Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday.
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks East 52, Pennridge 50
CB East trailed by eight with two minutes remaining but stormed back to edge host Pennridge 52-50 in a SOL Colonial Division thriller on Friday night.
“We were two minutes from losing by 10,” said Patriots’ coach Erik Henrysen. “All of a sudden, they miss a shot, and we come down and hit a 3. And all of a sudden, the game is tight. And then we were able just to make a couple plays during the stretch.”
Key Players: Brady Colbert and Keegan Marascio scored 13 points each to lead CB East
Pennridge was led by Connor Murray’s 19 points.
CB East coach Erik Henrysen:
“(The defense) was huge. We started trapping. They didn’t necessarily turn the ball over, but the opportunities they got around the rim, we were able to come over, and Keegan Marascio had two or three big, big blocks. Connor Mekanik had a huge block that got us the ball back. During that stretch, Quinn Slack was great, battling foul trouble but also giving us a spark. Brady Colbert took a charge.
“We just clawed our way back and really just found a way to win the game.”
–About Pennridge: “Pennridge was up on Souderton in the fourth. They gave Neshaminy everything they could handle. They’re just a play or two away from getting over the hump. So I’m glad it wasn’t their time tonight to get over that hump. On the same hand, you look at the scores around the league, and I think we’re just going to be in a year of anybody can beat anybody.”
Up next: Central Bucks East will travel to Souderton Tuesday, and Pennridge will be on the road at North Penn on Tuesday.
CB East 16 11 11 14 – 52
Pennridge 12 14 16 8 – 50
CB East (52)
Connor Mekanik 3 1-2 7; Henry Bartchak 0 1-3 1; Quinn Slack 1 0-0 2; Brady Colbert 5 0-0 13; Keegan Marascio 1 11-12 13; Alex Lemaire 1 1-2 4; Sean Korlesky 1 0-0 3; Ryan Dailey 3 1-1 9. Totals 15 15-20 52
Pennridge (50)
Rownan Smith 5 0-0 10; Ryan Kuntz 1 0-0 3; Ryan Schwind 0 5-6 6; Jake Dietl 0 4-4 4; Ryan Flood 4 0-0 9; Connor Murray 7 0-0 19. Totals 19 9-10 50.
3-point goals: CBE-Colbert 3, Dailey 2, Lemaire, Korlesky; P-Kuntz, Flood Murray
Central Bucks South 71, North Penn 58
Coming off a tough loss to rival CB East on Tuesday, CB South got back to its offense for Friday’s game against North Penn and responded in a big way with a 71-point effort and a 13-point win after trailing by a point at halftime.
CB South scored 44 points in the second half, and for the game had 31 field goals.
“It was a defensive battle Wednesday, so we thought we did some things defensively that were good,” said Titans coach Louie Ditri. “We were a little upset after re-watching our game, as a unit, and we thought we left some things offensively, so we really wanted to focus on our offensive side of the ball a little bit because we think we’re a good defensive team. And, we got back to what we wanted to be and worked on what we thought is our offensive style.”
Key Players: CB South was led by sophomore Brayden Barrett who had 18 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Leo Medwid added 15 and Davis VanZanten had 11.
North Penn was led by Aiden Thomas’ 15 points, including four 3-pointers, while Brysen Foust and JC Wood had 11 points each.
CB South coach Louie Ditri:
“We pushed it. We played with pace. And the irony is, North Penn is probably the fastest team we’ve seen out there so far. Definitely, they play with a lot of pace. Coach Cordell (Lord) has them going full speed. He’s doing a really The first half was 30-29. Both teams were kind of getting at each other. And then in the third quarter, I thought we actually played with more pace than we did in the first half.
“We started playing a little bit better defensively in the third quarter. We were able to hold them to 11, but really it was eight points. And then their kid hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to give them 11, which was a little bit of a setback. But we had a really good, strong quarter, outscoring them 20-11. That just continued into the fourth where we were able to score some more. They were getting a couple 3s. I think they hit four 3s in the fourth quarter. So defensively, I wasn’t too happy with our quarter, but we were playing with such pace we were able to keep them at bay.
