Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Tuesday.Bensalem/Pennsbury photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography, and PW/Wissahickon photos courtesy of Michael Rice Photography. Check back for galleries.
SOL Patriot Division
Bensalem 57, Pennsbury 39
A strong defensive first half set the tone in this one, as Bensalem held Pennsbury to just 16 points in the first half, and then in the fourth quarter were able to stretch the lead and pull away for the 18-point win.
“Tonight was a tough league game,” said Owls’ coach Ron Morris. “Every league game has always been important, and now with no crossovers they’re more important.
“Our guys came out with intensity and tenacity and played with it for four quarters. Pennsbury is always a tough team to play as Wes (Emme) and staff do a good job, they play extremely hard and are talented.”
Key Players: For Bensalem, Amir Drummond (17 points), Aidan Mayfield (14 points), Jacob Eberhardt (11 points)
For Pennsbury, Mike Roccograndi (11 points).
Bensalem coach Ron Morris on the win: “(Pennsbury’s Mike) Roccograndi is a good basketball player, and Aidan Mayfield did a really good job defending him. He had 11 points but earned every one of them. Aidan is becoming more and more a two-way player as his offense continues to get better.
“Pennsbury played zone and we were patient and played good basketball. Mikey Kramer was good underneath with some tough buckets and rebounds. Jacob Eberhardt gave us good minutes defensively, timely buckets and some rebounds. He got extended minutes because one of our leaders, Christian Lee, was sick and couldn’t play much. That’s a testimony to this team. Guys just buy into their role and just play hard.
“Chris Kelly came off the bench and gave us good minutes. Kobe King had a crucial block and some big rebounds. Jahmir Chatman had a good game. Amir Drummond is playing really good basketball right now. He had 17 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. He’s very receptive to coaching and it’s fun to watch. He’s seeing the floor really well. His speed, vision and shooting/scoring ability is leading us right now. We will enjoy this win tonight and get ready for a war on Friday night versus Truman.”
Pennsbury coach Wes Emme on his team’s loss: “Great job by Bensalem tonight. Ron (Morris) is a great coach that had his team loose. They played exceptionally tough and were as prepared for our personnel as anyone we’ve seen thus far. Amir Drummond was outstanding, controlled the game. Taught us some lessons and we get the opportunity to learn from it quickly and bounce back for Thursday night.
Next up: Bensalem (4-1, 2-0 SOL) will host Harry S. Truman Friday, and Pennsbury (2-3, 1-1 SOL) will host Neshaminy on Thursday.
Pennsbury (39) - Mike Roccograndi 4 1-1 11; Grayson Gozum 3 0-1 7; Owen Hawkes 1 0-0 2; Sean Breslin 1 2-4 4; Patrick Jajua 4 0-0 9; Max Manga 2 1-2 6. Totals 15 4-8 39.
Bensalem (57) - Jahmir Chatman 2 0-0 4; Aidan Mayfield 7 0-0 14; Amir Drummond 7 3-8 17; Dymaire Johnson 10-1 2; Michael Kramer 3 1-1 7; Chris Kelly 1 0-0 2; Jacob Eberhardt 5 0-0 11. Totals 26 4-5 57.
Pennsbury 8 8 17 9 - 39
Bensalem 14 12 13 18 - 57
3-point goals: P-Roccograndi 2, Gozum, Jajua, Manga; B-Eberhardt
Council Rock North 50, Neshaminy 46
CR North jumped up big in the first half and then held off Neshaminy in the second half, as Jack Curry hit two big free throws to seal the game late in a Patriot Division game on Tuesday night.
Key Players: For CR North, Grady Burt (22 points), Owen Crowne (17 points, 4 3-pointers in first half)., For Neshaminy, Max Currie (22 points, 20 rebounds)
CR North assistant coach Brandon Knotts on the win: “(We) led 35-17 at halftime, but there were two more quarters to play. Struggling to take good shots on offense was a problem in the second half. A big charge by Josh Erman in the last minutes, and two big free throws by Jack Curry to seal the game with 1.3 seconds left.”
