Pennsbury & Souderton were winners in SOL boys’ basketball action Thursday. Pennsbury/CR North photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL National Conference
Pennsbury 51, Council Rock North 48
Sparked by the hot hand of Collin Connor, the Falcons roared out of the gate to a 21-5 lead after one period in Thursday’s SOL opener and took a 32-13 lead into halftime. The win came on the heels of back-to-back non-league losses.
“We like to play a very challenging non-league schedule, and that definitely had us prepared – at least from an energy standpoint and a defensive standpoint coming into the game,” Pennsbury coach Bill Coleman said. “Both our defense and our offense were clicking in the first half.”
The Indians came to life in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 24-10 in the third period to make it a 42-37 game, but the Falcons would not be denied.
“We came out in the second half – not a lot of energy at all, and North started hitting threes,” Coleman said. “They scored 24 points in the third quarter, and I think seven of them were threes.
“We were not staying attached to our matchups. We were switching when we shouldn’t be switching. There was no ball pressure. They took advantage of it and made it a game. Kudos to them – they didn’t stop playing. We took a punch in the face, and we were able to recover a little bit. Our goal is always to play the whole 32-minute game, and our guys played about 19.”
Connor’s 21-point effort included three three-pointers on three attempts. He also had two assists and two rebounds. Evan McNeely added 10 points (three three-pointers) and two rebounds, and Cooper Arnold, who also had a three, had six points and three rebounds. The Falcons connected on 8-of-14 from beyond the arc.
“Collin was solid – he was a first team Suburban One player last year,” Coleman said. “He came out and they were face guarding him as well as – at one point – sending trappers at him, so he was on point.
“Evan McNeely stepped up big time for us on the offensive side. He hit three threes and Cooper Arnold had a three. It definitely was a team win. We look forward to building on it. We just have to string a 32-minute period together.
“If you really look at our games with (Archbishop) Carroll and (Archbishop) Ryan – when you’re playing the Catholic League, you’re playing a team that’s seven, eight, nine, 10 deep. We hung with Carroll for a half and then lost it. Ryan jumped on us early, but we were able to cut it down to seven at one point in the third quarter. We just haven’t quite put a full game together, so that’s something we have to work on in practice as we go forward.”
Bernie Parent’s 16 points – which included a pair of threes – led the Indians. Andrew Stewart was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and finished with 13 points. Mikey Sylvester had seven points and Hunter Wan chipped in with six. The Indians buried 6-of-10 from deep.
“Jesse (Krasna) always has the guys playing hard,” Coleman said. “They came out with a ton of energy in the second half where our guys reversed it and thought that 19-point lead would continue to grow. It was definitely a learning opportunity for our guys.”
Pennsbury (1-2, 1-0 SOL) will travel to Bensalem next Thursday, and Council Rock North (0-3, 0-1) will host Bartram on Saturday at 12 noon.
Pennsbury 21-11-10-9 51
Council Rock North 5-8-24-11 48
Pennsbury (51) – Shane Simmons 1 0-0 3; Kyrie Miller 2 0-1 4; Collin Connor 7 4-4 21; Amir Johnson 0 3-4 3; Cooper Arnold 2 1-1 6; Evan McNeely 3 1-2 10; BaShaun Glover 1 0-0 2; Evan Reichard 1 0-1 2; TOTALS 17 9-13 51.
Council Rock North (48) – Bernie Parent 6 2-2 16; Andrew 1 0-0 2; Luke Vilet 4 1-3 13; Hunter Wan 2 0-2 6; Mikey Sylvester 1 5-7 7; Dan Egan 1 0-0 2; Jack Blum 0 1-2 1; Sean Clancy 0 1-4 1; TOTALS 16 10-20 48.
3-point goals: Pennsbury – Collin Connor 3, Evan McNeely 3, Shane Simmons, Cooper Arnold, CR North – Luke Vilet 4, Bernie Parent 2.
SOL Continental Conference
Souderton 52, North Penn 39
Andrew Vince made his first shot Thursday night and knew he was in the zone.
He let everyone in the gym know just what kind of zone in the second quarter by scoring seven straight points to open up a double-digit lead. Souderton never looked back as Vince and senior Dom Natale combined for 33 points and 19 rebounds in the Indians’ conference opening win.
“I made my first shot and it got things going for me,” Vince said. “We were flowing well as a team and played well as a team.”
Vince made his first seven attempts in the game and finished 17 points. With Souderton up 22-17 in the second quarter, he scored inside, hit a three-point shot and turned a steal into a coast-to-coast layup in less than a minute.
After a high-paced first quarter ended with the Indians ahead 14-12, they won the second frame by an 18-9 margin to go into halftime with a 32-21 lead. They maintained that lead in the second half.
Natale, who had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds, scored 10 after the break.
“We’ve definitely been focusing on that – we’ve had a lead in our last couple games and we’ve worked to maintain that lead and extend it,” Natale said. “We want to push it to the point that they can’t come back. It’s something we talked about and our coaches have as well.”
North Penn closed the third strong and was able to cut the lead down to eight with 5:40 to play.
Souderton simply responded by finding Jack Towsen, who had yet to score, for a wide-open three-pointer. Natale added two buckets after to rebuild Souderton’s double-digit lead.
Souderton’s defensive effort was solid throughout the game, denying the Knights clean looks from the perimeter and finishing most possessions with a defensive rebound.
“We know their guards are good three-point shooters, against (Lansdale Catholic), their first 21 points were off three-pointers,” Vince said. “We knew coming out of the gate we had to take away their three-point game and I think we did a good job. We were able to stop them and get out in transition.”
Natale finished off his big night with a score in the final minute. Brian Reiner added nine points but was forced to leave the game early after going down and hitting his head.
“Props to Reiner for playing an unbelievable game prior to going down and giving the team everything he’s got,” Souderton coach Tim Brown said. “Props also to Dylan Hollick for coming in and playing strong point guard minutes – controlling the pace of the game after Reiner went down.
“Evan Kutzler also came in and brought great energy and gave us some good minutes. Andrew Vince did a great job of shutting down a great player in Rob Carangi and having a great offensive game. Sami Chouriaf also did a great job in shutting down another great player in Joey Larkins.”
Carangi and Larkins combined for just six points. Matt Swanson led the Knights with 11 points.
Souderton (4-0, 1-0 SOL) will host Central Bucks East on Tuesday, and North Penn (1-3, 0-1) will host Central Bucks East next Friday.
Souderton 14-19-10-9 52
North Penn 12-8-11-8 39
S (52): Dom Natale 18, Andrew Vince 17, Brian Reiner 9, Jason Price 4, Jack Towsen 3, Ben Murawski 1
NP (39): Matt Swanson 11, Billy Coley 7, Milind Pulugura 6, Mike Chaffee 5, Rob Carangi 5, John Dolen 4, Joey Larkins 1
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