Neshaminy defeated Pennsbury in Thursday’s SOL opener. Pennsbury/Neshaminy photos courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f582224377
SOL Patriot Division
NESHAMINY 55, PENNSBURY 35
Nate Townsend and Sean Curley combined for 37 of their team’s points in Thursday’s SOL opener, and it was their combined 15-for-18 effort at the foul line in the fourth quarter that sealed the deal as the Redskins outscored their visitors 26-10 in the final frame to blow open a close game.
“We were up six at the half and then it was only four after three,” Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle said. “We made a couple of defensive changes. We had a kid off the bench – Guy Horton – that stepped up and started faceguarding their best player, Ty Kocak, and got them out of rhythm, got them out of sync. He came in and just did a great job. That was a big factor.
“We also attacked more – we got to the line a lot. It was a crazy game. It was a complete rivalry game – both crowds were there. The rivalry is real between us. Nate Townsend and Sean Curley just played a stellar game. They made a ton of free throws in the fourth quarter, and that was huge.”
The Falcons led 10-6 after one quarter, but the Redskins – behind six points from Curley – outscored their visitors 14-4 to go into halftime with a 20-14 advantage. It was a 29-25 game heading into the final quarter when Curley and Townsend took over. Curley was a perfect 5-for-5 at the line and had seven points while Townsend was 10-for-13 and scored 14 in the quarter.
“It was the first league game of the year, so it’s always nice get the first one,” Tingle said. “It was a hard-fought game. We just dominated the fourth quarter.
“I felt like we were in control, but the score wasn’t saying that. We only gave up 14 points in the first half, which I thought was great. To give up only 35 is big for us because we know we can score 40-plus every night.”
Townsend led all scorers with 22 points and also had five rebounds while Curley had 15 and Horton chipped in with six.
“Joey Zack only had four points, but he had 10 rebounds,” Tingle said. “He’s our big guy – he played a ton of minutes last year for us, so he and their big guy – Ryan Zuckerman – had a nice little battle. They were going back and forth. I thought they both did a good job against each other, but Joey just brings the energy to our team. It was nice.”
For the Falcons, Kocak led the way with 16 points while Ryan Zuckerman added nine and Teddy Mangan had six.
Neshaminy (2-1, 1-0 SOL) will travel to Norristown Monday for a non-league game. Pennsbury (1-2, 0-1) will be on the road at Harry S Truman on Tuesday.
Pennsbury 10-4-11-10 35
Neshaminy 6-14-9-26 55
Pennsbury (35) – Teddy Mangan 3 0-1 6; Mike Roccograndi 1 2-2 4; Ty Kocak 5 6-12 16; Ryan Zuckerman 4 0-1 9; TOTALS 13 8-16 35.
Neshaminy (55) – Joey Zack 2 0-0 4; Ashton Lovelace 1 0-0 3; Emeer Coombs 1 3-6 5; Guy Horton 3 0-0 6; Sean Curley 5 5-6 15; Nate Townsend 6 10-13 22; TOTALS 18 18-25 55.
3-point goals: Pennsbury – Ryan Zuckerman; Neshaminy – Ashton Lovelace.
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