Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball in action Friday. Bensalem/CR North photos provided courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL Patriot Division
Pennsbury 63, Council Rock South 30
Friday night was a milestone win in the 69-year history of the Pennsbury boys basketball program, and it was an impressive one for the Falcons.
Coach Bill Coleman’s squad put together its most complete effort of the season and avenged a previous loss to the Golden Hawks, and in doing so captured the 1,000th win in school history, going back to 1952 and coach Don Henry.
“It is a big deal,” Coleman said. “We always try to tie everything back to the history of the program and its season. The kids truly understand the people who came before them. To get the 1,000th win, playing the way we like to play was nice.”
It’s been an up-and-down season thus far for Pennsbury, but Friday was the type of game it has been waiting for, as the Falcons jumped ahead 20-3 in the first quarter and never really looked back. By halftime it was a 43-13 lead, quite the turnaround from a 53-37 loss the first time the two teams played back on Jan. 19.
“At the end of the day, we’ve been up and down all season with our roster,” Coleman said. “We’ve had people missing because of contact tracing and other issues, but for the first time, we’ve been able to play back-to-back games with our full roster. We’ve been close in games pretty much all year long. Tonight, everything flowed the way it should have all along.”
Pennsbury’s defense is its strength, and Friday, it was able to get into that pressure ‘D’ because it shot the ball extremely well early.
“The first quarter was everybody,” Coleman said. “Kennan Taddei hit a 3, Craig Stargell hit two big 3s, Evan McNeely hit a 3. We got into a flow, and we were able to hit them with our pressure, which is the way we like to play.
“We received big contributions from everybody. Aidan Bartuski, a sophomore, had a big second quarter for us; he had seven points.
“What the guys saw tonight is if you defend, offense becomes easier. It was fun to watch tonight. That was definitely Pennsbury basketball.”
McNeely finished with 15 points to lead the Falcons and also had six rebounds and three assists. Stargell and Amir Johnson had 10 points each. As a team, the Falcons shot 56 percent (25-for-44) from the field and were 6-for-12 from 3-point range.
Evan Reichard pulled down a team high 12 rebounds to go along with six points, and Aiden McCormack had 10 boards, eight points and three assists.
Defensively, they held CR South to 31 percent shooting (12-for-35), while the Golden Hawks were also an abysmal 2-for-11 from the free throw line. Gavin Holloran’s 18 points led the Hawks.
Pennsbury (3-7, 2-6 SOL) is back in action Tuesday against Harry S. Truman. CR South (4-5, 3-4 SOL) looks to bounce back Saturday with a nonleague game at Upper Moreland (3 p.m.).
Pennsbury 63, Council Rock South 30
CR South 3 10 12 5-30
Pennsbury 20 23 7 13-63
CR South (30) – Schwartz 0 1-2 1; Dosa 1 0-0 2; Purcell 1 0-1 2; Burns 1 0-0 3; Martin 1 1-4 4; Stock 0 0-2 0; Venuto 0 0-2 0; Holloran 8 0-0 18. Totals 12 2-11 30.
Pennsbury (63) – Johnson 5 0-0 10; McCormack 3 2-2 8; Taddei 1 0-0 3; Reichard 3 0-0 6; Stargell 4 0-0 10; McNeely 6 1-2 15; Bartuski 2 4-5 9; Brown 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 7-9 63
3-point goals: CRS-Burns 1, Martin 1, Holloran 2; P-Taddei 1, Stargell 2, McNeely 2, Bartuski 1
Neshaminy 56, Harry S Truman 44
Senior center Mike Murray scored 25 points as Neshaminy broke the game open with a 24-9 second quarter and remained unbeaten in the SOL Patriot Division with the 12-point win at Truman.
The win clinched a share of the division title for Neshaminy (9-1, 8-0 SOL), the first title for the program since 2001 when coach Mark Tingle was a senior and assistant Trevor Deeter was a junior and both played for the championship squad. The program’s only other league titles were in 1964 and 1975.
