Check out the results for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action. Photos of the CR North/Neshaminy game are courtesy of Jesse Garber. To view photos of the CR North/Neshaminy game, please click on the following link: http://JSGarber.zenfolio.com/p450950466. Check the Photo Gallery for Kim Supko’s photos of the PW/ Upper Dublin game.
By Jarrad Saffren
All 24 Suburban One League boys’ basketball teams played league games Tuesday night. It was the last slate of league games until after the New Year. The results and recaps are below.
SOL National
Abington 56, Bensalem 43
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Eric Dixon did it again.
Abington’s 6-foot-6 freshman forward dropped 21 points and led the Ghosts in scoring for the eighth time in eight games. Abington is 6-0 when Dixon scores 20 or more and 0-2 when he scores less than 20.
“I thought I had the advantage,” said Dixon. “I like to take advantage of everything. The whole team took advantage of mismatches.”
Bensalem did not have a player who even approached 6-foot-6. Abington had four—Dixon, Jack Steinman, Joe O’Brien, and Eric Dougherty. Senior forward Brian Close is not much shorter.
Dougherty hit a three. But the other four dominated in the paint, combining for 40 points. Abington scored 36 in the paint overall. Abington coach Charles Grasty told his guards to feed the big men.
“We were telling them to be patient, but sometimes they get that open look right away and you know, they wanna shoot it right away,” said Grasty. “We thought that if we could just be patient and throw it down in the paint, we could hurt them.”
Abington dumped the ball into Dixon on four of its first six possessions after halftime. The big fella scored seven points on those possessions as Abington increased a nine-point lead to fifteen.
But Bensalem stayed in the game by sinking long threes. The Owls drained six in the second half and cut their deficit to seven at one point early in the fourth. Ward Roberts knocked down three treys and finished with 11 points overall. Johni Dumeny hit two and was second on the Owls with eight points.
Robbie Heath was the most productive guard for the Ghosts, scoring 11 points. Heath grew four inches in the offseason, sprouting from 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-1. He said the growth spurt is helping his game.
“I think I can pull-up quicker and I think can play against guards smaller than me,” said Heath. “When I was back in Australia, my trainer told me I could use my size to my advantage.”
Without graduated1,000 point-scorers Amir Hinton and Matt Penecale, Heath, a sophomore, is handling the ball more up top. The growth spurt helps him see over the defense. He found his bigs down low time after time Tuesday night.
Abington (6-2, 3-1 SOL) plays in the 11th Annual Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic next week. Bensalem (1-5, 1-3 SOL) takes on Bristol next Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Bensalem 10-7-14-12 43
Abington 13-13-13-17 56
Bensalem: Richard Dean 6, Anthony Greene 2, Ward Roberts 11, BJ Jones 3, Brian Quarterman 7, Taco Douglas 6, John Dumeny 8.
Abington: Robbie Heath 11, Eric Dougherty 3, Brian Close 11, Lucas Monroe 2, Jack Steinman 2, Joe O’Brien 6, Eric Dixon 21.
William Tennent 49, Council Rock South 43
John Ryan is finally fully healthy. And he did it all for Tennent Tuesday night.
“This is the first game where he was actually cleared to play,” said Tennent coach Robert Mulville.
Ryan suffered a herniated disc during football season and had not played more than two or three quarters in any of Tennent’s first seven basketball games.
That changed Tuesday. The senior center led all scorers with 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He even brought the ball up when point guard Anthony Woodard got in foul trouble.
“He had to kind of play point forward for us for a little while,” said Mulville.
The coach also said that Ryan’s presence gives his team confidence.
“Mentally that was a big lift for us,” Mulville said. “And on the court he was a huge lift too. He’s very effective in the post, but if we need to put him out on the perimeter, he’s able to get out there and settle us down and we can run some stuff through him.”
Ryan had help. Matt Berndlmaier scored 15 points for the Panthers and Pat McCauley, for the second game in a row, buried a huge three that put Tennent up for good. McCauley struggled in the first half but finished with seven points.
“We just kept telling him, you know, you gotta keep shooting,” said Mulville. “He’s our shooter. And it wasn’t like he was missing badly.”
Alex Nordenholt led CR South with 15 points.
