Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday.
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks West 64, Pennridge 53
This is how Senior Nights are supposed to be drawn up.
CB West coach Adam Sherman started five of his six seniors Friday and they responded as the Bucks stormed out of the gate with seven 3-pointers in the first quarter to go up 27-11 by the time the first eight minutes were over.
“I started five seniors and one of them – Nick Tenaglia – hit four ‘3s’,” Sherman said. “It’s great to see them come out and play with so much energy. There’s always energy on these nights and you want it to be positive energy. They were able to capture that energy tonight.”
Bucks’ seniors honored Friday included Tenaglia, Donte Mancini, Kyle Kupid, John Stim, John Lee and Owen Duffy.
“The seniors are a great group,” Sherman said. “It’s been a pleasure to coach them. We’ve had a ton of close games that we haven’t been able to pull out. Our other two games this week we lost by two and three points. We’ve had a ton of games that could have fell our way, but unfortunately didn’t. It’s been a challenge. Right now, we’re focused on trying to finish strong.”
West’s lead was 40-25 at halftime, and Pennridge wasn’t able to get back in the game in the second half.
“We got up big and were able to dictate the flow of the game,” Sherman said. “We received nice contributions from our seniors, and we had other guys were able to contribute. There was a nice flow to the game. We made shots.”
Mancini finished as the team’s high scorer with 16 points, while Tenaglia had 14 and Lee added 10 points.
Pennridge was led by Matt Campione, who scored 17 points. Justin McCormick added eight points.
CB West (4-15, 3-11 SOL) wraps up its season next week with a pair of road games, at CB East on Tuesday and then at Souderton on Thursday.
Pennridge (5-15, 3-11 SOL) hosts Souderton on Tuesday and CB South on Thursday.
Pennridge (53)
Justin McCormick 3 1-2 8; Justin Nichols 2 1-3 5; Matt Campione 5 6-6 17; Xavier Peters 1 4-4 6; Tommy Cramer 2 2-3 6; Jude D’Agostino 3 0-0 6; Tyler Johnson 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 14-18 53.
CB West (64)
Matt Engle 4 0-1 8; Owen Duffy 1 0-0 2; Charlie Cashman 2 0-1 4; Nick Tenanglia 5 0-0 14; Donte Mancini 7 0-0 16; Colin McKenna 1 0-0 2; Bowen Gugger 2 0-0 4; John Lee 3 2-2 10; Mike Fountain 1 1-3 3; John Stim 0 1-2 1. Totals 26 4-7 64.
Pennridge 11 14 9 19 – 53
CB West 27 13 6 18 – 64
3-point goals: P-McCormick 1, Campione 1; CBW-Tenaglia 4, Mancini 2, Lee 2
North Penn 59, Souderton 45
Coming off a loss to Pennridge on Tuesday, and still very much in the SOL Colonial title chase as well as still fighting for a spot in the upcoming District One Class 6A tournament, North Penn wanted to start quickly against rival Souderton Friday. That never happened.
But the Knights rebounded from a two-point first quarter, got back into the game and then blew a close game wide open from the free throw line late for the key road win.
“I think we outscored them 26-6 in the fourth quarter,” said Knights coach John Conrad. “I was just watching the film. It was a one-point game with 1:12 to go, and then we were able to spread them out and get a layup. They came down and missed, we rebounded it, and the rest of the points came from the foul line. We shot really well from the line in the fourth quarter.”
For the game, the Knights – who trailed 39-33 heading into the final quarter – were 25-for-30 from the line. In the fourth quarter, Ryan Deininger was 7-for-8, Joey Larkins 5-for-6 and Milind Pulugura 4-for-4. Pulugura led the Knights were 20 points for the game, while Deininger added 16.
Paul Vince hit a pair of 3-pointers in Souderton’s 12-2 first quarter. It was 24-15 by halftime.
Jay Bonnet finished as the Indians’ top scorer with 16 points. Aleks Smith added 11.