Next up: Council Rock North (2-4, 1-1 SOL) will travel to Council Rock South Friday. Neshaminy (5-3, 1-1 SOL) will be on the road at Pennridge Thursday,
Neshaminy (46) - Zach Stewart 0 1-2 1; Eriq Gold 2 0-0 5; Logan Gale 3 4-4 11; Shane West 2 0-0 5; Cadenn Amati 1 0-0 2; Max Currie 10 2-2 22. Totals 18 7-8 46.
CR North (50) - Jack Curry 0 2-2 2; Josh Erman 2 0-0 4; Owen Crowne 5 3-4 17; Grady Burt 9 2-2 22; Brandon Holmes 0 2-2 2; Dylan Kiefer 0 0-2 0; Andrew O’Keefe 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 10-14 50.
Neshaminy 4 13 17 12 – 46
CR North 17 18 8 7 - 50
3-point goals: N-Gold, Gale, West, CRN-Crowne 4, Burt 2
Harry S. Truman 51, Council Rock South 50
Down six with 2 1/2 minutes remaining, Truman rallied with pressure defense and knocked off visiting CR South 51-50 in a Patriot Division game Tuesday.
Key Players: For Truman, Jaden Luchansky (13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Davae Vaughn (11 points, 2 assists), Adul-Aziz Diallo (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Juliun Rodgers (5 points, 10 rebounds)/
For CR South, MJ Thompson scored 28 points, including five 3-pointers and 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Truman coach Randolph Jackson on the win: “Great team win against CR South. Down six with 2:30 minutes (remaining) in the fourth quarter. The team was able to apply pressure to force turnovers.”
–Props: “Adul-Aziz Diallo made huge buckets in the second quarter and had eight of his 11 in the second quarter. Davae Vaughn was huge offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring four straight points to give us momentum.
“Our boys locked in defensively with steals, rebounds and deflections.”
Next up: Harry S Truman (3-3, 1-1 SOL) will be on the road at Bensalem Friday. Council Rock South (3-4, 0-2 SOL) will host Council Rock North Friday,
CR South (50) - MJ Thompson 28, Ryan Wekluk 4; Owen McLean 3; Ryan Delp 5, Ray Haglund 2; Pat Malone 3, Lucian Airc 5
Truman (51) - Jaden Luchanski 13, Vaughn 11, Diallo 11, Rodgers 5, Winton 5, Brown 5
CR South 12 9 15 14 - 50
Truman 13 13 10 15 – 51
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks East 54, Pennridge 46
After a slow start, CB East turned it on in the second half, outscoring Pennridge 32-18 in the second half to pull away for the eight-point Colonial Division win.
“Pennridge came to play and got out to a halftime lead,” said Patriots coach Erik Henrysen. “We still haven’t pieced together a full 32-minute game, but we responded in the second half.”
Key Players: For CB East, Nolan Behm (19 points, 7 rebounds), Shane O’Hara-Jamison (8 points, 7 rebounds), Graham Smith (14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists).
For Pennridge, Xavier Peters (15 points).
CB East coach Erik Henrysen on the victory: “I felt like Pennridge got into a rhythm offensively, so we played more zone in the second half. It was a great effort in the second half. We were active and that triggered some offense for us.”
–Props: We both had some adjusting to do. Marley (Steward) was out for them, and we were down (Connor) Mekanik and (Quinn) White. Keegan Marascio got his first start as a freshman. We have been in need of someone to create for his teammates and Keegan delivered. He scored our first four points of the game and assisted on a few early baskets.
“It’s an important win for us. We have another big one Friday.”
Next up: Central Bucks East (5-1, 1-1 SOL) will host Souderton Friday, and Pennridge (3-3, 0-2 SOL) will host North Penn Friday.
Pennridge (46) - Rownan Smith 9, Xavier Peters 15, Ryan Schwind 2, Charlie Rising 9, Connor Murray 8, Ryan Flood 3
CB East (54) - Nolan Behm 19, Shane O’Hara-Jamison 8, Graham Smith 14, AJ Molnar 6, Keegan Marascio 5, Brady Colbert
Pennridge 13 15 9 9 - 46
CB East 13 9 15 17 54
3-point goals: P-Murray 2, Peters, Rising, Flood; CBE-Smith 4
Central Bucks South 58, North Penn 44
Defensively, CB South clamped down on North Penn, holding the Knights to 12 points in the first half, and then the Titans put the game away with 36 points in the second half to post their fifth straight win and a key Colonial Division game on the road.