The win was Tennent’s third in a row after an 0-5 start. Mulville said the 3-0 Panthers are the real Panthers.
“We were playing without John and without George Alston, who had a great game for us the other night and played well tonight,” Mulville said. “When you are down two key guys, that’s gonna throw you for a little bit of a loop.”
The Panthers (3-5, 2-2 SOL) are hosting the Tennent Holiday Classic next week. CR South (3-4, 2-2 SOL) is playing in the West Chester Rustin Holiday Classic beginning Monday.
Council Rock North 46, Neshaminy 34
The Indians bounced back after two straight losses, including a two-point heartbreaker to Harry S. Truman last Friday.
The Indians led 15-6 after one quarter and took a 23-18 lead into halftime on their way to the win.
Riley Thompson and Will Desautelle combined for 36 points, Thompson with 20, Desautelle with 16. Matt McAlister added five.
Shammond Thomas led Neshaminy with 12 points. Frances Robles netted nine and Zach Tredway had seven.
CR North (4-3, 2-2 SOL) plays in the AHA Classic beginning next Tuesday. Neshaminy (0-5, 0-4 SOL) will host the Neshaminy Christmas Tournament starting on the same day.
Council Rock North 15-8-10-13 46
Neshaminy 6-12-9-7 34
Council Rock North: Tyler Nowmos 3, Riley Thompson 20, Casey McAlister 5, Will Desautelle 16, Noah Ehlin 2.
Neshaminy: Shammond Thomas 12, Frances Robles 9, Zach Tredway 7, Chris Arcidiacono 2, Billy Warren 4.
Pennsbury 86, Harry S. Truman 42
This one was never close as Pennsbury won its fourth straight while Truman failed to build on its big win over CR North last Friday.
The Falcons led by 12 after one quarter (20-8) and increased their lead in every stanza. Three Falcons players—Mark Flagg, Addison Howard, and Rob Daly—scored in double figures. Flagg had 21, Howard 15, and Daly 14. Six other players—Gary Francis, Joey Monaghan, Isaiah Carpenter, Mike Alley, Tyler Sessa-Reeves, and Louie Bavas—scored for Pennsbury. Gary Francis had nine.
No one on Truman scored in double figures. Justin Fant and Khalil Tramell led the team with seven each. Maurice Jackson had six.
Pennsbury (7-1, 4-0 SOL) is off until Jan. 5, when it takes on Neshaminy on the road. Truman will participate in the Holy Ghost Holiday Tournament starting next Tuesday night.
Harry S. Truman 8-13-13-8 42
Pennsbury 20-21-30-15 86
Harry S Truman: Quin McQueen 1, Kelechi Ogbonna 4, Danell Snelling 4, Justin Fant 7, Mike Phillips 1, Khalil Trammel 7, Maurice Jackson 5, ZJ Jackson 6, Joe Hamilton 2, Thomas Cergino.
Pennsbury: Addison Howard 15, Tyler Sessa-Reeves 5, Louie Bavas, Isaiah Carpenter 6, Gary Francis 9, Joey Monaghan 7, Mike Alley 5, Rob Daly 14, Mark Flagg 21.
SOL Continental
Pennridge 83, Souderton 64
Max Wagner was overshadowed by Dan Long, who scored a season-high 27 and crossed the 1,000-point plateau for his career, reaching 1,004.
But Wagner’s performance was just as uplifting for the Rams. The 6-foot-7 center jammed his wrist at practice last Monday when he tried to break a fall onto the hardwood. He played the last two games but could not really shoot, especially from the outside.
“He helped us on Friday with his length. He took up some space but couldn’t score,” said Rams coach Dean Behrens.
Pennridge beat Central Bucks South last Friday but lost to Emmaus Saturday. Wagner scored just two points in both games combined.
On Tuesday, he dropped 19.
“It’s pretty simple,” said Behrens. “He looked healthy tonight.”
“We are pretty fortunate that he wasn’t seriously hurt,” Behrens added. “When that happened last Monday, I really thought it was going to be bad. Like he’d be out a month.”
Behrens said Wagner “was still a little weak with his passes” but hit two threes and even dunked the ball. “Which I wasn’t sure I was happy about,” said Behrens.