–Props: “Leo Medwid’s been solid all year, and he had 15 for us again. But we got great contributions from the bench. Chase Ross gave us solid minutes, as did David Montez. And Cade Crim gave us some solid minutes as well. But Brayen Barrett, our sophomore forward, dropped 18 points for us tonight. He just really had a nice shooting game and went 4-for-4 from the line. And he scored 10 points for us in the fourth quarter, which really, you know, helped us.”
Up next: Central Bucks South will host Central Bucks West on Tuesday, and North Penn will host Pennridge Tuesday.
North Penn 11 19 11 17 – 58
CB South 15 14 20 22 – 71
North Penn (58)
Hall 1 0-0 3; Kingsinger 1 1-2 3; Ward 0 2-2 2; N Foust 3 0-0 6; B Foust 4 0-0 11; Wood 4 0-0 11; Martin 1 1-4 3; Vague 2 0-0 4; Thomas 6 1-1 15. Totals 22 5-9 58.
CB South (71)
Adebayo 5 0-4 10; Shahin 3 0-2 6; Crim 1 0-0 2; Farrell 3 0-2 6; Barrett 6 4-4 18; Van Zanten 5 1-2 11; Ross 1 0-0 3; Medwid 7 1-2 15. Totals 31 6-16 71.
Souderton 56, Central Bucks West 46
Nate Rusike scored 11 points in the first quarter and had four 3-pointers while scoring a game-high 22 points and leading Souderton to the 10-point road win at short-handed CB West, which is battling injuries.
Key Players: Also, for the Indians, Chanse Salone went 8-for-11 from the free throw line for 15 points.
Melo Aylmer led CB West with 14 points, while Isaiah Rubenstein added 13.
Souderton coach Brandon Stanton:
“Going to CB West, you know there will be a good atmosphere. I thought Nate Rusike and Chanse Salone really set the tone in the first quarter and then we had different guys step up throughout. It nice to have guys with experience leading us in these types of games. We didn’t seem to go on a big run in this one, West did a great job of answering every time it felt like we grabbed momentum. They are a talented and well-coached team that I expect to win a lot of games this year.”
Up next: Souderton will host Upper Merion in a non-league game Saturday (1:30pm), and Central Bucks West will be on the road at Central Bucks South Tuesday.
Souderton 16 14 9 18 – 56
CB West 14 11 5 16 – 46
Souderton (56)
Will Lockwood 2; Chanse Salone 15; Koby Rollerson 9; Nate Rusike 22; Keith Stephanos 5, Marques Brown 5
CB West (46)
Max Milillo 8; Connor Chou 2; Melo Aylmer 14; Dan Pellegrini 9; Isaiah Rubenstein 13
SOL Patriot Division
Neshaminy 46, Council Rock North 45
Sophomore Marlon Yon had the game-winning putback bucket with 15 seconds remaining as Neshaminy rallied to edge CR North late for the one-point Patriot Division win on Friday night.
CR North led this game by 11 in the third quarter.
“Yeah, we were down one with under a minute,” said Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle. “And we took a shot, got a rebound, had a putback, missed it, and then our sophomore, Marlon Yon, got the putback for us to go up one.
“They had the ball, and we had to make a stop with – there’s 15 seconds. They came over half-court, called timeout. Now, they had 10 seconds left, and we were able to get a big rebound.”
Key Players: For Neshaminy, Marlon Yon had 10 points, nine rebounds, Logan Gale nine points, five rebounds and five steals and Luke Amrhein eight points, five rebounds and four assists.
CR North was led by Owen Crowne, who had 15 points and went 9-for-12 from the foul line.
Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle:
“We were up a couple in the first quarter, but we were down five at the half. And then third quarter, we couldn’t put the ball in the ocean. They did a good job defending us as well.
