’t show up a lot in the box score, but they stepped up in Josh’s absence and really played well.”
Also for the Trojans, Jaylon Williams added eight points and Twersky had six.
Wissahickon (7-3, 3-1 SOL) will host Upper Moreland on Tuesday.
Central 4-16-11-12 43
Wissahickon 11-23-20-14 68
Central (43) – Will Ghohestani 3 2-2 11; Sizwe Morris-Louis 3 2-4 8; Jasir Dollard 1 2-2 4; Spencer Rosman 1 0-0 3; Salim Kelly 2 0-0 4; Eli Glaser 1 0-0 3; Justin Cornelius 1 0-0 2; Robert Martin 1 0-2 2; Cedric Zellars 2 0-0 4; Erik Borgia 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 16 6-10 43.
Wissahickon (68) – Gabe Lassiter 1 0-0 2; Josh Twersky 3 0-0 6; Brayden Ryan 0 2-2 2; Kevin Cupid 0 0-1 0; Jaylon Williams 3 1-3 8; Josh Palutis 1 0-0 3; Morgan Wilson 3 5-8 11; Phil Dias 1 0-0 3; Dom Vacchiano 6 2-3 17; Earl Stout 5 5-6 16; TOTALS 23 15-23 68.
3-point goals: Central – Will Ghohestani 3, Spencer Rosman, Eli Glaser; Wissahickon – Dom Vacchiano 3, Jaylon Williams, Josh Palutis, Phil Dias, Earl Sout.
PERKIOMEN VALLEY 60, PENNRIDGE 41
Eight players contributed scoring for the visiting Rams, but none reached double figures in Saturday’s non-league contest. The Vikings, who led 15-9 after one quarter, took a 25-18 lead into halftime and then put the game out of reach with a 20-point third quarter.
Matt Campione and Tommy Cramer both scored eight points to lead the Rams. Justin McCormick added seven points.
The Vikings were led by the 17-point effort of Josh Pelzer, who buried five 3-pointers. Morgan McKinney added 14 points.
Pennridge (2-8, 0-5 SOL) will host Pennsbury on Tuesday.
Pennridge 9-9-9-14 41
Perkiomen Valley 15-10-20-15 60
Pennridge (41) – Justin McCormick 3 0-0 7; Justin Nichols 1 2-4 4; Matt Campione 2 3-4 8; Jake Buesing 1 0-0 2; Xavier Peters 2 1-2 5; Tommy Cramer 3 1-2 8; Ryan Hass 1 0-0 2; Jude D’Agustino 2 1-4 5; TOTALS 15 8-16 41.
Perkiomen Valley (60) – Vance Sadler 4 0-0 8; Danny Koehler 1 2-2 4; Ethan Kohler 2 2-2 6; Dawson Debebe 3 1-2 7; Josh Pelzer 6 0-0 17; Julian Sadler 2 0-0 4; Morgan McKinney 5 4-5 14; TOTALS 23 9-11 60.
3-point goals: Pennridge – Tommy Cramer, Matt Campione, Justin McCormick, PV – Josh Pelzer 5.
LOWER MORELAND 58, BRISTOL 48
GILMAN SCHOOL (Md.) 58, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 46
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