“I didn’t say anything to our kids because we’ve been really focused, one game at a time, and we didn’t know the result of the Bensalem-(Council Rock)North game because North was only a game behind us,” Tingle said. “There wasn’t any celebration or anything like that. It’s the old coaching thing,take it day by day, but with this year, obviously, we’re really taking it day by day.”
Murray scored 14 of his 25 points in Neshaminy’s big second quarter. He also finished the game with 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jimmy MacDonald had 15 points and five rebounds. Jake McGinty had six points, nine rebounds and four steals.
“They pressured us in an extended half court zone, which left the middle open for Jimmy MacDonald Mike Murray, and they combined for 40 points tonight,” Tingle said. “Mike dominated the first half, and Jimmy was pretty solid throughout.
“Truman overall isn’t a very big team. They have a lot of guards, so we took advantage of that and got layups.
“We played a tough game against Pennsbury (Thursday), and in the third quarter, Truman did a good job. They made a lot of shots, so they crawled back into it. They don’t have any wins right now, but they made their runs against us in the second half. We got the win and move on to the next one.”
Truman (0-7, 0-7 SOL) was led by Tamue Collins’ 11 points, while Tyriq Montgomery added 10. The Tigers play at Bensalem on Saturday (1 p.m.). Neshaminy plays at Council Rock North on Tuesday.
Neshaminy 56, Harry S Truman 44
Neshaminy 10 24 10 12-56
Truman 6 9 19 10-44
Neshaminy (56) – MacDonald 7 1-1 15; McGinty 3 0-0 6; Drapkin 1 2-2 4; Esposito 1 1-2 3; Murray 10 4-5 25; Curley 1 1-2 3. Totals 23 9-012 56.
Truman (44) – Collins 5 1-1 11; K. Clark 1 2-2 5; Flail 1 0-0 2; T. Clark 2 1-3 6; Jackson 1 0-2 3; Montgomery 4 2-2 10; Culver 2 1-2 7.
3-point goals: N-Murray 1; HST-K. Clark 1, T. Clark 1, Jackson 1, Culver 2
Bensalem 50, Council Rock North 47
James Ashford scored 10 points in the third quarter, finished with a game-high 20 and came up with a huge defensive rebound and free throw late to help the Owls hold off the short-handed Indians on Friday.
“It was a back-and-forth game, a tough game,” said Bensalem coach Ron Morris. “Every time you go to Council Rock North, you know you’re in for a battle. Coach (Jesse) Krasna does a great job preparing and they execute the game plan. Tonight, they were down a guy, but other guys stepped up.”
CR North was playing without junior point guard Bernie Parent.
“We wanted to give full-court pressure every time they touched the ball,” Morris said. “We spent a lot of time preparing for him, so we had to adjust on the fly.
“The kid (Connor) Rushing is a really good player. We had to throw different guys on him – Jeremy Rodriguez, Nikita Schafer, Jake DeLange, they all rotated on him. Luke Ziedler played great defense down low.”
It was a two-point game at halftime, and Bensalem was never quite able to shake the Indians, but the Owls did lead by six late.
“In the fourth quarter, we were up six with a couple of minutes left,” Morris said. “They hit some foul shots, we missed some foul shots. Their kid buries a 3, and they’re down one. Then, it’s a two-point game, they miss a contested shot, James (Ashford) gets the rebound and makes 1 of 2 from the line and we win by three.”
In addition to Ashford, Aaron Sanders had 19 points, including five 3-pointers.
The Indians were led by Rushing’s 17 points, while Jack Blum added nine and Mikey Sylvester eight points.
The two teams are now tied for second in the SOL Patriot Division with 4-2 league marks. Bensalem (5-5 overall) hosts Harry S. Truman on Saturday (1 p.m.) CR North (4-2 overall) plays at Pennridge in a nonleague game on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
Bensalem 50, Council Rock North 47
Council Rock North 10-12-13-12 47
Bensalem 12-12-15-11 50
CR North (47) – Garrett Gromlich 2 0-0 6; Mikey Sylvester 3 1-1 8; Adam Mahtat 3 0-4 6; Jack Blum 2 5-5 9; Logan Saifer 0 1-2 1 Connor Rushing 5 7-11 17; TOTALS 15 14-23 47.