North Penn (11-9, 8-6 SOL) is now one game back of division co-leaders CB East and CB South and is unofficially sitting at No. 18 for the 24-team district playoffs. It plays at South on Tuesday and then hosts East on Thursday.
Souderton (12-7, 7-7 SOL) is unofficially No. 16 for districts, with three games remaining next week – at Pottstown Monday, at Pennridge Tuesday and home against CB West on Thursday.
North Penn (59)
Mario Sgro 1 2-2 4; Terhan Wright 2 0-2 4; Norm Gee 1 0-0 3; Ryan Zeltt 3 0-0 7; Joey Larkins 0 5-6 5; Ryan Deininger 2 11-12 16; Milind Pulugura 5 7-8 20. Totals 14 25-30 59.
Souderton (45)
Jay Bonnet 5 2-2 16; Paul Vince 3 0-0 8; Chris Towsen 1 0-0 2; Aleks Smith 3 5-5 11; Levi John 1 0-0 2; Shaun Purvy 1 3-4 6. Totals 14 10-11 45.
North Penn 2 13 18 26 – 59
Souderton 12 12 15 6 – 45
3-point goals: NP-Pulugura 3, Deininger 1, Zeltt 1, Gee 1; S-Bonnet 4, Vince 2, Purvy 1
Central Bucks East 70, Central Bucks South 52
CB East needed a big week if it wanted to stay a factor in the Colonial Division championship picture. And the Patriots also knew they needed to win games to secure a spot in the district playoffs.
Mission accomplished. East wrapped up a 3-0 week with a convincing 70-52 win over rival South on Friday.
“Tonight was a great ending to the week,” coach Erik Henrysen said. “We knew coming into this three-game stretch that a lot of questions would be answered. The guys responded in an impressive way. Winning three games in four nights is never easy.”
East’s win left the teams tied at 9-5 with two games remaining in division play. The Patriots are now in pretty good shape for districts too, as they entered Friday at No. 19 and are sure to move up with a win over CB South, which entered at No. 13.
Friday’s game saw the Titans start fast, but the Patriots battled back to tie it at 14 after one. In the second, East took over and led 32-26 at halftime and 51-37 after three.
“We got off to a difficult start and got down 8-0,” Henrysen said. “We took a (timeout) and reiterated to the guys that we were OK. I thought we started the game with four good possessions that led to good shots. We just didn’t hit. They did and our message was to just stick to East basketball and continue to play for each other.”
Tyriq Toney-Bailey was “electric in the first half” for the Patriots with 14 points in the first half on the way to 17 for the game. Aidan Weaver finished with a double-double – 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jacob Cummiskey had 19 points and five rebounds.
Also for East, Brett Young had eight points, four rebounds and four assists. Liam Cummiskey added four steals. As a team, the Patriots finished 20-for-22 from the free throw line.
“I thought Brett Young was incredible,” Henrysen said. “He really defended and did a ton of dirty work that doesn’t show up on a stat sheet.
“Weaver provided the physicality we’ve come to expect and finished with a double-double.
“Tyriq got us going early and then Jake Cummiskey closed the game out. He’s so tough when teams need to come out and pressure with his ability to get to the rim.
“This was the third game in a row that we recorded over 16 assists. It feels like we are coming together at the right time.”
CB South was led by Michael Farley’s 20 points. Chris Granito had a pair of 3-pointers and 10 points.
East (13-7, 9-5) finishes its regular season with a home game against CB West on Tuesday, and then a road game at North Penn on Thursday.
“We were fortunate to get the game in,” Henrysen said. “I was worried that we wouldn’t with so many games getting postponed and canceled.”
South (12-7, 9-5) has a nonleague game Monday against Upper Moreland, before closing with league games against North Penn at home Tuesday and at Pennridge on Thursday.