“And then come fourth quarter, we outscored them 16-4. We pressed more – just kind of pressured and hoped that we can get some steals. We got some big rebounds. Again, it’s transition and we made some foul shots. It was a crazy game.”
–The season so far: “Right now, our record is 5-1. We could easily be 1-5 because every game is close, every game’s a nail-biter, and unfortunately for us, we’re down. But fortunately for us, we’re coming back and just keep playing no matter what the situation is.”
Up next: Neshaminy will host Pennsbury Tuesday, and Council Rock North will host Council Rock South Tuesday.
CR North 4 18 19 4 – 45
Neshaminy 8 9 13 16 – 46
CR North (45)
Leif Peterson 3 0-2 7; Owen Crowne 3 9-12 15; Andrew French 1 0-0 3; Dylan Kiefer 3 1-2 7; Cameron Wright 2 1-2 7; Billy McBride 1 0-2 2; Danny Cuneo 2 0-1 4. Totals 15 11-21 45.
Neshaminy (46)
Jason Leiva 3 0-0 8; Luke Amrheim 3 2-2 8; Zach Stewart 1 0-0 3; Logan Gale 2 4-7 9; Eriq Gold 1 0-0 2; Cadenn Amati 2 2-4 6; Marlon Yon 4 2-2 10. Totals 15 10-15 46.
3-point goals: CRN- N-Leiva 2, Stewart, Gale; CRN-Wright 2, Peterson, French
Council Rock South 47, Harry S Truman 44
CR South jumped ahead early, led by nine at halftime and then held off visiting Truman, as the Golden Hawks picked up their first win of the season.
Key players: Ray Haglund led the way with 15 points for CR South, while Ryan Delp, who had three 3-pointers, added 13.
Davae Vaughn had 16 for Truman, and Jaden Luchansky added 15.
Up next: Harry S Truman will host Bensalem Tuesday, and Council Rock South will be on the road at Council Rock North Tuesday.
Harry S Truman 10-10-13-11 44
Council Rock South 16-13-10-8 47
Harry S Truman (44)
Aziz Diallo 6, Jaden Luchansky 15, Davae Vaughn 16, Shawn Parker 4, Terrell Edwards 3.
Council Rock South (47)
Ray Haglund 15, Ryan Delp 13, Lucian Mirc 7, Owen McLean 4, Joey Madara 8
3-point goals: HST – Luchansky 3, Vaughn, Edwards; CRS – Delp 3.
SOL Liberty Division
Upper Dublin 53, Abington 40
Following an overtime loss to rival Wissahickon on Tuesday, Upper Dublin showed up to practice with a bad taste in its mouth. Then, after two solid days of practice, UD fell behind 13-2 against visiting Abington early Friday.
However, the Flying Cardinals found their stride defensively, settled in and pulled away in the second half for the 13-point win.
“We had a pretty good two days of practice leading up to this,” said UD coach Derek Brooks. “Now, that didn’t necessarily get us off to a good start. We were down 13-2 to start this game. But I was proud of how the boys (responded) – I thought the boys responded well to the Wissahickon loss, just during the two days of practice. And I thought we responded very well to being down 13-2 tonight.”
Key Players: UD was led by Horace Jackson, who scored 17 points, going 7-for-10 from the free throw line, and 11 points from Justin Ragsdale.
Abington was led by Kyler Pickron’s 12 points, while Xavier Grasty added 11.
UD coach Derek Brooks:
“We showed a lot of fight, and we showed a lot of grit. And we played a good team tonight. They came out firing, ready to go against us. And we weathered the storm and pulled out a good home win in our league. We had another great crowd tonight. There’s just no off nights in our league, Our league is just so intense, all the matchups that we have.”
–Stepping it up on defense: “Our defense has actually been really good this year, which I would have said it would be the opposite. I would have said our offense would be really good, and our defense would be the one that’s lagging behind. But our defense has been awesome. The boys have been doing a really good job on that end. And, our defense wasn’t bad in the first half. All their points were in that 13-2 stretch. All their points were off steals and transition. They really can get out and go, so once we stopped turning it over, we started knocking down some shots and playing a little bit more in the half court. We were finally able to make some headway.