Bensalem (50) – Eric Gonzalez 1 0-0 3; Aaron Sanders 7 0-1 19; James Ashford 7 3-6 20; Allen Myers 1 2-2 4; Nikita Schafer 1 2-2 4; TOTALS 17 7-11 50.
3-point goals: CRN – Garrett Gromlich 2, Mikey Sylvester, Bensalem – Aaron Sanders 5, James Ashford 3, Eric Gonzalez.
SOL Liberty Division
Abington 70, Hatboro-Horsham 37
The Galloping Ghosts shot 64.4 percent from the field (29-of-45) and won their fifth straight game with a strong showing against the Hatters at home Friday.
Abington started strong and never looked back, jumping up 19-7 after one and 40-15 at halftime. It finished with 11 steals in the first half and 17 for the game.
Rob Bell scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second quarter. He connected on 7-of-8 shots from the floor.
The Ghosts also were 7-for-16 (43.7 percent) from 3-point, led by Sam McFarland, who had 10 points with two 3s. He has connected on 9 of 13 3-pointers in the last five games.
Also for Abington, Jimmy Marino had four assists, Derris Lucas six rebounds and Oreck Frazier four rebounds. As a team, the Ghosts had 17 assists to just six turnovers.
Zehier Cheeze finished with 20 points to lead Hatboro-Horsham.
Second-place Abington (5-2, 5-2 SOL) plays at first place Plymouth Whitemarsh in a key Liberty Division showdown on Friday. The Hatters (2-5, 2-5 SOL) hosts Quakertown on Tuesday.
Abington 70, Hatboro-Horsham 37
Hatboro-Horsham 7-8-7-15 37
Abington 19-21-20-10 70
Hatboro-Horsham (37) – Eric Butler 1 0-0 3; Noah Schlosser 0 1-2 1; Sam Fink 1 0-0 2; Joshua Spruill 1 0-0 2; Zehier Cheeze 8 4-8 20; Kyle Dutts 2 0-0 6; Matt Wingen 1 1-1 3; TOTALS 14 6-11 37.
Abington (70) – Rob Bell 7 1-2 15; Karim Boyd 3 2-3 8; Oreck Frazier 1 0-0 2; Antoine Ellis 2 0-0 5; Connor fields 2 0-0 4; Sam McFarlane 4 0-0 10; Kahjel Morris 3 0-0 7; Jimmy Marino 1 0-0 3; Aiden Boyles 2 0-0 6 Caleb Baker 2 1-2 5; Derris Lucas 1 1-2 3; Devin Barnes 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 29 5-10 70.
3-point field goals: HH – Kyle Dittos 2, Eric Butler, Abington – Sam McFarlane 2, Aiden Boyles 2, Antoine Ellis, Kahjel Morri, Jimmy Marino.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 68, Upper Dublin 31
In a complete turnaround from the previous game between the two times, Plymouth Whitemarsh dominated Upper Dublin from start to finish on Friday.
The Colonials scored 26 points in the first quarter and ended up leading 44-18 by halftime.
On Jan. 19, PW beat the Flying Cardinals, but only by six points, 57-51. Friday’s game was much different.
“Our first time playing them was our lowest energy and least focused game of the season,” said PW coach Jim Donofrio. “It showed how at that point we still had a lot to learn regarding what it truly takes to mentally and emotionally approach each game.
“Tonight was obviously a different story as we came out with huge energy wanting to show that the first meeting wasn’t the best version of us. It requires both a personal as well as a team pride to give the best concentration and energy every possession of a game. We are getting there.
“Luke DiCianno was locked in tonight, and his teammate Zuri Jerman was right there with him, as both raised their focus to levels that, if maintained going forward, will get us collectively closer to the level required to accomplish something special.”
DiCianno scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in a 26-14 first quarter. Jerman had eight points in the second quarter and ended up with 16. Qudire Bennett added 13.
