Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday. CB East/CB West photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Pennsbury/CR North photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Check back for galleries of both games. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ BOYS’ BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks East 58, Central Bucks West 51
A 13-0 first quarter was just the start CB East was looking for coming off a difficult loss Tuesday, but then it turned into an East-West game, as the Patriots held off CB West for the seven-point win in the end.
“We were able to get off to a great start in the first but credit to West for not panicking and chipping away at the lead in the second,” said CB East coach Erik Henrysen. “We took our foot off the gas a little but settled back in coming out after halftime.
“Both teams battled some foul trouble. The game was a physical one.”
Key Players: CB East was led by Henry Bartchuk (16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Keegan Marascio (16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists). Connor Mekanik had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Quinn Slack finished with five points, six rebounds and four assists.
Melo Aylmer had 22 for CB West, while Dan Pellegrini added 14.
CB East coach Erik Henrysen:
“The East community has had an emotional week. I’m proud of the boys for lifting each other up and taking care of one another. We let one get away on Tuesday. Tonight, we stayed focused. The guys deserved this one.”
–Props: “We were able to get great contributions out of our back court. Marascio, Slack and Bartchuk were great. Colbert and Mekanik really do a lot of the dirty work and tonight, Alex Lemaire gave us tough minutes.”
Up Next: CB East hosts La Academia Partnership Charter on Monday. CB West has a scheduled non-league game against Bensalem on Tuesday.
CB West 0 20 11 20 – 51
CB East 13 10 19 16 – 58
CB West (51)
Max Milillo 5, Melo Aylmer 22, Dan Pellegrini 14, Isaiah Rubenstein 5, Ben Kondyra 5, Mason Darrows 1
CB East (58)
Connor Makanik 12, Henry Bartchuk 16, Jackson Lutz 1, Brady Colbert 4, Keegan Marascio 16, Quinn Slack 5, Ryan Dailey 4.
3-point goals: CBW-Aylmer 4, Pellegrini 2, Milillo, Kondyra; CBE-Bartchuk 2, Mekanik
Central Bucks South 64, Pennridge 44
On the road it’s never easy, and early on, this Colonial Division game was close. But in the second quarter, CB South built a lead – outscoring West 17-10 – and continued to build, pulling away in the second half for the 20-point win over Pennridge.
Key Players: Shane Farrell led CB South with 17 points, while Davis VanZanten and Leo Medwid added 12 each.
Pennridge was led by Ryan Schwind’s 13 points, while Connor Murray added 11.
CB South coach Louie Ditri:
“It was a tight first quarter, 10-10. Both teams were trying to feel each other out. But I thought our kids did a nice job coming out of the quarter, and we put a defensive effort together, which we’ve been kind of preaching. When we play good defense, it leads to good offense for us.
“And our offense, the last three quarters went really well, with us playing with pace and getting downhill, and the players really got engaged. I mean we had a lot of scoring tonight, where three or four guys touched the ball before we put it in the basket.
“So, it really worked out well tonight on both ends.”
Up Next: CB South plays in the Modie Risher Tournament in South Carolina, starting on Dec. 27 against Philip Simmons (S.C). Pennridge plays in the Easton Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29.
CB South 10 17 20 17 – 64
Pennridge 10 10 16 8 – 44
CB South (64)
Kayode Adebayo 4 1-2 9; Alex Shahin 2 0-0 4; Cade Crim 0 1-2 1; Shane Farrell 7 1-2 17; Brayden Barrett 2 0-0 5; Davis VanZanten 6 0-2 12; Chase Ross 0 2-2 2; Leo Medwid 4 4-4 12; Rosica 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 9-14 64.
Pennridge (44)
Rowan Smith 4 0-0 10; Ryan Kuntz 1 0-0 2; Ryan Schwind 5 1-1 13; Jake Dietl 0 2-2 2; Connor Murray 5 1-2 11; Mike Alba 1 0-0 3; Jackson Beard 0 1-2 1; Dillon Prebis 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 5-7m 44
3-point goals: CBS-Farrell 2, Barrett; P-Murray 3, Smith 2, Schwind 2, Alba.
