Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Tuesday. Abington/Bensalem photos presented courtesy of John Gleeson, Truman/Quakertown photos courtesy of Greg Lindsay, CB South/Tennent photos courtesy of Jon Sklut, and Cheltenham/Imhotep photos provided courtesy of Mark Allen. Check back for galleries of all four games. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ BOYS’ BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
Neshaminy 90, North Penn 80
It was a track meet from the start, and that worked out well for Neshaminy, which jumped ahead with 23 points in the first quarter and 47 in the first half on the way to the wild 90-80 win at North Penn.
Junior Logan Gale scored 16 of his team-high 28 points in the first half.
Key Players: For Neshaminy, Logan Gale had 28 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, Cadenn Amati 16 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore Marlon Yon, 12 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.
Shane Ward had 17 and Nolan Faust 15 to lead North Penn.
Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle:
“I mean, it was a track meet. We knew they were going to be fast, they like to play fast, and we also like to play fast. So, yeah, it just turned into one of those games.”
“We had eight guys get in the box score. We had five in double digits. So, it was a good night. We’re preaching sharing the ball, and we definitely shared it for great looks tonight.”
–Logan Gale: “He was an all-league guy last year. I think now, as a junior, he has two years of varsity experience under his belt. He was in attack mode all night. He was able to get to the rim a lot. But in general, he had 12 rebounds and 5 assists, so that was huge.
“Our big man (Amati) had 16 and eight rebounds, and then one of our sophomores, (Yon) had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks.”
Up next: Neshaminy will compete in the Jack Schott Memorial Tournament against Holy Ghost Prep on Friday, and North Penn will face Mastery Charter on Friday (8pm) in its own tip-off tournament.
Neshaminy 23-24-23-20 90
North Penn 10-25-16-29 80
Neshaminy (90) – Jason Levia 2 4-7 9; Luke Amrhein 4 3-5 12; Logan Gale 12 4-6 28; Eriq Gold 4 0-0 11; Joey Laukaitis 1 0-0 2; Cadenn Amati 8 0-0 16; Marlon Yon 5 2-4 12; Nikoloz Mardaleishvili 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 37 11-19 90.
North Penn (80) – Luke Hall 5 0-0 11; Chris Kingkiner 5 2-4 13; Shane Ward 6 5-9 17; Nolan Foust 6 2-4 15; Brycen Foust 1 2-2 4; JC Wood 3 1-4 10;; Sean Vagie 3 0-0 6; Aiden Thomas 1 0-1 2; Marco Vera 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 31 12-24 80.
3-point goals: N – E.Gold 3, Levia, Amrhein; NP – JC Wood 3, Hall, Kingkiner, Foust.
Abington 67, Bensalem 51
A big first quarter set the tone, as Abington jumped out in front of visiting Bensalem on the way to the 67-51 non-league win on Tuesday night.
Faison Garland scored eight points in the first quarter on the way to the team-high 18.
Key Players: Garland (18 points), Xander Grasty (16) and Amare Stone were all in double figures for the Galloping Ghosts.
Bensalem was led by Aidan Mayfield and MJ Ellzy with 14 points each.
Abington coach Dan Marsh:
–On the game: “We played the whole fourth quarter without Xander (Grasty), who was cramping, but Amare Stone played great, and so did Malcom Lucas. But it was a complete team effort.”
Up next: Abington will host West Catholic on Friday (8pm), and Bensalem will host Academy of Palumbo as part of its Public League/SOL Challenge.
Bensalem 6-17-15-13 51
Abington 21-15-11-20 67
Bensalem (51) – Aidan Mayfield 6 1-2 14; Jason Bourelly 2 2-2 6; Julian Vose 1 0-0 3; Juel Nimely 1 0-0 3; Naman Parmar 2 0-0 6; Michael Levister 1 0-0 2; MJ Ellzy 5 2-4 14; Jacob Eberhardt 1 1-2 3; TOTALS 19 6-10 51.
Abington (67) – Kyler Pickron 2 2-2 7; Amare Stone 3 3-6 10; Malcom Lucas 4 1-2 7; Xander Grasty 8 0-0 16; Faison Garland 6 5-7 18; Michael O’Rourke 0 6-6 6; Ian Burmester 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 24 17-23 67.
3-point goals: B – Porman 2, Ellzy 2, Mayfield, Bourelly, Nimely; A – Pickron, Stone, Garland, Burmester.
Central Bucks South 63, William Tennent 59 (OT)
It wasn’t a textbook type win, but for CB South it was the season opener and a game it trailed most of the game, but the Titans clawed back late, hung on to send the game to overtime, where they prevailed over
host Tennent by a 63-59 final score.
“We really didn’t kick it into gear until about four minutes left in the fourth quarter,” said Titans coach Louie Ditri. “They had an eight-point lead, and we burned the timeout and kind of got on the players a little bit. And truthfully, they responded. They had two shots to try to win the game. It was tied in the fourth quarter, and we had two blocked shots that were really, really huge for us.”