The other story was PW’s defense against UD big man Drew Stover, who led the Cardinals again Friday, but was held to 12 points. After scoring 14 in the first quarter, UD was held to 17 points over the final three quarters combined.
PW (10-0, 8-0 SOL), which clinched a share of the SOL Liberty Division title with Friday’s win, plays at Central Bucks West Saturday (2:30 p.m.). UD (5-5, 2-4 SOL) plays at Quakertown in a makeup game Saturday (5 p.m.).
Plymouth Whitemarsh 68, Upper Dublin 31
PW 26 18 16 8-68
UD 14 4 6 7-31
PW (68) – Z. Hubbard 3 2-2 8; Colzie 3 1-1 8; Baker 1 0-0 2; DiCianno 6 3-4 17; Bennett 6 0-0 13; Harris 0 0-2 0; Flynn 0 1-2 1; Jerman 8 0-1 16. Totals 27 7-12 68.
UD (31) – Pensabene 3 0-0 6; Lee 0 1-2 1; Cersier 1 1-2 3; Fautiga 2 2-4 7; Kukula 1 0-0 2; Stover 5 2-3 12. Totals 12 6-11 31.
3-point goals: PW-Colzie 1, DiCianno 2, Bennett 1; UD-Fautiga 1
Wissahickon 45, Quakertown 29
Playing its third game in three days – and the first two times were losses – Wissahickon needed to find a way to win Friday night, and it did so, pulling away from a pesky Quakertown team in the second quarter.
“Credit to Quakertown,” said Trojans coach Kyle Wilson. “I don’t know if they’ve won a game this year, but they came out gritty, they came out determined, in enemy territory and they put up a fight.
“In the first half. We were sluggish. (Quakertown) was able to slow the game down. I don’t want to make excuses. They’re 17, 18-year-old kids, they should be able to play three games in three days. Three games in a row shouldn’t make a difference. But I think we were flat.
“In the second half, we found a lineup, we made some plays. They moved their feet and then set up on offense to get nice, quality shots.”
Matt Compas scored a team-high 17 points for Wissahickon, and he was able to take the game over in the third quarter. Earl Stout scored 12 points, including four 3-pointers.
“Each team has a different style on defense,” Wilson said. “You take what a defense gives you. Sometimes we’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
“But tonight, we worked on our offense. We got into a nice rhythm, guys started executing and just started hitting shots. Matt had 13 points in the second half and Josh Twersky had a nice second half too.”
Wissahickon (8-5, 4-3 SOL) plays at Upper Dublin on Tuesday. Quakertown (0-10, 0-7 SOL) is still in search of its first win. The Panthers hosts Upper Dublin Saturday (5 p.m.).
Wissahickon 45, Quakertown 29
Quakertown 4 7 6 12-29
Wissahickon 9 3 15 18-45
Quakertown (29) – Catalano 1 0-0 2; Roley 2 1-2 6; Grimmage 1 0-0 2; Perez 0 1-2 1; Gordon 1 1-2 4; Bauer 2 0-0 4; Fondl 2 2-5 6; Wilken 2 0-0 4. Totals 11 5-11 29.
Wissahickon (45) – Compas 8 0-1 17; Twersky 3 2-5 8; Friedman 0 2-5 2; Intreiri 1 0-0 3; Wilson 1 0-0 3. Dias 0 0-1 0; Stout 4 0-0 12. Totals 17 4-17 45.
3-point goals: Q-Gordon 1, Roley 1; W-Compas 1, Intrieri 1, Wilson 1, Stout 4
SOL Colonial Division
Pennridge 50, Central Bucks West 40
Coming off a huge win over North Penn on Thursday, the Rams jumped up early and eliminated the chance of a letdown against the Bucks on Friday.
Pennridge led 15-8 after one quarter and led 27-15 at halftime. The team had balanced scoring, led by Colin Post’s 12 points, while Colin Monahan had 10 and Luke Yoder nine.
CB West was led by Teddy Spratt’s 12 points.