Souderton 62, North Penn 53
A 12-0 run to end the first half was the push Souderton needed to blow past North Penn and remain unbeaten to start the season with a 62-53 victory.
Senior guards Nate Rusike and Chanse Salone combined for 42 points for the Indians. Rusike had 10 points in the critical second quarter.
Key Players: Rusike had 23 points, Salone 19 and Koby Rollerson 10 for Souderton.
JC Wood had 15 for North Penn, and Chris Kingkiner added 12.
Souderton coach Brendan Stanton:
“It definitely wasn’t our best game execution-wise, but we played to our standard from an energy and effort standpoint. I was very proud of how we responded to Tuesday night’s game. We challenged the team to play tougher and rebound. I think that helped us get out on the break and take control of the game at the end of the second quarter.
–Props: “Chanse Salone and Nate Rusike combined for 42 points, but it was a full team effort. Koby Rollerson and Marques Brown made big plays in both halves, Levi Epps and Keith Stephanos were physical and attacked the glass. Will Lockwood, who is our energy guy off the bench, played an outstanding second half. He had multiple offensive rebounds, steals, a charge and even a block at (5-foot-7).
“Obviously, we are happy to be 8-0 but we can’t be complacent. Nobody hangs a banner for how you start a season. There is a lot of season left and a lot of areas we need to improve to get to where we want to be in February.
Up Next: Souderton hosts Lansdale Catholic on Monday. North Penn hosts Dock Mennonite on Tuesday.
Souderton. 9-19-21-13 62
North Penn 9-15-15-14 53
Souderton (62)
Will Lockwood 2 0-0 4; Chanse Salone 7 3-4 19; Koby Rollerson 4 0-0 10; Nate Rusike 10 1-1 23; Marques Brown 4 0-0 8; TOTALS 27 4-5 62.
North Penn (53)
Rylei Gray 0 0-2 0; Chris Kingkiner 5 0-0 12; Nolen Foust 4 0-0 9; Brysen Foust 1 0-0 3; JC Wood 5 0-0 15; Wyatt Martin 3 2-6 8; AidenThomas 2 2-2 6; TOTALS 20 4-10 53.
3-point goals: S – Rusike 2, Rollerson; NP – Wood 5, Kingkiner 2, N.Foust, B.Foust
SOL Patriot Division
Council Rock South 69, Bensalem 51
Lucian Mirc scored 11 of his team-high 18 in the first half, as CR South started fast and put away Bensalem on the road, 69-51, for the Golden Hawks’ second straight win in Patriot Division play.
Key Players: Also for CR South, Ryan Delp added 16 points.
Bensalem was led by Jason Bourelly’s 14 points and Mike Ellzy’s 13.
CR South coach James Cassidy:
–Props: “Ray Haglund played like the floor general he is – led us with eight assists. Ryan Delp found his shooting touch, hitting a number of huge 3s, while we made our run early, and ended up with 16.
“And Lucian Mirc is a junior that is playing with confidence, and his athleticism gives us a dimension that we really need. He can go get us a bucket when we need one leading us tonight with 18 points.
“Really proud of our effort from all 12 guys tonight, winning at maybe the toughest place to play in our division.”
Up Next: CR South is back at it Saturday at home against William Tennent. Bensalem will host Bristol in the Dick Dougherty Tournament on Dec. 29.
CR South 22 17 16 14- 69
Bensalem 9 14 12 16 – 51
CR South (69)
Delp 5 2-4 16; Edelman 1 0-0 3; Haglund 1 3-4 3; Lydon 1 0-0 3; Madara 3 2-2 8; Malone 0 5-5 5; McLean 2 0-0 3; Balmer 1 0-0 3; Mirc 7 1-2 18; Sestito 2 0-0 4; Smith 0 1-2 1.
Bensalem (51)
Bourelly 14, Vose 4, Nimely 6, Carrasquillo 2, Parmar 1 0-0 2; Ellzy 13, Eberhardt 10.
Pennsbury 43, Council Rock North 27
This one was a defensive struggle from the start, and in the end it was one that Pennsbury got the better of, as it remained unbeaten in Patriot Division play with the 16-point win over CR North.