Key Players: Leo Medwid scored a team-high 19 points, Koyote Adebayo had seven points in overtime and a team-high 17 points, Davis Van Zanten added 12, and Shane Farrell had a key blocked shot at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime, and he was 3 of 6 from the free throw line in overtime.
Evan Eiler had five 3-pointers and 19 points for Tennent.
CB South coach Louie Ditri:
–On the game: “We played poorly for three and a half quarters. And (Tennent) played well. They’re a well-coached team, and they played with pace and shot the ball really well. They hit six 3s in the first half, and we actually preach to not give up 3s. That’s the philosophy of ours, so that obviously was backfiring. They played with pace, and for us to give up 30 points in the first half, that’s something we’re not too happy about as a
team, and we were just slow to get started.
“We haven’t played a competitive game since the (Nov.) 22, which I think hurt us. We had a scrimmage on the 22nd of November, and we couldn’t find another scrimmage since then. So, there’s only so much you can replicate in practice and scrimmaging in JV and scrimmaging each other. I just think they came out strong and shot the ball well. We came out a little slow defensively and a little slow offensively as well.”
– Props: “Leo Medwid, who led us with 19, played really well down the stretch, as did Koyote Adebayo. He finished with 17 for us, and he was really strong in overtime. But truthfully, the five starters played a lot of minutes for us, and they kind of clawed their way back in the game. We kind of rode them for much of the game and overtime. They probably played over 85 percent, 90 percent of the game.”
Up next: Central Bucks South will compete in the Phoenixville Tip-off Tournament Friday, and William Tennent will compete in a tournament in Northford, Connecticut this weekend.
CB South 13 13 11 12 13 – 63
Tennent 17 13 11 9 9 – 59
CB South (63)
Adebayo 17, Shahin 7, Farrell 6, Barrett 2, Van Zanten 12, Medwid 19
Tennent (59)
Goldberg 7, Tumelty 2, Stracuzzi 11, Scheller 10, Davis-Carter 10, Eiler 19
Hatboro-Horsham 58, Council Rock North 55 (OT)
Nate Glenn scored five of his team-high 17 points in overtime as Hatboro-Horsham went on the road and shocked CR North, in a game the Hatters trailed by five to start the fourth quarter.
“It was always good to start the season with a win,” said coach Bill Coleman, “and hopefully, it provides our guys with some confidence because our program has historically been an up and down thing, and we’re trying to build it up, so hopefully we’ll be able to build on this.”
Key Players: For H-H, Nate Glenn (17), Jaden Thompson (14) and Kevin Stroup (12) were all in double figures.
H-H coach Bill Coleman:
–On the game: “Anytime you play a Derek Wright team you know what you’re in for. You know how they defend. We battled through a lot of adversity. Three of our rotation guys fouled out. We had three guys from the bottom of the rotation in, and we were able to close it out. It was a great way for our team to start the season.
“It was a back-and-forth game. At one point, North was up six in the middle of the fourth quarter. We have a good mix of people in our group. We have some experienced guys in Kenny Lutz, Shane Phillips and JT (Jaden Thompson), and we also have some young guys who really haven’t played varsity yet. We have Nate Glenn, who’s a sophomore who had a huge second half for us.
“Kevin Stroup, who didn’t play last year because of a knee injury, is on his way back, and he had a really big second half.”
–A new season: “Honestly, last year this is a game we lose because Derek (Wright) did a very good job of guarding Shane (Phillips), and he didn’t score. Last year, I know we lose that game. Credit to our guys for fighting through that.”
–Overtime: “Jayden Tion scored a big layup in the middle of overtime, and Trevor Williams, who’s another new guy and sophomore, made one free throw, and he was able to settle us down a little bit while JT and a couple of other guys were on the bench trying to help him out.”
Up next: Hatboro-Horsham will travel to Jenkintown for a non-league game Thursday, and Council Rock North will host Episcopal Academy on Saturday (2pm).
Hatboro-Horsham 10 9 16 11 12 – 58
CR North 7 13 20 6 9 – 55
Hatboro-Horsham (58)
Jayden Tion 1 0-0 2; Trevor Williams 0 1-2 1; Kenny Lutz 3 0-0 6; Nate Glenn 6 2-2 17; Jaden Thompson 4 5-6 14; Kevin Stroup 5 2-4 12; Shane Phillips 1 2-2 4; Devin Tercha 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 12-16 58.
CR North (55)
Peterson 3 2-3 9, Crowne 2 6-9 10; French 0 1-2 1; Kiefer 6 4-5 16; Wright 3 0-0 8; McBride 1 1-1 3; Cuneo 3 1-3 8. Totals 28 15-23 55.
Upper Dublin 54, Methacton 39
Horace Jackson and Justin Ragsdale had big second halves for the Flying Cardinals, which went on the road and pulled away from Methacton in the fourth quarter for the 15-point road win.
“There’s nothing like the actual season,” said UD coach Derek Brooks. “You can do as much as you want all offseason, but nothing’s like the real season. We’ve had no environment like tonight. Even the Prep wasn’t as intense as tonight. Methacton’s got a small gym. They had a great crowd, great student section. Our students traveled, so it was very fun, very intense.”