Wagner felt no pain after the game and is about 90-percent healthy, said Behrens. He has three days off before the Rams practice again on Saturday.
Ryan Cuthbert and Ryan Kinky added eight points each for Pennridge. Stephen Lowry had seven.
Austin Eberhart, Tracy Simsick, and Mike Bealer did a lot of the scoring for Souderton, combining for 40 points. Eberhart netted 15, Simsick 14, and Bealer 11.
Behrens said the win was big for Pennridge.
“A loss would have put us at 2-2 in the league,” said Behrens. “We thought going into Christmas being 3-1 would be very important.”
“Now we have to get ready for the league push in the second half of the year. It’s going to be a sprint. It’s basically one month, 31 or 32 days to make a push not only for the playoffs but the division as well.”
Souderton was led by the 15-point effort of Austin Eberhart. Tracy Simsick added 14.
Pennridge (6-2, 3-1 SOL) will partake in the Boyertown High School Tournament beginning next Monday night. Souderton (3-5, 1-3 SOL) plays in the West Chester Rustin Holiday Classic starting on the same night.
Souderton 9-8-23-24 64
Pennridge 13-24-24-22 83
Souderton: Mike Bealer 11, Ty Salone 7, Matt Cartwright 10, Tracy Simsick 14, Kyle Lennon 2, Connor Lennon 3, Austin Eberhart 15, Antonio Rodriguez 2.
Pennridge: Luke Nuneviller 2, Devon Balmer 4, Dan Long 27, Sean Yoder 3, Stephen Lowry 7, Ryan Kinky 8, Kyle Yoder 5, Ryan Cuthbert 8, Max Wagner 19.
Hatboro-Horsham 50, Quakertown 43
Through 16 minutes, Griffin Schmidt was willing Quakertown toward its first league win.
Schmidt poured in 18 points in the first half and Quakertown led by 10, 32-22.
But Hatboro-Horsham clamped down in the second half and held Schmidt to five points. “It was a tale of two halves. We did not play well in the first half and Quakertown had a lot to do with it. They played very, very well,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Ed Enoch. “We won the second half pretty convincingly.”
Enoch said he did not make any adjustments at halftime.
“We just did it better,” Enoch said. “We tried to keep Schmidt from being so dominant and make other kids beat us. (Point guard) Brandon Crews had a real good second half defensively.”
“We got some steals, some run-outs, and took momentum and got a lead.”
Quakertown scored just 11 points after halftime.
Horsham had to score too. Jay Davis led the way with 19. Crews added 11 and Kyle Katz scored 10. Joe Russell led the Hatters under the boards with 14 rebounds.
JR Grimmage was second on Quakertown with seven points.
Hatboro-Horsham (5-3, 4-0 SOL) plays in the Norristown Triangle Club Tournament early next week. Quakertown (2-6, 0-4 SOL) will take part in a tournament at Salisbury High School.
Hatboro-Horsham 11-11-13-15 50
Quakertown 19-13-4-7 43
Hatboro-Horsham: Brandon Crews 11, Kyle Katz 10, Clifton Moore 7, Joe Russell 3, Jay Davis 19.
Quakertown: Ty Harrison 3, JR Grimmage 7, Rob Meystayer 2, Branden Lewis 4, Charles Ervin 4, Griffin Schmidt 23.
Central Bucks West 61, North Penn 49
The big three again led the Bucks to victory, their fourth straight in league play.
Cal Reichwein, Erich Hohlenleitner, and Luke Irons combined for 41 points, Reichwein with 19, Hohlenleitner with 15, Irons with nine. Ben Riegel added seven. Hohenleitner also led the Bucks under the boards with seven rebounds while Reichwin had five.
North Penn was led by Matt Pickford, who had 16. Reece Udinski scored nine points and JJ Melchior netted eight.
“They are a better team than we are,” said North Penn coach John Conrad. “They play well together.”
Conrad said the Knights need to improve in the areas where CB West excels. “Chemistry, playing for one another, fundamentals, little things like that.”
“We’ve got room for improvement,” said Conrad. “They are a very good basketball team. They are very well coached. They are the benchmark right now and what we are trying to get to.”