CR North finished with just seven field goals for the game.
“I think part of it was us, part of it was North,” said Pennsbury coach Wes Emme. “North is maybe the best defensive team we’ve played so far, particularly in the half court.
“I think that they are methodical on offense, and they really grind possessions. They have great shot discipline – they only take really good shots, and we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.
“Some of that was, we played without Brayden Clark tonight. Some of that was we just missed, and we had some opportunities.”
Key Players: For Pennsbury, Sean Breslin had a team-high 14 points, while Brady Kent added 11.
Owen Crowne scored 12 for CR North.
Pennsbury coach Wes Emme:
“I’m really proud of my group after tonight. We’ve had some more glamorous wins, we’ve had some flashier nights, where we made plays consistently throughout the game, got up and down. You can probably think of two or three plays where it’s just like, wow, that was pretty special. Tonight was just a grind it out – simplicity, make your layups, get to the free throw line, defend. And they had seven field goals. So that tells you how well we defended as a group.”
–Props: “I thought Sean Breslin was very good. He had 14 (points) and seven rebounds. And up until tonight, he’s been more of that Swiss Army knife, doing all the other little stuff
within the game. But he had a lot of opportunities tonight at the rim, particularly in transition. He hit a big 3 in the second half.
“And there’s going to be a funny thing in scorebook – it’s that Pat Jajua goes 1-for-4 from the free throw line and has one field goal, but he completely controlled the pace of the game. He’s been playing off the ball pretty consistently for most part of the year, and Brayden Clark’s been playing on the ball. And with him being out tonight, we made the switch, and I think (Jajua) completely controlled the game, the tempo, the pace – had three assists in the first half. I think getting other guys involved, connecting our offense and I thought defensively, he was very good as well.”
Up Next: CR North hosts William Tennent in a non-league game on Monday. Pennsbury is off until the Boardwalk Classic St. Joe’s by the Sea on Dec. 29.
Pennsbury 11 7 10 15 – 43
CR North 2 9 6 10 – 27
Pennsbury (43)
Brady Kent 3 4-4 11; Sean Breslin 5 3-3 14; Pat Jajua 1 1-4 3; Max Manga 4 0-2 8; Owen Hogancamp 1 0-0 3; Nick Bunda 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 8-13 43.
CR North (27)
Crowne 2 8-8 12; Keller 1 1-2 3; Wright 2 0-0 6; McBride 0 0-2 0; Barone 2 2-2 6. Totals 7 11-14 26.
3-point goals: P-Hogancamp, Kent, Breslin; CRN-Wright 2
Neshaminy 61, Harry S Truman 59
At one point, Neshaminy trailed this one late 54-46, but it came storming back on the road to edge Harry S. Truman by two on Friday night.
“We were up 16-9 in the first quarter, felt pretty good,” said Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle. “You knew they weren’t going away. We were only up four points at the half. Come third quarter, they wound up going up four. It was just kind of a back-and-forth battle throughout the game.
“We were down 54-46 in the fourth, and then we were able to come back, hit a couple big shots, get a couple timely steals and blocks, and we were able to come away with it at the end.”
Key Players: Logan Gale had 20 points and six rebounds for Neshaminy, while Eriq Gold added 11. Gale and Gold were a combined 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Marlon Yon had nine points and nine rebounds, while Nikoloz Mardaleishvili had seven points, seven rebounds and three blocks off the bench.
Truman was led by Davae Vaughn’s 22 points, while Jaden Luchansky added 14 and Adul Dialo 13.
Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle:
–Props: “Really the whole team. We started sharing the ball a little bit more. Jason Leiva hit a huge 3 for us to go up late, I believe, by one. And then we made some free throws, and we got a stop at the end which was huge. They had the ball at the end with 15 seconds left and we were able to get a stop. Definitely, a positive way to end it.
“Nikoloz Mardaleishvili came off the bench and gave us huge energy with seven rebounds and three blocks, as well. He’s our backup big. Definitely, I feel like he helped change the game late.”
