Jarrad Saffren recaps Tuesday’s games featuring SOL boys’ basketball teams. Neshaminy/Glen Mills photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a Photo Gallery.
By Jarrad Saffren
Twelve Suburban One League boys basketball teams played nonleague games Tuesday night.
Two—Hatboro-Horsham and Springfield-Montco—met in a Suburban One League American Conference game.
Three SOL teams—Plymouth Whitemarsh, Abington and Bensalem—won close games and continued their impressive starts to 2016-17.
Three others—Central Bucks East, Hatboro-Horsham and Pennsbury—blew out their opponents and continued to look like league title contenders.
Still two others—Council Rock North and Neshaminy—earned their first wins of the season and of new coaching eras.
Yet the most exciting game of Tuesday was one where the SOL team—Pennridge—lost. “Yeah, not so good,” Rams coach Dean Behrens said, when asked how he was doing around 9:45 p.m., Tuesday night.
The results and recaps are below.
Nonleague
Central Bucks East 51, Upper Dublin 22
The Patriots improved to 3-0 by yet again playing lockdown defense.
They are allowing 39.3 points per game in 2016-17. But Tuesday night was their best
performance yet. Upper Dublin’s leading scorer had seven points. The Flying Cardinals scored four points or less in three of four quarters.
“We did a job on the defensive end. There was not much to complain about tonight,” CB East coach Erik Henrysen said. “We played man, switching man. It gave them fits. We stayed disciplined on defense and made sure we weren’t overextending. We forced tough shots and cleared boards.”
Henrysen said every player is contributing to the defensive effort.
“It’s been a team effort so far. We return Matt Pattyson and Elijah Seger. They are tough on the defensive end,” Henrysen said. “Cooper Fink and Ryan Plack are contributing. Collin Stein is too. Everything has been coming together.”
Pattyson scored 15 points in CB East’s first two games. He was the Patriots’ best player again Tuesday night, putting up 17 points, four assists and four steals.
“He’s been through the wars, so he stays composed and knows what it takes,” Henrysen said. “He does a good job putting the ball in the basket and leading us on offense and defense. It rubs off on everybody, seeing he’s composed.”
Stein added 10 points for the Patriots, seven in the first quarter.
“We got off to a good start offensively,” Henrysen said. CB East jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
Fink had four points and seven rebounds for the Pats. Ryan Plack chipped in six.
CB East (3-0) plays Council Rock South Wednesday night at seven. Upper Dublin (0-2) takes on Pottstown on the same night and time.
Central Bucks East 17-9-15-10 51
Upper Dublin 2-12-4-4 22
Central Bucks East (51) – Matt Pattyson 17, Elijah Seger 4, Ryan Plack 6, Collin Stein 10, Cooper Fink 4, Kyle Cassidy 3, Matt Ernst 3, Nick Roggio 4.
Upper Dublin (22) – Michael Cottom 6, Jalen Heim 7, Ryan Michael 4, Nyjee Scott 2.
Pennsbury 61, North Penn 46
Mark Flagg led Pennsbury with 21 points in its season-opening win over Berks Catholic Friday night.
So North Penn came into Tuesday night’s game with a clear strategy: Stop Flagg.
“They defended him hard in the post. They really pushed him off the block. When we made an entry pass, the defender sagged off, and they had a guy behind him too. There were two or three guys on him at all times. They also played a matchup zone and pressed, which took him off his spots,” Pennsbury coach Bill Coleman said. “We knew they’d try to take him away after the game he had against Berks Catholic. We know people are going to key on Mark. As long as we get good guard play, opponents keying on one guy will be more difficult.”
Pennsbury got good guard play Tuesday night. And good forward play. In fact, four other Pennsbury players—Gary Francis (15), Addison Howard (13), Billy Warren (10) and Tyler Sessa-Reeves (nine)—scored nine or more points.
Francis—a 6-foot-4 sophomore—has 31 points in two games, an average of 15.5 per game.
“Gary is my man. He’s young still. But, as I keep saying, he’s the hardest worker on the team. I hope that work ethic continues to translate to the floor,” Coleman said. “It’s one thing to be great in drills. But can you apply it when guys are flying at you and you’re scouted? He’s done it for two games. As his name becomes more well-known, he’ll have to adjust. He won’t get such clean shots as we move forward.”
But then Flagg will. So Pennsbury is set. The Falcons are going to be very dangerous as the season continues.
They also played great defense Tuesday night.
“We were too passive to start the game. We stayed in the matchup zone and got more aggressive,” Coleman said. “Our matchup zone allows us to funnel opponents down to our bigs.”