“Our first-half defense, to hold them to 12 points, our kids did a tremendous job,” said CB South coach Louie Ditri. “I think that energized our offense, but the defense in that first half gave them the confidence that we could play with them. North Penn is a tough place to play.”
Key Players: For CB South, Brett Barrett (21 points), Connor Thompson (13 points);
For North Penn, Ahmaar Godhania (11 points), Wyatt Martin (10 points).
CB South coach Louie Ditri on the win: “We wanted to take away No. 0 (Ahmaar Godhania). He’s the best shooter we’ve seen up to this date. We focused on not letting him get shots, and I don’t think he scored in the first half. He’s a real sharpshooter. We wanted to rebound and eliminate their best player.”
–Props: “Brett Barrett was a beast for us tonight. He had 21, and hit a couple of big shots, and he was a beast on the boards. Thai is the best all-around game he’s played in the two years I’ve had him. He made himself a presence tonight.
“We’re coming along. Our first three games didn’t go our way, but we learned from it. We’re learning from our mistakes and correcting them. That’s what I’m most happy about. We’re putting together a good string of games, but it’s not going to be easy Friday night at West.”
Next up: Central Bucks South (5-3, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks West Friday. North Penn (3-5, 1-1 SOL) will be on the road at Pennridge Friday.
CB South (58) - Cole DiEmidio 1 2-2 5; Brett Barrett 8 2-2 21; Danny Gies 2 0-0 5; Shane Farrell 1 0-0 2; Connor Thompson 4 4-4 13; Ben Harrison 1 1-2 4; Kayode Adebayo 1 0-0 2; Leo Medwid 2 1-1 6. Totals 20 9-10 58.
North Penn (44) - Ahmaar Godhania 4 2-2 11; Lee Hammond 2 0-0 5; Shane Ward 1 1-1 3; Aiden Atkinson 2 0-2 4; Nolan Foust 2 0-0 4; JC Wood 0 1-2 1; Wyatt Martin 5 0-0 10; Gabe Altemus 2 0-0 4; Luke Hall 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 4-7 44.
CB South 13 9 18 18 - 58
North Penn 9 3 14 18 – 44
3-point goals: CBS-Barrett 3, Thompson 2, DiEmidio, Gies, Harrison, Medwid; NP-Godhania, Hammond
Souderton 48, Central Bucks West 39
Trailing by one at halftime to CB West, Souderton dominated the third quarter and pulled away to defeat the visiting Bucks on Tuesday.
Chanse Salone and Trey Bui each had five points in the 14-4 third quarter.
CB West had eight 3-pointers in the game, compared to just three two-point field goals.
Key Players: For Souderton, Chanse Salone (13 points), Nolan Watkins (11 points);
For CB West, Roman Kulesa (18 points, 4 3-pointers), Greg Reichner (11 points).
Souderton coach Okateh Sackitey on the key third quarter: "It was a good team win.
"Our defense in the third quarter was the difference in the game. The defense turned into offense for us. We tried to mix up our defenses and tried to give them a bunch of different looks on defense. We found something in the third quarter that was working. The kids played aggressively, they also played intelligently. It was a difference maker for us."
--Props: "I want to give Trey Bui a shoutout. He made some great plays on defense, and he made some great as a facilitator on offense. He made some really good passes, and he took great care of the ball. The way that we played with maturity and control in the fourth quarter was huge. Trey had a lot to do with that with his ball handling and his passing.
"I want to give a shoutout to Chris Lewis for good minutes in the second quarter. He came in off the bench and gave us a spark with a big assist, and he forced a turnover."
Next up: Souderton (4-2, 2-0 SOL) will be on the road at Central Bucks East Friday, and Central Bucks West (2-5, 0-2 SOL) will host Central Bucks South Friday.CB West (39)
Max Milllilo 2 0-0 6; Connor Chou 1 0-0 2; Roman Kulesa 5 5-5 18; Dan Pellegrini 1 0-0 2; Gavin Reichner 2 5-6 11. Totals 11 9-10 39.