Key Players: For UD, Horace Jackson led the team with 22 points, while Justin Ragsdale added 16.
UD coach Derek Brooks:
–About Methacton: “They’re going to be good this year. They have a lot of strong, smart, high IQ, skilled players. They just lack a little bit of height and athleticism at certain positions. And that really was the difference in the game. I think our size and athleticism gave them a lot of trouble.”
–The Game: “We jumped off to a very quick start. I think we hit four 3s in the first couple of minutes. It might have been 12-2. And then they worked their way back in. It was a one-point game, I want to say, in the third quarter at one point. But then, fortunately, we had a nice little 5-0 run to kind of open it up. And then we got it to 10-12. They cut it to 6, but then we had another run. Eventually, we opened it up to 15, and that was the difference in the end.”
Up next: Upper Dublin will host Cumberland Valley Saturday (12:30pm) iin a non-league game.
Upper Dublin 18 5 13 18 – 54
Methacton 12 5 14 8 – 39
UD (54)
Bazemore 4, Altman 4, Cohen 6, Jackson 22, Ragsdale 16; Scherzer 2
Methacton (39)
DePaul 3, Conrad 6, Webb 4, Leet 10, Burke 2, Carter 4, Robinson 10
Harry S. Truman 60, Quakertown 23
Truman scored 45 points in the second half to blow past visiting Quakertown in the season opener for both teams on Tuesday night.
Davae Vaughn scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half.
Truman assistant coach Mike Rongione said:
“We are really happy to come out on opening night in front of our home crowd and get a win.
“We came out tight and struggled out of the gate. Give a lot of credit to Quakertown and Jameson Sykes. We knew he was a matchup problem for us going into the game.
“We were able to finish the half strong. We carried that momentum into the second half and we were able to wear them down a bit.”
Up next: Harry S Truman will travel to Owen J Roberts for a non-league game Thursday, and Quakertown will host Owen J Roberts on Friday.
Truman 2 13 22 23 – 60
Quakertown (23)
Sykes 9, Bodsar 4, Everett 4, McGray 4, Peader 2, Major 1
Truman (60)
Davae Vaughn 15, Abdul-Aziz Diallo 11, Dyson Brown 7, Shawn Parker 6, Adams 6, Jaden Luchansky 4, McCloskey 4, Long 2, Andre 1
Souderton 67, Dock Mennonite 50
Nate Rusike scored 20 points to lead the way as Souderton jumped out to an 18-point lead in the first quarter on the way to a win on the road against nearby non-league rival Dock Mennonite on Tuesday night.
It was a win in the first game for new head coach Brendan Stanton.
“The guys played with great energy,” Stanton said. “We got out to a lead early and were able to dictate the tempo of the game.
“Chanse Salone did a great job creating for his teammates when they collapsed and tried to key on him. Nate Rusike led the troops with 20, Marques Brown and Koby Rollerson both hit for double digits and had great two-way games.
“Our bench squad came in and kept our energy high throughout the whole game. An overall great team effort.”
Up next: Souderton will be in action Friday in its own Jim Church Classic.
Souderton (60)
Rusike 20, Brown 17, Rollerson 14, Salone 8, Epps 3, Quinn 3, Lockwood 2, Stephanos 2
Dock (43)
Mitchell 11, Weir 10, Kratz 10, Deng 7, Johnson 7, Wilkinson 3, Swoyer 2
Great Valley 48, Council Rock South 44
Ryan Delp had 20 points in CR South’s season-opening non-league loss to Great Valley.
Up next: Council Rock South will compete in the Phoenixville Tip-off Tournament Friday.
Great Valley 12 12 14 10 – 48
CR South 10 9 10 15 – 44
Monday, Dec. 1
Imhotep 61, Cheltenham 47
The visiting Panthers hung tough for one half, trailing by just a 31-26 score at the intermission, but Imhotep outscored their visitors 18-8 in the third quarter to seize control of the game.
Imhotep took 27 trips to the foul line, converting on 18 of them.
Key players: Chris Harmon (16 points) and Isaias Vargas (10 points) led the Panthers.
Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury: “Hats off to Imhotep. It was a great environment. It was a great game. We just have to do a better job of not allowing teams to get to the line and just do a better job guarding as a whole.
“I’m proud of the kids’ effort. Everyone played hard, and that’s a staple of ours. We wanted to test ourselves in the beginning of the season, and we got that.
“Imhotep is a solid team, a state championship contender, so we’re going to measure ourselves. We know exactly what we need to get better at. We have to do a better job of attacking the basket, playing through contact. If we get to the foul line, great. If we don’t, we have to move on.”
Up next: Cheltenham will host Chester Thursdayin a non-league game.
Cheltenham 14-12-8-13 47
Imhotep 17-11-18-15 61
Cheltenham (47) – Isaias Vargas 10, Chris Harmon 16, Mark Hill 8, Jaedn Mosely 3, Tyree Martin 5, Peyton McClendon 1
Imhotep (61) – Smith 9, Benson 8, Banks 1, Dill 6, Lovenzenous 20, Johnson 3, Brown 6.
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