Flagg is 6-foot-8 and Warren is 6-foot-7. They combined for at least 10 blocks against North Penn. “Maybe more,” Coleman said.
North Penn came into Tuesday night’s game 2-0, making Pennsbury’s win that much more impressive.
“It was a good win. North Penn is deep, long, tough, physical, everything. They have a lot of good pieces,” Coleman said. “They out-hustled us in the first quarter. It took a little for our guys to get used to that level. But once we made adjustments, it was a good game.”
Pennsbury (2-0) battles Abington Friday night at seven. North Penn (2-1) plays Central Bucks West on the same night and time.
Council Rock North 51, William Tennent 42
The Indians gave up 117 points in their first two games, both losses. They got back to playing Council Rock North-level defense Tuesday night.
CR North trailed 21-20 at halftime. William Tennent stretched its lead to eight in the third. That’s when North coach Jesse Krasna got creative.
Krasna changed North’s defense every time he called time out.
“We played man and a 1-3-1 half-court trap,” Krasna said. “But our guys turned up the pressure no matter what defense we played. The guys played desperately. We got a bunch of steals and created offense off of defense.”
North came back and took a six-point lead in the fourth.
“Once we got the lead, we played more under control,” Krasna said.
Players up and down Krasna’s rotation stepped up late. Matt McAlister hit a big fourth quarter three to put North up by six. Eric Levine “had some big steals,” Krasna said.
Tommy Kelly “provided big minutes on defense, boxing out, rebounding, communicating.”
Noah Ehlin led North with 16 points. He has 40 points in three games, an average of 13.3. He led the Indians in the last two.
James Kosyla dropped 14 points. McAlister scored 10.
North jumped out to a 9-2 lead.
“We got off to a good start,” Krasna said. “But we took our foot off the gas pedal.”
North woke up in the third when Krasna started changing his defenses. The 25-year-old, first-year coach took suggestions from his seniors during those timeouts.
“We bounced ideas off of them. The guys sensed the game slipping away and turned up the heat,” Krasna said. “In the first half, we were quiet. In the second half, the urgency changed and we started communicating.”
Matt Berndlmaier led William Tennent with 10 points.
CR North (1-2) plays CR South Friday night at 7:15. William Tennent (0-3) meets CB West Friday night at seven, in its Suburban One League Continental Conference opener.
Council Rock North 15-5-11-20 51
William Tennent 9-12-13-8 42
Lansdale Catholic 61, Pennridge 59 (OT)
Pennridge led by 11 with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter. Then senior Ryan Cuthbert picked up his fourth foul.
“I decided to roll the dice and keep him in,” Rams coach Dean Behrens said.
Cuthbert fouled out on the next possession. Pennridge was now without its best free throw shooter in an obvious fouling situation for Lansdale Catholic.
“We turned the ball over, missed foul shots,” Behrens said. “I don’t think I did a great job preparing guys. I could have made them feel more positive.”
Behrens played a big lineup for the last four minutes. Sophomore point guard Sean Yoder was the only ball-handler.
“We were trying to rebound,” Behrens said. “But it just didn’t work out.”
The bigs struggled at the line. Yoder also struggled against LC’s pressure.
“We were putting him in tough spots,” Behrens said. “He’s a dynamite player but they were really guarding him. Give Lansdale credit. They kept battling.”
The Crusaders stormed back to tie the game and send it to overtime. Pennridge took a six-point lead in overtime. Foul shots would have put LC away. But the Rams shot 2-of-10 from the stripe in overtime.
“I don’t think Ryan’s missed a foul shot yet. He’s a guy that’s been through this and is used to being on the line,” Behrens said. “I should have taken him out and then put him back in with 2:30 left.”
The Crusaders hit a three to cut the Rams’ lead in half. Pennridge turned the ball over on its next possession. Lansdale Catholic raced down for a fast-break layup. One-point game.
Lansdale Catholic missed a shot on its next possession and Pennridge corralled the rebound. But the Rams missed both foul shots. LC’s Mike Ottomano grabbed the board, charged up the sideline and drained a three from the left wing as time ran out. The Crusaders stormed Pennridge’s home floor before a stunned, stone-faced audience.
Behrens blamed himself after the game.
“I should have called for some sets instead of passing the ball around,” Behrens said. “We should have kept trying to score.”
Behrens is used to having guards who can play keep-away and make foul shots.
“The formula the last four years has worked real well. But we used to always have four guards on the floor,” Behrens said. “Guys like Zach Muredda and Dan Long and Steve Lowry hit from the line. We don’t have as many guards this year. So it’s a learning experience.”
Three Pennridge players—Sean Yoder (17), Ryan Kinky (12) and Tyrese Lewis-Eutsey (10)—scored in double figures. So there were positives. But a loss like this hurts.