Up Next: Truman plays at Hopewell Valley (N.J) in a non-league game on Saturday afternoon. Neshaminy will play in the Huddleston Holiday Tournament against host Upper Dublin on Dec. 27.
Neshaminy 16 12 15 17 – 61
Truman 9 15 14 11 – 59
Neshaminy (61)
Leiva 2 0-0 6; Amrhein 2 0-0 5; Gale 7 5-5 20; Gold 3 5-5 11; Amati 1 1-1 3; Yon 2 5-10 9; Mardalesihvili 3 1-3 7. Totals 20 17-25 61.
Truman (59)
Dialo 5 3-3 13; Luchansky 4 4-5 14; Vaughn 9 2-3 22; Edwards 1 3-4 5; Rogers 0 1-2 1; Parker 1 0-2 2; Lunch 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 13-19 59.
3-point goals: N-Leiva 2, Amrhein, Gale; T-Lunchansky 2, Vaughn 2
SOL Liberty Division
Plymouth Whitemarsh 69, Abington 44
A big first half was the catalyst for Plymouth Whitemarsh on Friday night, as the Colonials went on the road, jumped up on Abington early and never looked back on the way to the 69-44 Liberty Division win.
“We were focused for multiple reasons,” said Colonials coach Jim Donofrio. “Obviously, more than anything, we have to prove something to ourselves. At the start of the season, we laid an egg (a 70-38 loss to Springside-Chestnut Hill), and we weren’t too thrilled about Roman (a 57-48 loss). I’m just happy that they seemed tonight to respond with a lot of pride and taking some things personal. That’s good.”
Key Players: Mani Sajid had a big night for PW with 27 points, while Michael Pereira added 16 and Buddy Denard 10.
Abington’s Xander Grasty had a team-high 15.
PW coach Jim Donofrio:
“(We have) very, very level-headed guys, and if you’re in the competition business, level-headedness gives mixed signals. I want a little more fire. We had a great game against Wissahickon Friday night at home, and we get to Roman (Saturday), and the whole body language is uncertain.
“We opened the season completely flat, so we’re kind of like a team that’s favored to win a boxing match. We don’t realize you actually have to fight from the first round on.
“I was impressed tonight. The challenge is, are you interested in wanting to reach your potential and accomplish something big? Not everybody is. Or are you just interested in enjoying the journey? Then it’s going to be up and down.
“That’s why the schedule was set up the way it was. That’s why we’ve got Wood tomorrow night at Wood. I want to see how we come out of this in January. We have to get punched in the head over and over again because we didn’t get this experience last year in terms of going deep, so it may seem a little bit excessive to some people, a little insane, but my gut is that’s what we need. We need to have people doubt us.
“We need to learn on the job that there’s a sort of energy that has to be played on every possession. We did an awful lot good tonight. There were a minimal number of lapses. There was an attitude and a look in the eyes of so many guys that they know they’re a good team, and that’s what it is.
“Abington’s been playing well, and they have a lot of nice pieces, but we really are a team that should be a level up on a lot of people. When you return what we have and you return high-level talent, now, where’s the fight, and it looked like we really took a lot of pride in this game tonight.”
–Props: “Tonight, Jack Hayes was unreal to start the game. Mani Sajid is what you picture he could be every night, and then the big guy (Michael Perriera) quietly woke up and made his presence felt. He’s coming off a bad ankle sprain to start the season, and you hear people chirping. You’ve got to focus primarily on what you have to do. Terron Davis gave us a huge run. Buddy Denard was steady. Not a deep lineup tonight, but that’s what it has to be in these games.
“Whenever you needed a made basket, whenever they made a run, we quieted it pretty quickly. We’re a high school team, but we have to understand poise. They put a nice press on, and we looked a little rattled. We can’t be, so we’re not there yet all the way, but you don’t want to be in December.
“I’m proud of the kids for the bounce back, for the pride in saying, ‘Watch, we really are able to do this.’ So that’s what I thought tonight did for us.”
