Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Saturday.
Non-league
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 55, ST GEORGES TECH (Del.) 45
Things did not look promising for the Patriots.
At halftime of Saturday’s All-City Classic at Abington, East found itself on the short end of a 31-19 score and trailed by as many as 16 in the third quarter. The Patriots erased three points off St Georges halftime lead in the third quarter but still trailed 39-30 heading into the final quarter.
“For three quarters, things didn’t look great for us,” East coach Erik Henrysen said. “(Jacob) Cummiskey and (Dhruv) Mukund were battling foul trouble, and we were down double digits.
“We had flashes in the third but really came to life in the fourth. We were able to run some traps and generate turnovers.”
To say the Patriots came to life in the fourth quarter might well be an understatement. They outscored a talented St. Georges Tech squad 25-6, which included a dazzling 17-0 tear to open the quarter. Tyler Dandrea was the catalyst, scoring 14 of those points while Dhruv Mukund had three. By the time St Georges scored again, the Patriots led 47-39 on their way to the remarkable come-from-behind win.
The comeback – according to Henrysen - was a team effort.
“Dandrea and (Justin) DiRoberto were awesome in the fourth,” Henrysen said. “DiRoberto had five steals. Dandrea really got going scoring. Mukund came up with a big and-one.
“We did a lot of it without Cummiskey. Ryan McDonald answered the call in the fourth after not getting in for the first three quarters. He stayed ready.
“Caleb Lyzinski was huge as well. St. Georges is big, quick and long. We needed Caleb, and he had a huge impact battling under the basket.”
Dandrea, who earned team MVP honors, scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter. DiRoberto added nine points, five assists and five steals. Cummiskey – despite battling foul trouble throughout the contest - had eight points, four rebounds and four assists while Mukund finished with six points and six rebounds.
“It’s a great win but even better lesson for us,” Henrysen said. “We didn’t play together early. When the game called for it, we came together. We trusted each other.”
The win was the fifth without a loss for the Patriots.
“I’m pretty sure no team has played five games so far,” Henrysen said. “We’ve won five very different games. We can really build on these experiences.”
The Patriots were 14-for-23 from the foul line while St. Georges was 6-for-11.
Central Bucks East (5-0, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Pennridge on Tuesday.
Central Bucks East 9-10-11-25 55
St Georges Tech (Del.) 12-19-8-6 45
Central Bucks East (55) – Jacob Cummiskey 8, Dhruv Mukund 6, Bryce Lolas 3, Tyler Dandrea 23, Justin DiRoberto 9, Nolan Behm 2, Caleb Lyzinski 4
St Georges Tech (45) – David Crawford 3, Shane Davis 7, Emory Womack 2, Jase Munson 2, Blair Thomas 16, Jayden Reid 2, Aaron Staggs 5, Kionne Lang 1, Joshua Obiora 7.
3-point goals: CBE – Justin DiRoberto 2, Tyler Dandrea 2, Bryce Lolas; St Georges – Blair Thomas 4, David Crawford.
ABINGTON 61, NEW TOWN (Md.) 47
Dan Marsh knew Jeremiah Lee was a good player when he took over the helm of the Ghosts. He just didn’t know how good.
“When I came here, I knew he was good - I knew he could score, but I didn’t know he could play defense the way he does,” said Marsh, who took over the helm of the
boys’ program this year. “He’s literally – if not our best rebounder – one of our best rebounders. He’s just one of those guys that finds his way around the ball.
“Tonight, he had 10 rebounds and six steals. He’s an all-around stat guy. He’s so quiet and so humble, which is another great quality of his. I’m not ever surprised when he has great games because I’ve seen it since the beginning of the fall when I started working with this team. He’s so smooth.”
Lee was named team MVP of Saturday’s All-City Classic win over New Town, finishing with 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting, 10 rebounds six steals and four assists.
“JJ does so much for us,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “Even last night at Hatboro-Horsham (a 57-30 win) – I knew that last year they lost to Hatboro. I’d said to them, ‘How did you guys lose to Hatboro – you’re obviously more talented than them.’
“They said, ‘We were just missing 3s, and that’s all we were setting for – 3s.’ Last night, the first quarter was similar where we were just shooting 3s and not making anything happen, and JJ (Lee) just started attacking the rim, attacking the gaps. I said to my assistant Gary Massey, ‘Did he listen to us that we can’t settle for the jumper or did he do that on his own?’ I think it’s just his growth, his maturity and wanting us to be a competitive good team this year. He’s been great, and he’s a multi-level scorer – he can go inside, outside, mid-range, which makes him so difficult to guard.”