Pennridge (6-4, 5-3 SOL) is back at it in a nonleague game on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) against Council Rock North. CB West (1-8, 1-6 SOL) hosts Plymouth Whitemarsh Saturday (2:30 p.m.).
Pennridge 50, Central Bucks West 40
CB West 8 7 7 18-40
Pennridge 15 12 9 14-50
CB West (40) – Spratt 4 4-7 12; Mancini 0 3-4 3; Lee 3 0-0 6; Gallagher 2 3-3 7; Martino 2 2-2 7; Cashman 1 0-0 3; Fountain 0 2-2 2. Totals 12 14-18 40.
Pennridge (50) – Nichols 2 1-2 6; Yoder 4 1-2 9; Post 5 1-2 12; Campione 3 1-2 7; Stumpo 1 1-2 4; Monahan 4 2-2 10; Hass 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 7-12 50.
3-point goals: CBW- Martino 1, Cashman 1; P-Nichols 1, Post 1, Stumpo 1
North Penn 60, Souderton 39
One night after a loss to Pennridge knocked it out of a first-place tie in the SOL Colonial, North Penn bounced back in a big way to blow past rival Souderton on Friday.
“I thought we played really well on the defensive end,” said North Penn coach John Conrad. “It got us going today.
“We got to a 12-point lead in the first quarter and it was right around 13 at the half. At some point in the third, we were able to extend it pretty good. I thought we did a nice job on defense and shared the ball well on offense.”
Defensively, Conrad said the team played well as a whole, especially point guard Joey Larkins.
Offensively, Josh Jones scored 22 points.
With the win, the Knights improved to 8-3 overall and 6-2 in the league. They host Central Bucks South on Tuesday. Souderton (1-7, 1-6 SOL) hosts Pennridge on Tuesday.
SOL Freedom Division
Cheltenham 62, Lower Moreland 56
A 23-10 first quarter sent the Panthers on their way in this one, although they had to survive a late push by Lower Moreland to hold on for the six-point win.
“We have to become more of a defensive team throughout the game,” said Cheltenahm coach Patrick Fleury, whose team was coming off an emotional win over Wissahickon 24 hours earlier. “We are playing very good opponents who all have aspirations to make it to however far or as long as the season goes. In order for us to do so moving forward, we just need to put more effort into defensively how we go about things.”
Mike McClain led the Panthers with 14 points, while Rasheem Dearry added 11. Salem Payne and Justin Savage both scored nine.
Lower Moreland, which trailed 39-23 at the half, but outscored Cheltenham 33-23 in the second half, was led by Matt Ernst and Jack Donkey, who each scored 17 points.
“I think the break for the snowstorm definitely hurt some of our guys because of the minutes and pace they play at,” Fleury said. “It’s hard to get three days off and then try to put together two good games, but I do believe they have it in them. We applaud them for another tough victory against a very good opponent, but I just think we need to refocus internally into what type of team we are.”
Cheltenham (5-0, 4-0 SOL) is back in action Tuesday at home against New Hope-Solebury.
Lower Moreland (0-3, 0-3 SOL) looks for its first win Tuesday when it plays on the road at Springfield.
Cheltenham 62, Lower Moreland 56
Cheltenham 23-16-7-16 62
Lower Moreland 10-13-14-19 56
Cheltenham (62) – Rasheem Dearry 11, Brandon Hawkins 8, Elias Walker 8, Keeon Healey 3, Saleem Payne 9, Justin Savage 9, Michael McClain 14.
Lower Moreland (56) – Eyal Khaikin 4, Matt Ernst 17, Ian Alecia 6, John Kroll 8, Jack Donkey 17, Roy Shimon 2, Joey Morozin 2.
William Tennent 50, New Hope-Solebury 43
Down two at halftime, William Tennent stayed with its gameplan in the second half, and that meant a whole lot of Derrik Cosenza in the paint.
Cosenza finished with 20 points and was 7-for-9 from the field to lead the way.
