Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Saturday. Bensalem/Pennsbury photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for BOYS’ BASKETBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
SOL TOURNAMENT
#1 Cheltenham 60, #8 Nesahminy 43
The Panthers got off to a slow start, scoring just five points in the first quarter, but they recuperated quickly, rallying from a 10-5 deficit to go into halftime with a 21-15 advantage. They led 37-30 heading into the fourth quarter when they outscored their visitors 23-13.
“It was a tough game,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said. “It was our fifth game in six days, and we were definitely a little flat in the first quarter. It was a battle for sure.
“Five in six is definitely a daunting task, but the guys pulled together, and they carried me, my assistant coaches also. The focus again has to be on – through whatever happens just remaining together, and it’s more special because of the group that’s here. Just their process from middle school to high school and just the responsibility we ask of them to represent their families and the community and themselves, and they’re doing that so it’s a joy to see all the guys come together.”
Justin Savage led the Panthers with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds, three blocks and four assists. Rasheem Dearry had 11 points and seven rebounds. Josiah Hutson had six points and three assists, and Nasir Edens contributed nine points, three assists and three steals.
“Kevin Addison-Anderson had five rebounds, and defensively, he’s getting more comfortable,” Fleury said. “He’s always been able to score, but we’re asking him to focus on defense.
“Nasir Edens just made timely plays that don’t necessarily result in statistics. Those two guys tonight brought energy. Also, John Fevrier, as a senior, gave us good minutes off the bench, defensively maintained our focus on defense and our attention to detail.”
Neshaminy senior Evan Esposito earned game scoring honors with 19 points. Sean Curley added 11 points, and Nate Townsend had seven.
Cheltenham (23-0, 16-0 SOL) will host Central Bucks East in Monday’s semifinal contest. Neshaminy (14-9, 10-6) will return to action in the District One 6A Tournament.
Neshaminy 10-5-15-13. 43
Cheltenham 5-16-16-23. 60
Neshaminy (43) – Evan Esposito 19, Emeer Coombs 2, Kade Benjamin 4, Sean Curley 11, Nate Townsend 7.
Cheltenham (60) – Rasheem Dearry 11, Josiah Hutson 6, Elias Walker 6, Nasir Edens 9, Brandon Bush 11, Justin Savage 15.
#2 Bensalem 50, #7 Pennsbury 45
The Owls trailed by two heading into the final quarter but used some clutch foul shooting in the fourth quarter to defeat its Patriot Division rival. The two teams split their regular season meeting.
“We were 13-for-17 in the fourth quarter from the foul line,” Bensalem coach Ron Morris said. “We knew it was going to be an intense game, a rivalry, the third time we played. We really wanted to win this game because obviously it’s the SOL Tournament.
“We wanted to go out and compete and play at a high level and just give our guys a chance to showcase what they can do. It was a back-and-forth game, and in the fourth quarter, we pulled away enough to where we were making foul shots and they were forcing up shots, and we were able to come out on top.”
Aaron Sanders was 6-for-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.
“Eric Gonzalez was 4-for-4 in the second half from the foul line, and Allen (Myers) was 2-for-4, but our guys just dug deep, got big defensive stops, got some big rebounds,” Morris said. “Tra Edwards dove on the floor, Jeremy Rodriguez dove on the floor. It was just a true team victory. It’s good to move on in this tournament. This tournament means a lot. They’re extra games, it’s playoff basketball. Every team is not going to be easy the rest of the way, and it’s great for our guys to win a game like that.”
The Owls led 22-20 at halftime but then were outscored 17-13 by the Falcons in the third quarter. That set the stage for some impressive fourth quarter foul shooting.
Rodriguez scored 16 points to lead the Owls. Sanders added 12 points, Gonzalez had nine points and Myers had eight.
“They applied good pressure up top in the second half, but we made plays when we had to,” Morris said. “Allen got some huge rebounds in the second half. He just continues to get better and better.
“Aaron (Sanders) and Jeremy (Rodriguez) did a good job handling the pressure. Antonio (Morris) played a lot in the fourth quarter, and he was out there not playing like a sophomore. He was able to handle their pressure. Eric Gonzalez did a really good job of getting in the middle. If he didn’t have anything, he brought it out.
“It’s good to be able to play different styles of basketball, make good decisions and get ready for the rest of this run.”
Aidan McCormack’s double-double – 18 points and 10 rebounds – led the Falcons. McNeely added 13 points – eight in the Falcons’ big third quarter. Justin Hedges had six points and six rebounds. Ty Kocak also had six points.