The Ghosts seized early control of Saturday’s game, opening up a 34-14 halftime lead and never looking back.
New Town is the defending Maryland Class 2A champion.
“They did lose a lot – they had some seniors,” Marsh said. “We expected a tough game, so we came out and played really well in the first half and kind of a sloppy, ugly second half, but it didn’t matter because we established ourselves with a 20-point lead and were able to cruise.”
In addition to Lee, Jaden Flournoy had 11 points off the bench. Aaron Jones added 10 points while Kamari Brasher had nine points on 4-for-4 shooting.
Abington connected on 23 of 47 shots (48.9 percent) and 7 of 17 shots from beyond the arc (41 percent).
Abington (4-1, 1-1 SOL) will host Upper Dublin in a key division battle on Tuesday.
New Town (Md.) 9-5-20-13 47
Abington 19-15-19-8 61
New Town (47) - D.Foulkes 3 3-4 9; Liggins 2 0-0 4; DeShields 3 1-1 7; Coggins 1 1-2 3; Allen 0 4-4 4; Bishop 1 0-0 2; S.Foulkes 8 1-1 18; TOTALS 18 10-12 47.
Abington (61) – Damon Rawls 1 0-0 3; Glants 1 0-0 2; Jeremiah Lee 6 1-5 13; Aaron Jones 4 0-0 10; Kellen Ingram 0 2-2 2; Jaden Flournoy 3 3-4 11; Jon Roberts 1 0-0 2; Kamari Brasher 4 0-1 9; Khalid Jenkins 0 2-2 2; Lathan Miller 1 0-0 2; Jake Manigault 1 0-0 3; Xander Grasty 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 23 8-14 61.
3-point goals: New Town – S.Foulkes; Abington – Aaron Jones 2, Damon Rawls, Jaden Flournoy 2, Kamari Brasher, Jake Manigault.
SOUDERTON 66, UPPER MERION 65 (OT)
Saturday’s game against the visiting Vikings had been pretty much of an uphill battle for the Indians. Until, that is, they rallied in the fourth quarter and then won it in overtime.
“We were within striking distance, but we were down by 4-6 points for a lot of the game, and we just couldn’t turn the corner and tie it and get that lead ourselves,” Sackitey said. “But we finally did in the fourth quarter.”
Trailing by five late in the fourth quarter, Nolan Watkins had a huge four-point play, connecting on a 3-pointer despite being fouled and then burying the foul shot. With 17 seconds remaining, Bill Sackor gave the Indians a two-point lead when he completed a clutch three-point play.
“Their guard, number 2 (Nicholai Smiley) scored on a nice floater at the buzzer to send the game to overtime,” Okoteh Sackitey said. “We were excited to get it to overtime to still have a shot at it because we knew we didn’t play our best basketball, we dug ourselves into a hole, but we’ve been resilient multiple times this season already, fighting back and never giving up.
“We have a lot of guys who don’t have a lot of varsity experience who are gaining it right now. We were ready for overtime. We were excited to have four more minutes of opportunities.”
The Indians made the most of those opportunities. Clinton Kikonjo buried a huge 3-pointer and was a perfect 4-for-4 at the foul line. Sackor also had a big basket. Joey Childs and Trey Bui each connected on 1 of 2 from the foul line.
“We did a great job knocking down free throws in overtime,” Sackitey said. “Clinton Kikonjo hit a massive three. He does such a good job of staying poised and being ready to shoot when it makes sense. He made some good reads. He rebounds the ball really well and shoots foul shots really well, so at the end of the game, he’s a great guy to have on the floor to get a board. If they foul him, we’re confident he’s going to knock them down.
“On the three that Clinton made in overtime, Trey Bui was encouraging Clinton to shoot it. Trey was on the floor, and the ball got swung to Clinton, and while it was in the air, Trey was saying, ‘Shoot it, shoot it.’ Trey does a great job being vocal, giving guys confidence, and that goes a long way.”
Also receiving props from the Indians’ coach was Danny Dyches.
“He had a big six points for us in the first half, and he’s getting more comfortable offensively each game,” Sackitey said. “Yesterday, Danny got a full scholarship offer from East Stroudsburg University to play football, and today, he was just being a great teammate in the second half.