CB West (6-1, 4-0 SOL) will play in a tournament in Nashville, Tn. early next week. North Penn (3-5, 1-3 SOL) buses to Perkiomen Valley next Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. start.
Central Bucks West 17-15-14-15 61
North Penn 11-10-15-13 49
Central Bucks West: Luke Irons 7, Cal Reichwein 19, Bill Power 4, Erich Hohlenleitner 17, Connor Lynch 5, Ben Riegel 7, Jake Reichwein 2.
North Penn: Justin Cueto 3, Matt Pickford 16, Ricky Johns 3, AJ Mitchell 2, JJ Melchior 8, Derek Heiserman 2, Noah Kwortnik 6, Reece Udinski.
Central Bucks South 48, Central Bucks East 45
CB South’s Alex Karras swooshed two free throws to put the Titans up three. Then CB East’s Tommy Strasburger missed a three-pointer from halfcourt as time expired. CB South held on for a key win over the Patriots, who have lost three of four.
CB South’s Tim Waddington led all scorers with 19 points.
“Tim Waddington had a great all-around game tonight,” said CB South coach Jason Campbell. “Nate Robinson really played well too.”
Robinson was second on the Titans with eight points. Chris Hones scored seven.
Strasburger led the balanced Patriots attack with 12 points. Matt Pattyson added 10 and Elijah Seger had nine.
CB South (4-4, 2-2 SOL) goes to CR North next week for the Ninth Annual Athletes Helping Athletes Classic. CB East (4-3, 1-3 SOL) plays Quakertown on Jan. 5.
Central Bucks East: Matt Pattyson 10, Ryan Plack 2, Justin O’Neil 7, Tommy Strasburger 12, Chris Reilly 2, Elijah Seger 9, Peterson 3.
Central Bucks South: Alex Karras 2, Nate Robinson 8, Tommy Doyle 2, Dan Tecce 5, Ryan Joerger 5, Tim Waddington 19, Chris Hones 7.
SOL American
Cheltenham 64, Norristown 49
Cheltenham raced to a 20-point halftime lead (37-17) and never looked back.
"We had a really, really good first half," said Cheltenham coach John Timms. "We held them to 17 points in the first half. What we try to predicate ourselves on is defense. We don't want any team to go into halftime with 30 points. If you look at our season, we've pretty much been successful.”
Khalif White provided the offense that complemented the Panthers’ defense in the first half. White scored 15 of his 22 points before halftime, including two three-pointers and a 6-of-6 mark from the field.
Trevonn Pitts dropped 14 points and gobbled up 14 rebounds, seven offensive. Justin Sutton had 11 rebounds, five points, and four blocked shots. Amir Lewis added seven points for the Panthers.
"I'm excited. I think we're buying into the team concept, and we're sharing the ball,” said Timms. “The most important part is—if you look at our boxscores, you're going to constantly see different people and always nine or 10 people in the boxscore because we share the ball."
Three Eagles players finished in double figures. Amir Carter paced the Eagles with 17, Darryl Carr had 11, and Tyrique Lyons had 10.
Timms credited Norristown after the game.
"It was a big conference game. Norristown always gives us a good run,” Timms said. “They play an up-tempo style, so it was almost like playing yourself.”
Cheltenham (6-2, 4-0 SOL) will compete in the Penncrest Tournament next week. Norristown (3-5, 2-2 SOL) will play in the Triangle Tournament early next week.
Norristown 11-6-19-13 49
Cheltenham 22-15-14-13 64
Norristown: Darryl Carr 11, Desmond Gorski 1, Kether Massiaz 4, Amir Carter 17, Reggie Collins 3, Darius McGowan 2, Jamie Griffen 1, Tyrique Lyons 10.
Cheltenham: Khalif White 22, Anthony White 6, Ahmad Bickley 4, Maurice Valentine 4, Blair Brown 2, Amir Lewis 7, Justin Sutton 5, Trevonn Pitts 14.
Upper Merion 54, Wissahickon 48
Upper Merion grinded out an ugly win over its conference rival.
“Wissahickon played this slow, deliberate style,” said Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer. “It was 4-0 for a really long time. We were forcing some shots early.”
Upper Merion led by four at halftime and opened the game up after the break. Junior Ethan Miller, who is 6-7, led UM with 19 points, and 6-foot-8 classmate Matt Faw added 12 while Andrew Persaud scored 10.