Souderton (48) - Chanse Salone 5 1-2 13; Trey Bui 2 1-2 6; Nolan Watkins 4 3-4 11; Nate Rusike 4 0-0 9; Thaddeus Harter 2 1-2 5; Grady Kovach 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 6-10 48.
CB West 8 10 4 17 - 39
Souderton 12 7 14 15 48
3-point goals: CBW-Millilo 2, Kulesa 4, Reichner S-Salone 2, Bui, Rusike
SOL Liberty Division
Upper Dublin 70, Abington 50
Upper Dublin jumped out big on the road Tuesday night and never looked back on the road to the blowout win over Abington to remain unbeaten in SOL Liberty play.
“(Abington is) off to a good start this year, but they lost a lot of guys from last year’s team,” said Flying Cardinals coach Derek Brooks. “They’re definitely young, but we knew we had to be ready to play to beat them, and fortunately we were. It’s a rare instance where we had the size advantage. You rarely get that against Abington. They’re just not the biggest team this year. But we had to guard them, limit penetration. I thought we did pretty good today.
“We moved the ball really well. If we shot free throws better, we could have been up 20 at halftime.”
Key Players: For UD, Idris Rines (19 points, 4 3-pointers), Ryan Mulroy (17 points).
For Abington, Faizon Garland (13 points).
Next up: Upper Dublin (6-1, 2-0 SOL) will host Quakertown on Thursday, and Abington (4-1, 1-1 SOL) will host Wissahickon Friday.
Upper Dublin (70) - Kobe Bazemore 4, Noah Cohen 8, Ryan Mulroy 17, Idris Rines 19, Justin Ragsdale 7, James Castronuovo 11, Reilly McLaughlin 4, Horace Jackson 2
Abington (50) - Faizon Garland 13, Xander Grasty 9, Jake Manigault 8, Zion Hospedale 6, Paul Glants 4, Kyler Pickron 2, Leo D’Arco 3, Declan Doyle 2, Michael O’Rourke 3
Upper Dublin 15 15 21 21 - 70
Abington 7 9 17 17 - 50
3-point goals: UD-Cohen 2, Rines 3; A-Garland 3, Grasty, D’Arco, O’Rourke
Plymouth Whitemarsh 52, Wissahickon 44
Plymouth Whitemarsh needed a huge fourth quarter to overcome a spirited effort from host Wissahickon and poor free throw shooting to remain unbeaten with an eight-point win on Tuesday night.
Mani Sajid and Terron Davis had eight points each for the Colonials, who outscored the Trojans 21-12 in the fourth quarter. PW was 14-for-27 from the free throw line.
For Wissahickon, Nico Vacchiano (16 points).
PW coach Jim Donofrio on the win: "We're talented, and we seem to have a fight to win games, but we're still very young, and we have a whole lot to learn. The number one issue is just how hard you have to play this game.
"We also have a lot of moving parts, we have a lot of new guys. I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves. They want to be perfect. I think they don't understand just how to follow a game plan and how important that is. They're bringing a casual approach to this too often. All those things combined, it's a challenging team to coach. There are so many moving parts to this team that could be good.
"The number one thing kids have to get past is 'what's in it for me', and change that to 'What about us?' When that transfer occurs, then you'll be proud that you played four good minutes and helped your team.
"The Wissahickon kids were winning every 50-50 ball, the Quakertown kids were winning every 50-50 ball, the Fels kids won every 50-50 ball, the Methacton kids won every 50-50 ball. Until we decided to wake up, we get punched in the head over and over again, and then we get how we should play. In the fourth quarter, we play like we should play at the jump, so that's going to get you burned.
"A loss is coming if we don't figure it out and respect the fact that you've got to be ready to play when you get off the bus.
“Mani (Sajid) had good looks tonight. He just didn't shoot as well as he would have liked. Michael Pereira is worth way more than the two or three points he had. We're attacking the paint, and Wissahickon is stripping us, taking the ball from us.
"I had an old quote that I used to say to the kids for years: ‘If you go into a game thinking it's going to be a show, you're going to end up in a war. If you go into a game ready to compete in a war, you'll end up putting on a show.’
“Right now, we're going into the game thinking it's some kind of show. We'll learn real quick.”