“We found five players that were working for us, and it just seemed to be clicking, so Danny was on the bench for a lot of the second half. This is a kid who got offered a full scholarship yesterday, and today’s he’s getting water for Chanse Salone. When guys are coming out of the game, he’s getting waters, and he’s cheering from the bench and being a great teammate. The little things like that help us pull off the win in the close games.”
Also key in the overtime was a play that won’t show up in the box score.
“A major, major piece of this game – we were up by two, and (Smiley) was driving to the basket with a chance to tie the game like he did at the end of regulation,” Sackitey said. “There were seconds left in overtime at this point, and we’re only up by two.
“Clinton Kikonjo takes a charge with 15 seconds left in the game and then goes to the other side of the court and knocks down both free throws to put us up four, so Clinton won the game for us with a game-winning charge followed by two free throws knocked down. They made a three at the buzzer to cut it to one, but what a way to end the game. That’s such a mentally tough play from a tough player who doesn’t care how it gets done. He will do anything to help us get the win.”
Sackor’s 19 points led all scorers and included a pair of 3s. He had 11 of those points in the second half, five in the fourth quarter. Watkins and Salone both had 12 points, combining for 14 points in the first half to keep the Indians – who trailed 34-31 at halftime – close. Kikonjo scored seven of his 11 points in the overtime.
Souderton (3-2, 1-1 SOL) will travel to North Penn for a 7:30 p.m. game on Tuesday.
Upper Merion 23-11-12-9-10. 65
Souderton 18-13-13-11-11. 66
Upper Merion (65) – Zahaid Edwards 2 1-1 5; Nicholai Smiley 4 4-4 12; Jack McFadden 2 1-1 5; Colin Hirshorn 7 0-2 14; Allen Cole 6 0-0 17; Elijah Davis 5 2-3 12; TOTALS 26 8-11 65.
Souderton (66) – Chanse Salone 3 5-6 12; Trey Bui 1 1-2 4; Bill Sackor 8 1-1 19; Clinton Kikonjo 3 4-4 11; Nolan Watkins 3 4-4 12; Danny Dyches 3 0-0 6; Thaddeus Harter 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 22 15-17 66.
3-point goals: UM – Allen Cole 5; Souderton – Bill Sackor 2, Nolan Watkins 2, Chanse Salone, Trey Bui, Clinton Kikonjo.
QUAKERTOWN 61, OWEN J ROBERTS 53
(Box score will be added when it is received.)
The Panthers notched a bounce-back win over the Wildcats in non-league action Saturday. Quakertown was led by Ethan Tomlinson's 17 points and 11 rebounds. Miles Longacre contributed 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
Quakertown (2-3, 0-2 SOL) will host Wissahickon on Tuesday.
HARRITON 64, UPPER MORELAND 55
The Golden Bears took a 28-27 lead into halftime, but the Rams came out of halftime and outscored their visitors 17-10 in the third quarter on their way to the non-league win.
“It was a close game, and really the difference was the third quarter,” UM coach Dan Heiland said. “Getting off to a slow start, being down seven and never really being able to close that gap in the fourth ultimately came back to why we couldn’t come back and take the lead in the fourth quarter. The first half was a hard-fought battle between both teams, shots being made.
“They were a good ballclub – they had two senior guards that were very good. (Jadyn) Gaskins was tough to guard, he did some really nice things. We just didn’t do enough.”
Colson Campbell’s 15-point effort led the Golden Bears. Alex Best had 10 points, Sean Murphy added nine, and Jadon Cybok contributed seven.
Gaskins led all scorers with 27 points.
Upper Moreland (4-2, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Pottsgrove on Monday for a non-league game.
Upper Moreland 14-14-10-17 55
Harriton 15-12-17-20 64
Upper Moreland (55) – Javier Velez 1 0-0 3; Alex Best 3 2-2 10; Colson Campbell 6 1-1 15; Anthony Carson 2 0-0 4; Sean Murphy 4 0-0 9; Brayden Martin 1 0-0 3; Jadon Cybok 2 2-2 7; Larry Hughes 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 21 5-5 55.
Harriton (64) – Marquis Kubish 3 7-8 13; Jadyn Gaskins 9 9-11 27; Cam Sullivan 1 4-6-6; Max Seltzer 1 2-2 4; Sean Gallagher 2 0-0 6; Jack Chadcowski 2 4-4 8; TOTALS 18 26-31 64.
3-point goals: UM – Alex Best 2, Colson Campbell 2, Javier Velez, Sean Murphy, Brayden Martin, Jadon Cybok; Harriton – Sean Gallagher 2.
- Log in to post comments