“When we got punched in the mouth early, Kobe Bazemore was the one that reset the tone for us with his intensity and his leadership. He deserves a lot of credit.”
Up next: Upper Dublin will host Archbishop Ryan in a non-league game Monday, and Abington will travel to Wissahickon on Tuesday.
Abington 13 11 8 8 – 40
Upper Dublin 9 17 10 17 – 53
Abington (40)
Pickron 4 3-3 12; Stone 4 0-0 9; Grasty 5 1-2 11; Garland 3 0-1 6; Turner 1 0-0 2.
Upper Dublin (53)
Kobe Bazemore 2 1-2 6; Brandon Altman 1 0-0 3; Noah Cohen 2 0-2 5; Horace Jackson 5 7-10 17; Justin Ragsdale 4 3-4 11; Scherzer 9, Caron 2.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 67, Wissahickon 43
Wissahickon had a lot of road magic Tuesday, as it rallied to knock off rival Upper Dublin in overtime. Plymouth Whitemarsh – the defending District 1 6A runner-up – made a defensive statement that magic wasn’t going to continue for a second straight league game.
The Colonials held the Trojans to five points in the first quarter and 26 through three quarters, while building a double-figure lead and never looking back on the way to the 67-43 win.
Key Players: Michael Pereira (21 points) and Mani Sajid (20) combined for 41 points to lead PW. Terron Davis was also in double figures with 11.
Nico Vacchiano led Wissahickon with nine points.
Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Jim Donofrio:
–The start of the season – “We should be a good basketball team. We have a ton of guys returning, including two seriously talented Division 1 guys and a whole lot of other guys that are talented. We came into the year that started last Friday, and we forgot how intense you have to be. We played a Springside-Chestnut Hill team that was five games into their season, and I think we were just caught back on our heels. Then we had two – let’s call them brutally honest practices – ‘We better figure this out right away, or you’re going to be the laughingstock of the whole Philadelphia area.’ We didn’t really mince words because too much has gone into it.
“Every program puts a lot into the offseason. I would say in my 35 years, this was one of the top three or four, the amount of time and effort and everything that all the kids and everybody and I – we all put in. I’m like, ‘Okay, you forgot about the passion and the fight and the toughness part and the competition part,’ so to bounce back Tuesday night – I’m a big believer that you have to understand how hard you can play, how hard you should play, how smart you can play and then the score is what the score is. If you’ve meant to win by 30, you should win by 30. If you win by 10, you messed up somewhere.
“Tuesday night was just constant energy. I think they proved to themselves they have fight and they have pride that with Wissahickon winning Tuesday night (over Upper Dublin), the challenge for us was, ‘Okay, you were talking about being supposedly a really high-level team. this offseason – but you weren’t. We weren’t very good Friday night (against Springside -Chestnut Hill), we were very good Tuesday night, so ‘Let’s decide it – do we want to be good or do we want to be great?’ I loved how they responded tonight. The defensive energy was through the roof. I just think we have to prove to ourselves that we are worthy of being called a potentially great team.”
–The game: “It was a great crowd, a great environment. When you come into our building with that kind of energy and student support – it was just a great high school basketball environment. Wiss had a big student body section. Ours was really big. The place was packed, so the energy’s through the roof, and yet the focus this year from the players on the floor was so much better than a year ago. They’re celebrating minimally after a nice play instead of acting like it’s New Year’s Eve, and that’s a maturity thing if we go in recognizing it’s a very challenging schedule.”
–Props: “Jack Hayes was brilliant watching Nico (Vacchiano). It’s a lot of work preparing. Kyle (Wilson) and I have gone together for a long time now. We know each other too well, and he’s capable of changing things up all over the place, so I’m always stressed when we have to prepare for them.