Next up: Plymouth Whitemarsh (5-0, 2-0 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Friday, and Wissahickon (2-3, 0-2 SOL) will travel to Abington on Friday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (52) - Terron Davis 7 1-2 15; Mani Sajid 6 8-13 23; Michael Pereira 1 1-2 3; Buddy Denard 2 0-0 5; Micah Thompon 1 4-10 6. Totals 17 14-27 52.
Wissahickon (44) - Chase Neumeister 0 1-2 1; Michael Maltin 2 1-2 5; Owen Haughey 1 1-2 4; Nico Vacchiano 6 3-6 16; Grant Ajemian 1 1-2 3; Ben Schwartz 3 2-2 9; Delmar Taliaferro 3 0-0 6. Totals 16 9-14 44.
PW 5 11 15 21 - 52
Wissahickon 11 11 10 12 - 44.
3-point goals: PW-Sajid 3, Denard; W-Vacchiano, Schwartz, Haughey
Hatboro-Horsham 48, Quakertown 41
Trailing going into the fourth quarter, the Hatters exploded past Quakertown for the home win on Tuesday night in Liberty Division play.
Shane Phillips hit three 3-pointers in the fourth, while Ryan Smith had seven points in the final quarter as well.
Key Players: For HH, Shane Phillips (17 points), Jaden Thompson (8 points). For Quakertown, Sam Wilkins (27 points).
H-H coach Bill Coleman on the win: "Quakertown was missing three people. Our guys maybe took their foot off the gas due to that, I'm not quite sure, but we started very poorly.
"We have to play 32 minutes. That's it. We see bits and pieces of it here and there. It's in there. We just have to pull it out.
"We got the 'W'. Let's move on and get prepared for what we have coming up the rest of the season."
--Props: "Three guys came in off the bench - Sean McCue, Nate Glenn and Bart Hartley, the last two are freshmen. They came in and played with a whole lot of energy and kind of changed it for us. We were still trailing at the half, but they changed the energy."
--Making adjustments: "We made a change. We took Ryan off (Wilkins). He's really good. I like him a lot. We put JT (Thompson) on him and slowed him down a little bit and made it a little more difficult for him.
"Finally, we started executing a little bit more on offense. We had a very good fourth quarter and we outscored them 22-12. We got out in transition a little bit more, we got guys moving, and we were able to pull away."
Next up: Hatboro-Horsham (3-4, 1-1 SOL) will be on the road at Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday, and Quakertown (0-5, 0-2 SOL) will travel to Upper Dublin on Thursday.
Quakertown (41) - Gavin Mushrush 1 0-0 3; Trae McCray 1 0-0 3; Sam Wilkin 8 8-10 27; RJ Ficco 1 0-0 2; Mac Mitchell 1 1-2 3; Mason Rush 1 0-0 3. Totals 13 9-12 41.
Hatboro-Horsham (48) - Ryan Smith 2 3-4 7; Brad Davis 2 0-0 4; Kenny Lutz 1 1-2 3; Jaden Thompson 2 4-4 8; Shane Phillips 6 0-0 17; Sean McCue 2 0-0 4; Nate Glenn 2 0-0 5. Totals 17 8-10 48.
Quakertown 10 9 10 12 -41
Hatboro-Horsham 7 6 13 22 - 48
3-point goals: Q-Wilkin 3, Mushrush, McCray, Rush; HH-Phillips 5, Glenn
SOL Freedom Division
Springfield Twp 65, Lower Moreland 28
A fast start was huge for Springfield Tuesday night, as the Spartans scored 39 points in the first half and smothered Lower Moreland for the 37-point win in Freedom Division play on Tuesday night.
Lower Moreland scored just seven points in the second half.
"We came out really strong, didn't let up, controlled the game, executed what we wanted to do,” said Spartans coach Rob Fusaro. “Our guys were locked in from the start. I was really happy with how they performed."
Key Players: For Springfield, Bob Hartman (14 points, 2 steals), Brandon Thompson (11 points, 5 steals), Julian Ciasullo (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals)
Springfield coach Rob Fusaro on the win: "Aiden Hood, Bob Hartman. Brandon Thompson did an excellent job coming off the bench for the second night in row. He was sensational and just did all the right things defensively and offensively. It was his 18th birthday, so we were all excited for him.
