Pennsbury earned a dramatic win at the buzzer. Check out all of Saturday’s SOL results. To view photos of the Souderton/Pennsbury, CR South/Hatboro and North Penn/Abington games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
Suburban One League Challenge
Pennsbury Pride!
Pennsbury (9-5) regained a huge measure of that pride this weekendas the Falcons added to its Friday win over Bensalem (74-67) with an exciting 49-47 victory over Souderton (11-4) on Saturday as part of the Suburban One League Challenge.
“Pennsbury has a long history with a tradition of success,” said Pennsbury head coach Bill Coleman. “We knew that this was going to be a huge weekend for this basketball team, and beating both Bensalem and Souderton on back-to-back nights – those were statement wins for this team.”
The author of those statement wins has been senior Jerrel Burke who exploded for a game-high 31 points against Bensalem and followed with a game-high 20-point effort against Souderton.
“We all knew what Jerrel can do from seeing him in practice every day,” said Coleman. “But he really has come on the last few games, and he has given us a second scoring option to Kieran (Bolger).”
Bolger – who collected 25 points against Bensalem – fouled out of the game with Souderton and was held to just five points.
The victory over Souderton came down to the buzzer as Dan Ransom connected on a 10-foot jump shot for the game winner. Ransom joined Burke in twin digits with 10 points. Pennsbury swallowed a nine-point deficit in the fourth period to escape with the win.
“We play ball pressure the whole game, but we really turned it up in the fourth period and got some results,” said Coleman. “This was a big win, but we go back into the league on Tuesday and we have to continue what we have started this weekend.
“In our league, if you don’t play your ‘A’ game every night, you are going to get beat,” added Coleman. “We talked about getting back that ‘Pennsbury Pride’, and we took a big step toward getting it back this weekend.”
Souderton Indians 16 13 10 8 - 47
Pennsbury Falcons 10 10 10 19 - 49
Souderton: Luke Moyer 15; Ry Yozallinas 10; Mark Wonderling 8; Ryan Connolly 6; John Kanas 4; Brendan Wagner 4. Total – 47
Pennsbury: Jerrel Burke 20; Dan Ransom 10; Ryan Charity 6; Mekhi Bryant 5; Kieran Bolger 5. Total – 49.
Golden Bears Capture Overtime Victory
Upper Moreland (5-9) rebounded from a fourth period comeback by William Tennent (4-11) as the Golden Bears edged the Panthers – 50-49 – in overtime.
Matt Kohn connected on a pair of free throws with eight seconds left in the OT to seal the win.
“Matt was only five of twelve from the line, but there was nobody I would rather have on the line with the game on the line,” said Upper Moreland head coach Brian Corrado. “William Tennent made a strong run at us in the fourth period (outscoring the Bears 15-7), but we were able to come back and get a win.”
Wins have been difficult to get for the Golden Bears. The win over Tennent stopped a seven-game Upper Moreland losing streak.
“The schedule we play is very tough, but the players have worked very hard to compete with a Plymouth Whitemarsh, a Norristown, and a Wissahickon,” said Corrado. “We are a AAA school competing in a AAAA league. Wins are going to be hard to come by, but we continue to play hard and with confidence. No AAA school plays better competition than us.”
Kohn finished with a team-high 18 points for Upper Moreland, while Jack Rauchut scored a game-high 19 points for William Tennent.
“We have PW, Norristown, and Wissahickon back-to-back-to-back,” said Corrado. “It’s nice going into that stretch of games with a win.”
Upper Moreland Golden Bears 12 14 10 7 7 - 50
William Tennent Panthers 9 13 6 15 6 - 49
Upper Moreland: Matt Kohn 18; Sean Valenza 9; Tommy Robinson 7; Josh Vallanueva 6; Kevin McFall 5; Malcom Harvard 5. Total – 50.
William Tennent: Jack Rauchut 19; Matt Alden 11; Ryan Smith 8; Vinnie Case 5; Mike Wasserleben 4; Horace Spencer 2. Total – 49.