“I just love how our guys just bought in the game plan defensively and were relentless but poised. Monty was Monty. Michael was Michael. He had head coach Fran McCaffery there from Penn courtside, so I think that motivated him. Our top six were our top six. Terron Davis had an eight-minute stretch. Buddy Denard was solid, and Micah Thompson is probably the under-recognized glue to our team in a lot of ways, along with Jack Hayes. So, there’s chemistry there that you should have now when there’s a confidence, so I’m happy.”
Up next: Plymouth Whitemarsh will travel to Roman Catholic for a non-league game Saturday. (7pm), and Wissahickon will host Abington Tuesday.
Wissahickon. 5-10-11-17 43
Plymouth Whitemarsh. 10-16-21-20 67
Wissahickon (43) – Zach Schwartz 1 0-0 2; Logan McCloud 4 2-3 7; Owen Haughey 1 1-2 3; Nico Vacchiano 4 0-4 9; Jack Weiss 2 0-1 6; Malachi Hedges 2 0-0 4; Nate Hammond 0 1-2 1; Milan Fields 2 1-2 6; Delmar Taliaferro 2 1-2 5; TOTALS 16 5-16 43.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (67) – Jack Hayes 0 0-2 0; Luca Taormina 1 0-2 2; Terron Davis 4 2-2 11; Mani Sajid 6 6-9 20; Michael Pereira 10 1-4 21; Austin Edwards 0 2-2 2; Buddy Denard 3 2-3 9; Micah Thompson 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 25 13-24 67.
3-point goals: W – Weiss 2, Fields, McCloud, Haughey, Vacchiano; PW – Said 2, Davis, Denard.
Hatboro-Horsham 55, Quakertown 38
A 12-3 third quarter broke open a close game, as Hatboro-Horsham went on the road to capture the Liberty Division win at Quakertown on Friday.
The Hatters led this one 29-24 at halftime.
“It was – next man up,” said H-H coach Bill Coleman. “We played a man down due to injury, so it was awesome to pick him up. We played with a good sense of urgency throughout and stuck to our game plan for most of the game.
“It was a good bounce back from a tough loss last night (to Chichester).”
Key Players: Jaden Thompson scored all 16 of his points in the second half to lead H-H, while Shane Phillips added 14, with four first-half 3-pointers.
Quakertown was led by Trae McCray’s 16 points.
Up next: Hatboro-Horsham will host Plymouth Whitemarsh Tuesday, and Quakertown will travel to Emmaus for a non-league game Saturday (1pm).
Hatboro-Horsham 14-15-12-14 55
Quakertown 12-12-3-11 38
Hatboro-Horsham (55)
Josh Pierre 1 0-0 2; Cameron Craig 1 0-0 2; Nate Glenn 4 1-2 11; Jaden Thompson 3 10-11 16; Kevin Stroup 1 4-4 6; Shane Phillips 5 0-0 14; Devin Tercha 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 17 15-17 55.
Quakertown (38)
CJ Teacher 1 0-0 3; Trae McCray 5 3-4 16; Joey Rondo 1 1-2 3; Jameson Sykes 2 0-0 5; Jon Major 1 0-0 2; Mason Rush 1 2-2 5; Lochlan Everitt 2 0-0 4.
3-point goals: HH – Phillips 4, Glenn 2; Q – McCray 3, Teacher, Sykes, Rush.
SOL Freedom Division
Springfield Twp 54, Lower Moreland 45
A big third quarter gave Springfield all the breathing room it would need, as the Spartans got past visiting rival Lower Moreland 54-49 on Friday night.
“It was a fun game tonight,” said Spartans coach Mike DeCandilo. “We got out to a strong start in the first quarter, but Lower Moreland fought back hard in the second.
“We challenged our guys at halftime to come together and continue sticking to the game plan, and they did just that. These guys listen really well and have done a great job sticking together when other teams go on a run. I’m proud of their maturation, especially since a lot of them haven’t played many varsity minutes before this season.”