"Julian Ciasullo played really well. Just the group as a whole has been really locked in. They've been really fun to coach, they've been a really nice group to be around. It's been nice for five years to see them really thrive and get back to where they want to be, which has been awesome."
Next up: Springfield Twp (7-1, 2-0 SOL) will travel to William Tennent, and Lower Moreland (1-5, 0-2 SOL) will be be on the road at Interboro for a non-league game Thursday (6:30 pm). The Lions will travel to New Hope-Solebury Friday (3:30 pm).
Lower Moreland (28) - Zack Kendall 3, Andre Zoubroulis 3, Tommy Keaton 3, Jonathan John 1, Luke Wheeler 3, Chase Carroll 6, Marco Marino 3, Shawn Mertens 6
Springfield (65) - Brandon Thompson 11, Bob Hartman 14, Jack McGuckin 7, Chadrack Kiamba 8, Aidan Hood 6, Julian Caisullo 10, Will McLaughlin 4, Will Cooney 3, Cahlin Spearman 2
Lower Moreland 9 12 1 6 - 28
3-point goals: LM-Carroll 2, Mertens 2, Wheeler, Keaton, Kendall
Upper Moreland 62, New Hope-Solebury 32
A huge second quarter blew this one wide open, as Upper Moreland jumped up 37-15 by halftime and never looked back against New Hope on Tuesday.
Twelve different Golden Bears scored in the game, led by Nate Best and Colson Campbell with eight points each.
Next up: Upper Moreland (6-0, 2-0 SOL) will be on the road at Cheltenham on Friday, and New Hope-Solebury (2-5, 0-2 SOL) will host Lower Moreland on Friday (3:30 pm).
Upper Moreland (62) - Alex Costanzo 2 0-0 4; Nate Best 4 0-1 8; Tommy Jeinnings 3 0-0 7; Colson Campbell 4 0-0 8; Anthony Carson 3 0-1 6; Aidan Tuffy 1 1-2 3; Larry Hughes 3 0-0 6; Luke Roussel 3 0-0 6; Jose Hernandez 1 0-0 3; Jadon Cybok 2 0-0 5; nElijah Davis 1 0-0 3; Kyle Moore 1 0-0 3. Totals 28 1-4 62
New Hope-Solebury (32) - Beck Alderson 1 0-1 2; Linus Mackenzie 2 1-2 5; Blake McCagg 3 0-0 7; John Nettles 4 0-0 9; Rocco Massimino 2 4-8 9. Totals 12 5-11 32.
Upper Moreland 19 18 17 8 62
New Hope-Solebury 12 3 8 9 32
3-point goals: UM-Jadon Cybok, Tommy Jeinnings, Elijah Davis, Kyle Moore, Jose Hernandez;
NHS-Blake McCagg, John Nettles, Rocco Massimino
Cheltenham 73, William Tennent 59
The Panthers took a tenuous 31-29 lead into halftime but then blew the game wide open with a 26-10 third quarter. Scoring seven points each in the pivotal quarter were Mark Hill and Salim Kelly.
Key players: For Cheltenham, Osei Johnson had 12 points – 10 in the opening quarter. Mark Hill added 11 while Kamal Mason and Salim Kelly both had 10 points.
Tennent’s Trae Stracuzzi led all scorers with 23 points. Jay Bright added 14 points.
Next up: Cheltenham (4-2, 2-0 SOL) will host Upper Moreland Friday, and William Tennent (0-5, 0-2) will host Springfield Twp Friday.
William Tennent 17-12-10-14 59
Cheltenham 21-10-26-16 73
William Tennent (59) – Tre Stracuzzi 23, Luke Torok 6, Ryan Bula 5, Jay Bright 14, Joe Hebling 3, Braden Goldberg 2, Tony Pople 6
Chelteham (73) – Chris Harmon 5, Kamal Mason 10, Xavier Willoughby 11,Osei Johnson 12, Salim Kelly 10, Kendall Jackson 4, Isais Vargas 2, Justin Exeukwu 10, Jaden Mosely 2, Tyree Martin 4.
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