Bensalem (18-5, 13-3 SOL) will host Upper Dublin in Monday’s tournament semifinal. Pennsbury (13-7, 10-6) will return to action in the District One 6A Tournament.
Pennsbury 11-9-17-8 45
Bensalem 14-8-13-15 50
Pennsbury (45) – Justin Hedges 2 1-2 6; Aidan McCormack 8 0-0 18; Chris Terry 1 0-0 2; Evan McNeely 5 0-1 13; Ty Kocak 1 4-4 6. Totals 17-5-7-45.
Bensalem (50) – Jeremy Rodriquez 6 3-5 16; Tra Edwards 0 1-2 1; Allen Myers 2 4-7 8; Eric Gonzalez 2 4-4 9; Aaron Sanders 3 6-7 12; Antonio Morris 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 18-25 50.
3-point goals: Pennsbury – Evan McNeely 3,Aidan McCormack 2, Justin Hedges; Bensalem – Jeremy Rodriquez, Eric Gonzalez.
#3 Upper Dublin 44, #6 Council Rock North 41
Sparked by the superb 20-point effort of junior Colin O’Sullivan, the Flying Cardinals escaped with a win in Saturday’s tournament opener.
“That was a battle,” UD coach Chris Monahan said. “They got off to a good start, we were not taking care of the ball, so it was a little ragged on our part.”
The two teams were deadlocked 10-10 at the end of one quarter. Adam Mahtat accounted for seven of the Indians’ points. O’Sullivan had five for the Cardinals, who outscored their visitors 12-9 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 22-19 lead.
“They were up six early, we ended up tying it by the end of the first quarter, but a big play was at the end of the half,” Monahan said. “We battled back, we take the lead really for the first time all game. We’re up one, they have the ball, and DJ Cerisier steals it and goes in and gets the layup to put us up three at the half. That was the margin of victory. We played the third quarter even, and we played the fourth quarter even.”
The game came down to the wire with the Indians taking a shot for the tie but coming up empty.
“We were ahead since halftime,” Monahan said. “We started to play a lot better. We missed some layups, we missed some free throws that really could have pushed the margin more, but they stuck around, they stuck around.
“At the end, we didn’t really want the ball in Bernie Parent’s hands. He did end up giving it up, and we tried to not let him get it back when he did that. Our defense was scrambling and rotating. They really didn’t get a good look. I thought our defense in that last sequence was pretty good.”
Also for the Cardinals, Cerisier had 11 points, and Seaton Kukla had nine.
Bernie Parent’s 15 points – 11 in the second half – led the Indians. Mahtat added 14 points – 11 in the first half.
Upper Dublin (17-6, 12-4 SOL) will travel to Bensalem for Monday’s semifinal contest. Council Rock North (16-7, 11-5) will return to action in the District One 6A Tournament.
Council Rock North 10-9-13-9 41
Upper Dublin 10-12-13-9 44
Council Rock North (41) – Oliver Schaefer 1 0-0 3; Shan Anhalt 0 1-2 1; Bernie Parent 4 6-9 15; Adam Mahtat 5 2-4 14; Jack Blum 1 1-1 4; Logan Saifer 2 0-0 4. Totals 13 10-16 41.
Upper Dublin (44) – DJ Cerisier 4 3-4 11; Chris Kohlbrenner 0 2-2 2; Colin O’Sullivan 7 1-6 20; Seaton Kukla 3 2-3 9. Totals 15 9-15 44.
3-point goal: CRN – Adam Mahtat 2, Oliver Schaefer, Bernie Parent, Jack Blum; UD – Colin O’Sullivan 4, Seaton Kukla.
#5 Central Bucks East 58, #4 Central Bucks South 55 (OT)
After splitting the two team’s regular season meetings with South winning the first by 12 points and East getting revenge with an 18-point win in the rematch, the sister schools locked horns for a classic battle.
“It was definitely exciting,” East coach Erik Henrysen said. “We weren’t happy with the way we played at South earlier in the year, and we put together a real strong effort just last week against South at our place. It was only fitting that the game was going down to the wire in overtime.”
Both teams had a chance to win it in regulation.
“With the score tied, Jacob Cummiskey had a real tough take to the basket, and it didn’t go down for him,” Henrysen said. “That was with about 30 seconds to go. They got the ball, and we were able to get a stop there. They had a good look at a putback, but it just rimmed out.”
Earlier, the Titans went into halftime with a 30-22 lead and led by as many as 12 in the third quarter. They still led 46-39 heading into the final quarter when the visiting Patriots staged a heroic comeback. Joshua Lyzinski connected on a huge go-ahead three late in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t have answers for them early on in the game,” Henrysen said. “We had a strong third and fourth quarter. It was a tale of two halves.