Key Players: Springfield was led by Julian Ciasullo, who scored 18 points (16 in the first half) and grabbed seven rebounds. Cahlin Spearman and Clay Trejbrowski added nine points each.
Springfield coach Mike DeCandilo:
“Julian Ciasullo did everything for us tonight. He played with so much heart and came out ready to go. He scored 16 points in the first half which was huge for us, but he also led the team in rebounds. He was more excited about his rebounding than his scoring, which speaks to the type of leader he is.
“Our bigs – Jake Gibson, Gavin Cleary, and Chadrack Kiamba – did a lot for us on the defensive end. Chadrack and Gavin did a great job protecting the rim. Jake Gibson is a defensive anchor for our team who is one of our best communicators. Having that combination under the rim helps us a lot.”
Up next: Lower Moreland will host New Hope-Solebury Tuesday, and Springfield Twp. will host MaST Community Charter in a non-league game Monday.
Lower Moreland. 8-12-7-16 45
Springfield Twp 16-8-15-15 54
Lower Moreland. (45)
Luke Wheeler 3, Nathaniel Udal 5, Chase Carroll 7, Tristan Vizcarrondo 6, Shawn Mertens 8, Thomas Maloney 4, Nathan Fellah 10
Springfield (54)
Cahlin Spearman 9, Julian Ciasullo 18, Clay Trejbrowski 9, Chadrack Kiamba 7, Jake Gibson 6, Will McLaughlin 5.
3-point goals: LM – Vizcarrondo 2, Mertens 2, Fellah, Carroll; S – Ciasullo, Trejbrowski, Kiamba, McLaughlin
Cheltenham 50, William Tennent 41
A fast start gave Cheltenham a double-figure lead early, but William Tennent never quite went away, before going down in the second half by a 50-41 final score on Friday night.
Key players: Cheltenham was led by Mark Hill with 13 points, Jaden Mosley added 12 and Chris Harmon 11.
Ayden Davis-Carter led all Tennent scorers with 11.
Up next: Cheltenham will travel to Mastery Charter for a non-league game Saturday (1pm), and William Tennent will be on the road at Springfield Twp Tuesday.
Cheltenham 15-7-16-12 50
William Tennent 4-13-7-17 41
Cheltenham (50)
Chris Harmon 11, Mark Hill 13, Jaedn Mosley 12, Tyree Martin 7, Peyton McClendon 2.
William Tennent (41)
Braden Goldberg 6, Teegan Stanfield 2, Tre Stracuzzi 4, Scott Scheller 8, Ayden Davis-Carter 11, Carter Jameson 1, Evan Eiler 9.
3-point goals: C – Hill 3; WT – Eiler 3, Goldberg 2, Scheller.
Upper Moreland 57, New Hope-Solebury 22
Upper Moreland went on the road and shut down New Hope-Solebury with a solid defensive effort to win its second straight to open the Freedom Division.
The Golden Bears held the Lions to just 22 points and seven field goals total. They led 33-12 at halftime.
Key Players: Jose Hernandez led all scorers with 17 points for UM, while Larry Hughes added 14, and Cannon Campbell 11 points.
Up next: Upper Moreland will host Cheltenham Tuesday, and New Hope-Solebury will be on the road at Lower Moreland Tuesday.
Upper Moreland 16 17 20 4 – 57
New Hoep 4 8 5 5 – 22
Upper Moreland (57)
Nate Best 3 0-0 7; Brody Hughes 1 0-0 2; Larry Hughes 6 2-34 14; Chase Moore 1 0-0 2; Cannon Campbell 5 1-1 11; Jose Hernandez 7 2-3 17; Darrius Whetstone 3 0-0 6. Totals 25 5-6 57.
New Hope (22)
Beck Alderson 1 5-6 7; Blake McCagg 2 0-0 4; Linus MacKenzie 3 1-2 8; Rocco Massimino 1 1-2 3. Totals 7 7-10 22.
3-point goals: UM-Best, Hernandez; NHS-MacKenzie
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