Hatters Win Third Straight
Hatboro-Horsham (6-8) collected its third straight victory as the Hatters topped Council Rock South (4-11) – 46-35.
“It was a slow paced game with teams looking to take really good shots,” said Hatboro-Horsham head coach Dennis Steinly. “We really didn’t shoot all that well, but we were able to play good defense.
“This was an important game for us to win,” added Steinly. “We want to go into the second half of our league schedule with a little momentum.”
The Hatters featured a very balanced scoring attack with three players scoring 11 points each. Michael Brown, Zach Quattro, and Paul Haggerty shared scoring honors for H-H. The game-high scorer was Rock South senior Christian Crane with 16 points.
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters 14 11 10 11 - 46
Council Rock South Hawks 6 9 9 11 - 35
Hatboro-Horsham: Michael Brown 11; Zach Quattro 11; Paul Haggerty 11; Ryan Kelly 5; Bobby Bruno 4; John Lavery 2; Mike Vogel 2. Total – 46.
Council Rock South: Christian Crane 16; Tom Townsend 6; Nick Cocco 5; Will Faccenda 4; Brian Donnelly 2; PJ Gallo 2. Total – 35.
Central Bucks West (13-2) broke open a tight game in the second halfas the Bucks captured a 62-50 victory over Truman (8-7). Derek Dyer scored a game-high 21 points for West, while Jared Kelly (12) and Tyler Schechter (10) also scored in double figures. The leading scorer for the Tigers was Daiquan Ashley with nine points, while Kenny Osborne and Merdic Green scored eight points each.
Truman Tigers 3 19 14 14 - 50
Central Bucks West Bucks 10 14 19 19 - 62
Bensalem (6-7) captured its first non-conference win of the season as the Owls edged visiting Central Bucks South (8-7) – 67-66. The Owls placed four players in twin digits and were led in scoring by Leo Vincent with 17 points. Donnie Reed (16), Dovante Newkirk (10), and Julian Hyden (11) also scored in double digits. Dave Knox scored a game-high 27 points to lead CB South, while Chase Vonder Schmalz scored in twin digits with 14 points.
Central Bucks South Titans 18 12 22 14 - 66
Bensalem Owls 12 18 17 20 - 67
Cheltenham (11-6) outscored Central Bucks East (7-8) by an 18-5 margin in the third period as the Panthers clawed the Patriots – 63-47. The Black Cats had a pair of players reach twin digits led by Toyon Wynder with 15 points, while Nafis Walker chipped in with 14 points. Aaron McGlawn, Jerrell Haywood, and Guy Henderson each scored eight points for Cheltenham. Steve Topley and Ryan O’Neil each scored 10 points to lead CB East in scoring.
Central Bucks East Patriots 11 10 5 21 - 47
Cheltenham Panthers 14 14 18 17 - 63
Abington (12-4) outscored North Penn (3-10) by a 24-6 margin in the third period as the Ghosts defeated the Knights – 69-55. Abington was led in scoring by Jordan Simmons with 21 points, while Anthony Durham collected 20 points. The Knights were led in scoring by Wes Brooks with 12 points, while Kevin Shue scored in twin digits with 10 points.
Abington Ghosts 12 12 24 21 - 69
North Penn Knights 10 17 6 22 - 55
Upper Dublin (8-7) outscored Quakertown (1-15) by a 19-0 margin in the second period as the Cardinals soared by the Panthers – 54-26. John Decamara collected 11 points for Upper Dublin to lead the Cardinals, while Andrew Carber scored in double figures with 10 points. Corey Jorgensen scored a team-high nine points for Quakertown.
Quakertown Panthers 11 0 9 6 - 26
Upper Dublin Cardinals 13 19 8 14 - 54
Neshaminy (3-13) met Archbishop Carroll (10-5) in the Kobe Bryant Classic, and the Redskins lost a 60-46 verdict. Neshaminy had a pair of players reach twin digits. Tyler Katz scored a team-high 20 points for the Redskins, while Bobby Marterella added 14 points for Neshaminy.
Archbishop Carroll 17 13 15 15 - 60
Neshaminy Redskins 13 9 8 16 - 46
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