CB East (70)
Tyriq Toney-Bailey 17, Jacob Cummiskey 19, Liam Cummiskey 2, Nick Rivera 2, Brett Young 8, Aidan Weaver 17, Joey Giordano 5.
CB South (52)
Jay Macalindong 4, Sean Rieber 1, Aidan Van Zanten 2, Joe Rooney 5, Chris Granito 10, Bryan Delara 2, Tyler Meinel 8, Michael Farley
CB East 14 18 19 19 – 70
CB South 14 12 11 15 – 52
3-point goals: CBE-Weaver 3, Toney-Bailey 2, Young 2, J. Cummiskey 1; CBS-Granito 2, Rooney 1, Farley 1
SOL Freedom Division
Upper Moreland 52, Springfield Twp 41
This game was bumped up to an afternoon game because of the pending hazardous weather Friday night, and Upper Moreland was ready. The Golden Bears jumped out with a strong offensive first quarter and played good defense in the second to take command on the way to the double-figure win over Springfield.
The Golden Bears, who led 18-11 after one quarter, limited the Spartans to just six points in the second quarter and opened up a 30-17 halftime lead.
“We started out strong, offensively and defensively,” said UM coach Dan Heiland. “We scored 18 points in the first quarter. It’s always a nice way to get the game started. Then, in the second quarter, we did a nice job of limiting Springfield to only six points.
“That was kind of the difference in the game, the first half. After that, it was kind of even, so coming out strong was big for us. It was an early start, there weren’t many fans there, but we had a strong student section, and they brought the energy and lifted us up.”
Heiland said guard Bo Meakim led the way offensively and defensively. He finished with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Matt Tiernan scored 13 and Byron Hopkins added nine.
“Matt Tiernan and Byron Hopkins both played very well for us,” Heiland said. “They’ve been the two consistent cogs for us. They’re the two guys we rely on day-in and day-out. They can score the basketball and defend as well.
“Today, we got a good effort from our bench. Jake Tiernan, Matt’s brother, just came back Wednesday (from a season-long injury) against Hatboro. He hit a couple of big ‘3s’, played defense and grabbed a few rebounds.
“Stefano Garofalo has been playing great for us the last three weeks, stepping up both offensively and defensively.”
UM (12-7, 7-7 SOL) currently sits in the No. 4 position for the upcoming 16-team Class 5A district playoffs, with regular-season games this week remaining at CB South nonleague on Monday, at William Tennent Tuesday and Thursday against New Hope-Solebury.
“We started out strong towards the beginning of the season, we had a few bumps in the road in the middle of the season,” Heiland said. “It was tough. We had the holidays, makeup games, games being moved, but the kids handled it tremendously.
“We were able to get back one of our key pieces in Jake Tiernan. Sean Dallahan was playing good basketball for us earlier in the season, and we’re going to get him back. We’re playing good basketball and that’s exactly what we need to do heading into the playoffs. We’re in a really good spot from that standpoint. We’re hoping to make a run. We’ll take the momentum from these last couple of games and see where it takes us.”
Springfield (9-9, 5-9 SOL) was led by Dylan McKenzie with 16 points and Kyle Smythe had 12 points and six rebounds. Ben Cooney added eight points and eight rebounds. The Spartans close the regular season with a road game at Lower Moreland Tuesday and then at home against division-leading Cheltenham on Thursday. They’re currently No. 3 for the upcoming district Class 4A tournament.
Springfield (41)
Dylan McKenzie 16, Ben Cooney 8, Harry Rittenhouse 5, Kyle Smythe 12
Upper Moreland (52)
Byron Hopkins 9, Bo Meakim 18, Jake Tiernan 6, Matt Tiernan 13, Stefano Garofalo 4, Colson Campbell 2
Springfield 11 6 10 14 – 41
Upper Moreland 18 12 12 10 – 52
3-point goals: S-Cooney 2, Smythe 1; UM-Meakim 4, J. Tiernan 2, Hopkins 1
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