“You’re up 11 in the fourth you gotta close it out. We have to hit fouls,” Behrens said. “We relied on Dan Long so much. He gets to the line in the fourth and it’s over. Like Mariano Rivera.”
Pennridge (2-1) opens SOL Continental play against Central Bucks South Friday night at seven.
Lansdale Catholic 8-16-14-15-8 61
Pennridge 15-11-18-9-6 59
Lansdale Catholic (61) – Ottomato 15, Rosenberger 11, Saba 6, Kusters 4, Kane 3, Godzieba 11, Kahney 11.
Pennridge (59) – Jordan Roehrer 1, Sean Yoder 17, Ryan Kinky 12, Kyle Yoder 5, Tyrese Lewis-Eutsey 10, Ryan Cuthbert 4, Jon Post 9.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 55, Bishop Shanahan 53 (OT)
Bishop Shanahan became the second team in as many games to nearly upset the Colonials.
Coatesville led Plymouth Whitemarsh by four with two minutes to go Friday night. PW won that game by seven.
Bishop Shanahan led PW by nine with 3:30 left Tuesday night.
“We barnstormed pressure,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “And Ahmin (Williams) took over.”
The sophomore guard scored 15 points in the game, eight in the last two minutes. Williams hit a shot that gave PW the lead with 25 seconds left.
“He was so fired up that he fouled a kid off the dribble, gave him two fouls and it went to OT, where we did enough to get by,” Donofrio said.
Donofrio’s team got by without its best player. Williams fouled out on that last play. “Ahmin is the heart and force of the team,” Donofrio said. “He put the team on his back. He hit a three, pressured, stole the ball, drove through two guys, finished, got fouled. It was fascinating to watch.”
Other Colonials players stepped up in overtime. Kevin Tilghman sank a three. Two-guard Cheo Houston played center. Matt Walker “had a big basket,” Donofrio said. Bench player Jake Levinson replaced Williams.
“They figured it out,” Donofrio said. “It wasn’t pretty. But Shanahan has a nice team. They have a nice nucleus back. A nice point guard who can hit threes. A tough big kid. We were giving up too many three-point looks. They played a 3-2 zone the whole night and we couldn’t get on track.”
PW (2-0) opens American play against Wissahickon Friday night at seven. “We are going to see a whole lot of good teams do a whole lot of different things to us,” Donofrio said. “I hope we get smarter and figure it out.”
Bensalem 70, Wissahickon 61
The Owls can light up the scoreboard. Bensalem has scored 60 or more points in all three of its games. It is averaging 63.6 points per contest.
Tuesday night was the Owls’ most dynamic light show yet. Richard Dean dropped 30 to lead all scorers. He has 62 points in three games, an average of 20.6 per game.
“Rich has been playing real well,” Bensalem coach Mike McCabe said. “He’s been shooting real well.”
Dean also had four rebounds and three steals. Ward Roberts chipped in 15 points and five assists. He dropped 32 in Bensalem’s loss to Bethlehem Liberty Saturday night.
“Those two and the one who’s been dynamite is Isaiah Carpenter,” McCabe said. “He has opened things up and Kris Shields has played really, really well.”
Carpenter added six points and seven rebounds. Shields had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Carpenter had 13 and 11 in Bensalem’s season-opening win over Marple Newtown. Shields had 14 and 10 in that game.
The big four are not Bensalem’s only options.
“We also have guys off the bench who can score,” McCabe said. “Brian Quarterman and Taco Douglas. We just have to get them going a little bit.”
Quarterman and Douglas scored three and four points, respectively, on Tuesday night.
Bensalem scores so much because it runs all game. It did so again versus Wissahickon.
“We got out early on them,” McCabe said. “They slowed us down with their press, but we were able to work around that in the second half. It was a well-played game by both teams.”
Bensalem blew a big early lead and trailed by two in the second half.
“But the word for us is resiliency,” McCabe said. “We came back Friday and tonight.”
Max Rapoport led Wissahickon with 13 points. Shane Ford had 12.
Bensalem improved to 2-1. The Owls’ only loss came by five points. Their opponent—Liberty—shot 23 more foul shots (28-5) in that game.
The Owls host Neshaminy Friday night at seven. Wissahickon (1-1) plays PW on the same night and time.
Bensalem 15-14-19-22 70
Wissahickon 12-10-17-22 61
Bensalem (70) – Taco Douglas 4, Ward Roberts 15, Rich Dean 30, Brian Quarterman 3, Kris Shields 13, Isaiah Carpenter.