Up Next: PW plays at Archbishop Wood in the Diane Mosco Invitational Saturday. Abington next plays Dec. 29 at Spring-Ford.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 18-12-20-19 69
Abington. 6-7-13-18 44
Plymouth Whitemarsh (69)
Jack Hayes 1 5-5 7; Terron Davis 4 1-2 9; Mani Sajid 9 4-6 27; Michael Pereira 8 0-2 16; Buddy Denard 4 2-2 10; TOTALS 26 12-15 69
Abington (44)
Xander Grasty 6 1-2 15; Faison Garland 3 2-3 8; Kyler Pickron 1 1-2 3; Amare Stone 1 0-0 3; Michael O’Rourke 2 2-3 8; Elijah Cruickshank 2 0-0 5; Jacob Solomon 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 16 6-10 44
3-point goals: PW – Sajid 3; A – Grasty 2, O’Rourke 2, Stone, Cruickshank
Upper Dublin 59, Hatboro-Horsham 45
Both offenses came out firing in the first half, before slowing in the second, but the result here was a 14-point win over Hatboro-Horsham at home, as the Flying Cardinals improved to 7-1 on the season.
Brandon Altman had four first-half 3-pointers for UD.
Key Players: Altman and Horace Jackson led Upper Dublin with 12 points each.
Shane Phillips had 14 for H-H.
UD coach Derek Brooks:
“The final does not tell the story of the first half for sure. The first half, it was 39-26. Both teams couldn’t miss. It was a fast-paced game, up and down. Good energy from both teams. I think we might have hit seven or eight 3s in the first half. And I think (H-H) probably hit four or five. So, basically, 15 3s between both teams were made, and then each team went pretty cold in the second half.
“They only scored seven in the third quarter, and we only scored three. So, a very, very odd game. Everyone seemed to really tighten up in the third quarter. We did not make a field goal. We made three free throws. So, I thought our energy dipped a little bit.
“Why? I’m not sure. But it’s something we’ve got to correct. We’ve had too many just – I would say – incomplete games, where we just don’t have the full focus and energy for four quarters. We have it for three of them. But we’re 7-1. I can’t complain too much.”
Up Next: H-H plays at Upper Merion in a non-league game Saturday. Upper Dublin hosts La Salle on Tuesday.
Hatboro-Horsham 12 14 7 12 – 45
Upper Dublin 21 18 3 17 – 59
H-H (45)
Conoway 3, Lutz 10, Glenn 3, Thompson 9, Stroup 4, Phillips 14, Tercha 2
Upper Dublin (59)
UD (59)
Bazemore 7, Altman 12, Cohen 8, Jackson 12, Ragsdale 8, Scherzer 5, Caron 2, Rantz 5
SOL Freedom Division
Cheltenham 54, New Hope-Solebury 24
Mark Hill scored a team-high 13 points, as Cheltenham locked down defensively after the first quarter – allowing only 14 points in the next three combined – and ran away from New Hope-Solebury 54-24.
Also for the Panthers, Tyree Martin had 10 points.
Up Next: New Hope hosts Lehigh Valley Academy on Saturday. Cheltenham next plays on Dec. 27 against Reading as part of the All-City Classic at Widener University.
Cheltenham 17-8-17-12 54
New Hope-Solebury 10-2-8-4 24
Cheltenham (54)
Isais Vargas 1, Chris Harmon 4, Mark Hill 13, Isaiah Dill 7, Jaeden Mosley 2, Eric McFadden 7, Micah Millis 6, Tyree Martin 10; Payton McClendon 4.
New Hope-Solebury (24)
Blake McCagg 6, Noah Kolen 2, Linus MacKenzie 5, Garrett Nuzzolo 5, Rocco Massimino 4.
Upper Moreland 69, Springfield Twp 45
In the past, Springfield usually plays Upper Moreland tough, so coming off a difficult loss to Cheltenham on Tuesday, the Golden Bears wanted to start strong, and a big second quarter was the catalyst, jumping ahead on the way to the 69-45 victory.
UM led this one 12-5 after one and 36-19 at halftime.
Key Players: UM was led by Jose Hernandez with 16 points and Larry Hughes with 10. As a team, the Bears were 19-for-22 from the free throw line.