Wissahickon won the fourth quarter by four but it wasn’t enough to come all the way back.
“Credit to them,” said Quenzer. “They fought hard, they executed. But defensively we were really strong. That’s definitely a strength going forward.”
Alex Tappen and Zach Reiner were the only Wissahickon players who scored more than seven points. Tappen had 16, Reiner 15.
Upper Merion (3-2, 2-2 SOL) plays in the Neshaminy Holiday Tournament beginning next Tuesday. Wissahickon (3-5, 1-3 SOL) plays at Perkiomen Valley next Wednesday.
Upper Merion 8-12-15-19 54
Wissahickon 9-7-9-23 48
Upper Merion: Aiden Newell 6, Isaiah Graham-Mobley 4, Ethan Miller 19, Chris Carita 3, Matt Faw 12, Andrew Persaud 10.
Wissahickon: Alex Tappen 16, Zach Reiner 15, Marlyn Johnson 7, Zach Gelman 6, Max Rapoport 2, Marquese Wilson 2.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 65, Upper Dublin 56
PW dominated the second quarter en route to its sixth straight win to start the season. The Colonials are the last undefeated team left in all three SOL conferences.
Xzavier Malone dropped 17 points to lead PW. Mike Lotito stroked 14 and Amir Williams pitched in 10.
Will Derr paced the Cardinals with 16. Ryan Stover and John Barrett chipped in with 15 and 11, respectively.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (6-0, 4-0 SOL) hosts Springfield on Jan. 5. Upper Dublin (1-6, 0-4 SOL) will play in the Boardwalk Classic starting next Tuesday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 12-19-18-16 65
Upper Dublin 11-9-20-16 56
Upper Moreland 57, Springfield 46
It was the Damian Washington-Brendan O’Donnell show Tuesday night.
The pair combined for 39 of Upper Moreland’s 57 points, Washington with 22, O’Donnell with 17. They also led the Golden Bears to their fourth straight win.
UM hit a whopping 11 threes in the game, including six from Washington, three from O’Donnell, and two from Brett Brossman.
The Golden Bears trailed 12-11 after one quarter but knotted the scored 24-24 by halftime. They 
outscored the Spartans 33-22 in the second hal.
Quentin Johnson scored 14 points for Springfield and Ryan Daley added 13.
Upper Moreland (6-2, 3-1 SOL) will play in a tournament at Jenkintown next week. Springfield (1-6, 0-4 SOL) will participate in the Christopher Dock Tournament.
Springfield 12-12-12-10 46
Upper Moreland 11-13-15-18 57
Springfield: Justin Hill 7, Ryan Daley 13, Larry Clark 4, Quentin Johnson 14, Hopkins-Bey 3.
Upper Moreland: Brendan O’Donnell 17, Damian Washington 22, Ryan Coyle 3, Casey Decker 2, Mike Lyons 2, Shane Stone 5.
PENNSBURY 64, HOLY GHOST PREP 29 (Monday, Dec. 21)
Mark Flagg turned in a glittering 25-point effort to lead the Falcons to a no-doubt-about-it non-league win over the Firebirds on Monday night.
The Falcons raced to a 15-5 lead after one quarter and took a 28-17 lead into the intermission. They blew the game wide open with a 20-8 third quarter burst. Pennsbury outscored Holy Ghost 36-12 in a dominant second half performance.
Also for the Falcons, Rob Daly scored seven points while Addison Howard, Isaiah Carpenter and Mike Alley each had six on a night that saw 10 players get into the scoring column for Pennsbury.
Pennsbury 15-13-20-16 64
Holy Ghost Prep 5-12-8-4 29
Pennsbury: Addison Howard 6, Andre Burch 3, Corey Dea 2, Louie Bavas 3, Isaiah Carpenter 6, Gary Francis 4, Joey Monaghan 2, Mike Alley 6, Rob Daly 7, Mark Flagg 25.
Holy Ghost Prep: Mike McFadden 4, Ryan Staropoli 2, Julian Turner 2, Ryan Wade 1, Jack Coolahan 5, John McCrane 2, Aiden Bauer 11, Connor Fife 2.
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