Wissahickon (61) – Max Rapoport 13, Shane Ford 12, Chaz Owens 9, Zack Reiner 7, T Atkins 6, Marlyn Johnson 6, Zach Gelman 5, Donovan Oliphant.
Abington 62, Archbishop Carroll 59
Abington beat a strong Philadelphia Catholic League program to improve to 3-0.
The Ghosts are legit.
Archbishop Carroll came back from a 13-point third quarter deficit to tie the game with seconds remaining.
“They made some big threes, some big shots and crawled back in it,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “We told them they would make a run.”
But Eric Dixon made a free throw with 13.5 seconds left to put the Ghosts up 60-59. After an Abington defensive stop, Dixon buried two more free throws with 4.9 seconds to go.
“I just thought our guys kept playing, kept pushing. We were aggressive in the fourth quarter,” Grasty said. “Not a lot of Xs and Os, we just kept playing hard, putting our head down and kept going.”
The dynamic duo of Dixon (17) and Robbie Heath (22) combined for 39 points. Both shot better than 50-percent from the field. Dixon shot 5-of-9, Heath 6-of-11. Dixon also made two threes and went 5-of-6 at the line. Heath was 10-of-11 from the stripe.
“Robbie Heath made some really big plays,” Grasty said. “Eric Dixon made some big plays.”
Lucas Monroe added eight points and Robert Young six. Center Joe O’Brien had seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
“Lucas made some big plays. Joe O'Brien had some huge rebounds. Rob Young stepped up,” Grasty said. “It was more like a team effort. No one really carried us.”
Grasty did not over or understate the importance of the win.
“When people say it's a big win, I say it's big because I was happy with how hard we played. We kept fighting,” Grasty said. “It’s only the third game of the season, so it's not that big standings-wise. But it's big because our guys are going to believe in each other. It's a team win – let’s believe in each other, let's buy in, play together and see how far this can take us.”
Grasty also saw improvement. So he was encouraged by that.
“It gives our guys some confidence because we didn't really play well this weekend at all. I wanted to see how we would respond,” Grasty said. “If we would have played the way we played this weekend, we would have gotten blown out of the gym.”
Abington (3-0) battles Archbishop Wood Wednesday night at 6:30 at Arcadia University, in the City Play-by-Play Classic.
Abington 16-17-14-15 62
Archbishop Carroll 13-17-14-15 59
Abington (62) – Darius Brown 3, Eric Dixon 17, Eric Dougherty 6, Robbie Heath 22, Lucas Monroe 8, Robert Young 6.
Archbishop Carroll (59) – Butler 2, Williams 23, Bradshaw 5, Marable-Wiliams 2, Daley, Hoggard 10, Anderson 8, McPherson 2, Ferrero 4.
Neshaminy 54, Glen Mills 48
Chris Arcidiacono poured in a career-high 28 points to lead Neshaminy to its first win of the Mark Tingle era.
“He’s leading the team, attacking the basket and getting to the line,” Tingle, Neshaminy’s first-year coach, said.
Arcidiacono scored 23 points in Neshaminy’s season-opening loss to Conestoga Friday night.
That’s 51 points in two games, an average of 25.5.
Neshaminy’s Charles Dominick added eight points Tuesday night. Mark Gentry pitched in seven. Pat Campbell and Corey McGarry each had six.
Neshaminy (1-1) plays Bensalem Friday night at seven.
Neshaminy 13-9-17-15 54
Glen Mills 9-4-7-28 48
SOL American
Hatboro-Horsham 60, Springfield-Montco 20
Hatboro-Horsham suffered an upset home loss to Council Rock South Saturday night, blowing a 14-point fourth quarter lead. But the Hatters got back on track Tuesday night.
“Saturday’s loss hurt, but it allows you to get back in the gym and coach them up,” Hatters’ coach Ed Enoch said. “You get their attention after a loss like that. So good can come out of bad. We had a great practice yesterday. We got our attitude back. ‘Let’s get down and clean some things up,’ and we did.”
Enoch focused on rebounding in that intense practice Monday.
“Council Rock South killed us on the boards. They got an awful lot of second shots,” the Hatters’ coach said. “We worked yesterday on controlling your man and boxing out.”
The Hatters gave up 20 points Tuesday night. The emphasis worked.
Their two big scorers—Jay Davis (25) and Clifton Moore (20)—took care of the offense, combining for 45 points.
Hatboro-Horsham needs other players to step up beyond Davis and Moore. At least one did against the Spartans. Colin Kennedy grabbed 10 rebounds.
Hatboro-Horsham (2-1, 1-0 SOL) hosts Upper Moreland Friday night at seven. Springfield-Montco (1-2, 0-1 SOL) takes on Jenkintown Thursday night at seven.
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