We didn’t really have answers for (Michael) Farley early in the game. He was scoring from the inside, from the outside. Later on in the game, I thought Aidan Weaver just did a great job ramping up the intensity on defense.”
In the end, it was the Patriots’ reserves that emerged the heroes.
“Our bench actually scored all 16 of our fourth quarter points,” Henrysen said. “All three of our overtime baskets were Kyle Berndt. They just did a great job, so we went with it.”
In the big fourth quarter, Berndt and Ryan Lenahan each had five points while Tyriq Toney-Bailey and Lyzinski both had three points. Berndt was 3-for-4 from the foul line in OT, accounting for all of his team’s points.
Berndt, Toney-Bailey and Jacob Cummiskey each had 10 points to lead a balanced Patriot attack. Aidan Weaver added nine points and a team high eight rebounds.
For the Titans, Michael Farley had 25 points while Joe Rooney added 13 points, and Tyler Meinel had 10 points.
Both teams were impressive at the foul line with the Titans connecting on 16-of-18 and the Patriots converting 11-of-13.
Central Bucks East (16-7, 11-5 SOL) will travel to Cheltenham for Monday’s semifinal contest. Central Bucks South (15-8, 11-5) will return to action in the District One 6A Tournament.
Central Bucks East 8-14-17-16-3 58
Central Bucks South 13-17-16-9-0 55
Central Bucks East (58) – Tyriq Toney-Bailey 10, Jacob Cummiskey 10, Liam Cummiskey 3, Nick Rivera 3, Brett Young 3, Aidan Waver 9, Joey Giordano 2, Ryan Lenahan 5, Kyle Berndt 10, Joshua Lyzinski 3.
Central Bucks South (55) – Jay Macalindong 5, Joseph Rooney 13, Bryan Delara 2, Tyler Meinel 10, Michael Farley 25.
3-point goals: CBE – Brett Young, Joshua Lyzinski, Nick Rivera, Jacob Cummiskey, Kyle Berndt, Aidan Weaver; CBS – Joseph Rooney 3.
Non-league
William Tennent 49, New Foundations Charter 42
The Panthers made their final home game a good one, rallying from an early deficit to earn the non-league win.
“We were matched pretty evenly – it was close, but we were down at the half,” Tennent coach Robert Mulville said. “Really, the turning point came with about two minutes left to go in the third quarter. We had some different guys in there. It was Danny Scheller, Evan Devor, Connor Fithian – they came off the bench.”
Joining the trio off the bench were starters Jeremy Henry and George Marion.
“We were down one, 33-32, and from that point on with about two minutes left in the third until about five minutes left to go in the fourth, that group of five got about eight or nine defensive stops in a row,” Mulville said. “We were able to score a couple of baskets, and by the end of that time, we went from being down 33-32 to being up 39-33.
“It was really that defensive sequence that put us in a position to win the game. We do shoot fouls pretty well, so after that, we did score a couple more times. We were able to hold the ball, and Timmy Stanfield came in and knocked down two foul shots. We were a little sloppy at the end of the game.”
Kirby Mooney led the Panthers with 21 points, which included a 6-for-7 effort at the foul line.
“He was in a bit of foul trouble, but he was able to come in with four minutes left in the game and helped us run the clock out,” Mulville said.
Henry and Marion each added seven points.
“The story is those three guy,” Mullville said of Scheller, Devor and Fithian. “Good for them. Conner (Fithian) is a senior, the other two are juniors, and for them to be playing that late in the game and coming up big was huge for us.”
Fithian led the Panthers under the backboards with seven rebounds.
“Devor and Scheller also had decent rebounding days with five each,” Mulville said.
Mooney led the Panthers with 21 points.
William Tennent will close out its season with a non-league game at Central Bucks West on Monday.
New Foundations Charter 6-16-11-9 42
William Tennent 9-11-16-13 49
New Foundations Charter (42) – Nugent 0 3-4 3; Sebazco 3 2-4 8; Phanor 3 0-0 6; Jackson 6 2-3 14; Donahue 5 1-1 11. Totals 17 8-12 42.
William Tennent (49) – Jeremy Henry 2 3-6 7; George Marion 3 0-0 7; Kirby Mooney 7 6-7 21; Conner Fithian 1 0-0 2; Timmy Stanfield 1 2-2 5; Daniel Scheller 0 3-4 3; Brandon Beluch 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 14-19 49.
3-point goals: WT – George Marion, Kirby Mooney, Timmy Stanfield.
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