“We just tried to stay within our offense, and keep our eye a little bit more on (Alex) Walinski on defense,” said Tennent coach Robert Mulville. “He had 14 points in the first half, and a couple of them were 3s. I thought Mike Scheller and Ryan Emmerich did a nice job on him in the second half.
“In the first half, we didn’t pick him up until further up the court. He was bringing the ball up and we were letting him cross half court before we picked him up. In the second half, we played him full court. Emmerich is a strong kid, a football player. He can move his feet and he’s quick. We put him in with four minutes left in the third quarter and I don’t think he came out the rest of the game.”
Speaking of football players, Cosenza just this week committed to Kutztown to play his other sport. Friday, he took care of business on the basketball court.
“We were able to find Cosenza inside in the second half,” Mulville said. “He had a monster game for us. He just kept battling for us. That was basically the key for us in the second half.”
Although he’ll be playing Division II football in college at Kutztown, Mulville said he could very well have played basketball at the next level too.
“There’s been a lot of interest,” Mulville said. “I’ve talked to a lot of Division III coaches. He’s got a good body, is strong and quick. But every time, a coach calls, I preference it with ‘He’ll probably play football in college.”
Walter Young had 10 points for Tennent, as well, while Jay Stanfield added nine.
New Hope was led by Walinski’s 22 points, while Chris Kolen added eight.
Tennent (7-1, 5-1 SOL) plays at Upper Moreland on Tuesday. New Hope (2-7, 2-4 SOL) plays at first-place Cheltenham on Tuesday.
William Tennent 50, New Hope-Solebury 43
Tennent 11 9 16 15-50
New Hope 16 6 10 11-43
William Tennent (50) – Young 3 2-2 10; Miller 1 1-3 3; Stanfield 3 2-4 9; Scheller 1 0-4 2; Cosenza 7 6-8 20; Emmerich 3 0-0 6
New Hope-Solebury (43) – Walinski 8 3-4 22; Weinseimer 2 0-0 4; Dougherty 1 3-6 6; Will Albano 1 0-0 3; Kolen 3 0-0 8.
3-point goals: WT-Young 2; NHS-Walinski 3, Chris Kolen 2
Upper Moreland 63, Springfield 45
In the first half, Springfield’s Austin Maggioncalda hit four 3-pointers and the Spartans stayed in the game. In the second half, Upper Moreland stepped up its defense and was able to pull away for the SOL Freedom win.
“The one thing we did is we came out and put a little pressure on them,” said UM coach Dan Heiland. “We picked up the tempo and pace of the game in the second half. We were pressing, coming up with timely turnovers that led to fast break points on easy buckets for us.
“In the first half, Springfield did a great job controlling the game and making us play at their pace. And (Maggioncalda) shot lights out.”
McKie Walker came off the bench for the Golden Bears and was a defensive spark plug.
“He was a huge X-factor for us tonight,” Heiland said. “He came off the bench and scored nine points, but he was also the guy at the front of our press. He had a couple of deflections, a lot of steals, and even if they broke the press, he would pressure their guards and pick their pockets.”
Jahaire Johnson led UM with 14 points for the game, while Jourdan Gregg added 11 points.
Maggioncalda finished with 19 for Springfield.
UM (4-2, 4-1 SOL) hosts Council Rock North in a nonleague game Saturday (3 p.m.). Springfield (0-7, 0-6 SOL) hosts Lower Moreland on Tuesday.
Upper Moreland 63, Springfield 45
Upper Moreland 12 11 16 25-63
Springfield 14-10-4-17-45
Upper Moreland (63) – J. Sanders 5, B. Hopkins 7, J. Johnson 14, J. Gregg 11, M. Walker 9,
J . Tiernan 4, J. Harmer 2, M. Tiernan 7, R. Schernecke 4
Springfield (45) – D. McKenzie 7, A. Kennedy 9, B. Smith 2, K. Smythe 3,
A. Maggioncalda 19, B. Cooney 5
3-point goals: UM-Johnson 3, J. Sanders, B. Hopkins, J. Gregg; S- A. Maggioncalda 5, Smythe
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