UM coach Dan Heiland:
“It was 12-5, but we got out to a slow start. We had a strong second quarter, scoring 24, so we extended the lead to 17 at the half. And then at that point, the message at halftime was take care of the ball in the second half, continue to make the extra play, make winning basketball plays on both ends of the floor. And we did that for the most part. And yeah, it just closed out the game.
–Props: “Jose had 16. Larry had 10. He played well on both sides of the floor. Everyone was pretty steady. Before we started putting in end-of-the-bench guys, we ran about eight deep. So, those first eight guys all played really good minutes. I thought Drew Hamil and Chase Moore gave us really good minutes off the bench. And our starting five has been pretty consistent these first eight games into the season?”
Up Next: Springfield plays at Morrisville on Monday. Upper Moreland is off until Dec.29 when it plays Pottstown in the Great Valley Tournament.
Springfield 5 14 13 13 – 45
Upper Moreland 12 24 20 13 – 69
Springfield (45)
Spearman 2 5-6 9; Davis 0 1-2 1; Trejbowski 2 0-2 6; McGuckin 3 7-9 13; Kimaba 2 0-0 4; Cleary 1 0-0 2; Mathews 1 0-0 3; Piccolo-Cooper 3 0-0 7. Totals 14 13-19 45.
UM (69)
Nate Best 1 2-2 5; Kyle Moore 2 4-4 8; Andrew Hamil 1 0-2 3; Brody Hughes 1 1-2 3; Larry Hughes 5 0-0 10; Chase Moore 2 2-2 6; Cannon Campbell 1 6-6 8; Jose Hernandez 6 3-3 16; Chris O’Sullivan 1 0-0 3; Darrius Whetstone 3 1-1 7. Totals 23 19-22 69.
3-point goals: S-Trejbrowski 2, Mathews, Piccolo-Cooper; UM-Best, Hamil, O’Sullivan, Hernandez
William Tennent 41, Lower Moreland 31
In a contest that saw both teams struggle to find an offensive rhythm, it was the Panthers earning the hard-fought win.”
“It was a grind-it-out game for both of us,” Tennent coach Robert Mulville said. ”I thought both teams played really hard, but both teams had trouble putting the ball in the hoop.
“We were fortunate enough to come out on the winning end in this one.”
Key players: Tennent’s Ayden Davis-Carter scored a game-high 18 while Tre Stracuzzi added 12 points – seven in the fourth quarter. Scot Scheller added eight points.
William Tennent coach Robert Mulville:
–The game: “We were up three at the half, two at the end of the third, and I think they actually went ahead or tied it with about six minutes left in the fourth, and then we were able to get some key buckets.
“Tre Stracuzzi had seven points in the fourth quarter. Ayden Davis-Carter again just had some really nice defensive stops and cleared some boards for us. He had a really, really good game. He had 18.
“We didn’t do a very good job of shooting the three tonight. We were 3-for-26 after going 13 for 23 the other night, but Ayden was able to clean up a lot of our misses and actually scored off of them, so that was big.
“Stracuzzi had a three-point play in the fourth quarter that stretched our lead a little bit. Scheller hit a layup that put us up like six, and then we hit some foul shot from that point on.”
Up Next: Tennent plays at CR South on Saturday. Lower Moreland is off until Jan. 3 when it hosts Upper Merion.
Lower Moreland 6-9-10-6 31
William Tennent 8-10-9-14 41
Lower Moreland (31)
Luke Wheeler 2 0-0 4; Nathaniel Udal 1 1-4 3; Jonathan John 1 0-0 3; Chase Carroll 2 0-0 4; Nathan Fellah 3 0-0 6; Tristan Vizcarrondo 2 0-0 5; Thomas Maloney 2 2-3 6; TOTALS 13 3-7 31.
William Tennent (41)
Braden Goldberg 0 3-4 3; Teegan Stanfield 0 0-2 2; Tre Stracuzzi 4 2-3 12; Scott Scheller 3 1-1 8; Ayden Davis-Carter 18; TOTALS 15 8-12 41.
3-point goals: LM – John, Vizcarrondo; WT – Stracuzzi 2, Scheller.
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