Check out the results for SOL boys/girls basketball teams in action Saturday.
Boys
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 74, NEWTOWN (N.Y.) 43
Austin Thomas had himself a day.
The sophomore guard torched Newtown for 30 points – which included six three-pointers – to lead the Golden Hawks to the decisive win in the second game of Saturday’s New York/PA Challenge at Council Rock South.
“Austin played great,” coach John Easterly said. “He’s had a few games in a row where he has just shot the ball extremely well.
“The other day against Bensalem he had 14 points in the first half, and Bensalem did a really good job in the second half, and he ended up with 16. He’s really put games together here the past four or five games. Today didn’t surprise us because he’s been doing that.
“Our other guys did a great job of moving the ball and getting him some looks. We did a real nice job of passing the ball around and making extra passes today. We also pushed the ball in the fast break, and some of his points were fast break layups. He had a really solid game, and it was a good team effort.”
Thomas jumpstarted the Hawks (6-12) with eight first-quarter points, and Alex Nordenholt added two baskets to propel Rock South to a 14-10 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, the Hawks turned on the afterburners, outscoring their visitors 21-3. Thomas – who had 17 points by halftime – led the charge with three treys in the quarter while Mike Stock added five points, including a three-pointer. Joe Rebholz also had a three as the Hawks buried five three’s in the frame and took a 35-13 lead into halftime.
“We were playing great defense, getting stops and then pushing the ball,” Easterly said. “It’s not that we haven’t been trying to do that all year long. Our team is starting to really understand what we’ve been trying to get them to accomplish throughout the year.
“Playing solid defense leads to easy points, and that’s how we want to play, and they did that today. We played solid defense, and we ended up getting some easy baskets on the break out.”
Saturday’s New York/PA Challenge included two games instead of the originally scheduled three. Next year’s plans are to feature four games with the possibility of New York hosting the event.
Newtown 10-3-15-15 43
Council Rock South 14-21-18-21 74
Newtown (43) – Annorm 6, Gelin 3, Gravesannde 2, Jackson 3, Lopez 3, Muirhead 24, Wiley 2.
Council Rock South (74) – Austin Thomas 30, Joe Rebolz 5, Mike Stock 11, Kevin Newbert 9, Alex Nordenholt 7, Dan Buchnik 4, John Gannon 2, Boyd 2, McNamee 1, Shane Brown 3.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECH (N.Y.) 70, WILLIAM TENNENT 64
John Ryan turned in a brilliant 33-point performance, connecting on 11-of-18 shots from the floor in an impressive offensive display. He was 10-of-10 from the foul line.
Interestingly, Ryan had just two points in the first quarter but exploded for 31 over the next three.
“He also took two charges – he does a lot of things for us,” coach Robert Mulville said of his junior standout. “It helped that they weren’t familiar with him.
“John’s averaging 18 a game for us, but a lot of teams know who he is. He had a nice year last year and was third team all-league, and he’s scoring the majority of our points this year, so he’s been seeing a lot of double teams lately. Today was one of those days when I knew he wouldn’t be double-teamed, so I figured he would have a big day.”
Despite Ryan’s big performance, the Panthers come up short on the scoreboard in the opening game of the New York/PA Challenge at Council Rock South, but it certainly wasn’t from lack of effort as they rallied from 23 points down to pull to within one late in the game.
“We had a chance to pull to within one – we got a turnover, and we missed a layup, and we had two open looks at three-point shots that would have tied the game,” Mulville said. “We did get it to within one. We were down three when we missed that layup, and then John Ryan stole the inbounds pass and scored and that pulled us within one.
“We just couldn’t get over the hump. We couldn’t get a stop when we pulled it to within one, and we didn’t hit the three, but they fought all the way back. I was real happy with the way they tried to extend the game at the end. To Telecommunications credit, they made their foul shots.”
Telecommunications was 11-for-12 from charity stripe while the Panthers, or more specifically, Ryan was a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line.
The Panthers were ultimately doomed by Telecommunications’ torrid offensive performance in the first half. Telecommunications led 26-9 after one quarter and took a 41-22 lead into the intermission.
“They shot so well in the first half,” Mulville said. “They shot 75 percent – they were 18-for-24. They were hitting a lot of three’s.
“We just told them at halftime, ‘You’re going to get your possessions. They’re not going to shoot that way the whole game.’ We did change up our defense, picked them up a little bit more, and we started to deny the inbounds passes a little more, and that caused a couple of turnovers to hurry them up. We just couldn’t get over the hump, and they didn’t miss a foul shot.”
The Panthers (5-13) outscored Telecommunications 23-14 in the third quarter, 42-29 in the second half.
Also contributing for the Panthers were Keith Simonson with 12 points, Kyle Lewicki with eight, Matt Berndimaier with seven and Josh Kravets with four.
Telecommunications Tech 26-15-14-15 70
William Tennent 9-13-23-19 64
William Tennent (64) – Josh Kravets 4, Kevin Simonson 12, John Ryan 33, Matt Berndimaier 7, Kyle Lewicki 8.
WILLIAM PENN-YORK 72, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 57
The Colonials sprinted out of the gate to a 22-16 lead after one quarter, but William Penn answered with a 21-14 second quarter burst to go into halftime with a 37-36 lead. The Colonials scored just six points in the third quarter, trailing 53-42 heading into the final quarter, and they never could make up the ground they lost.
Andre Mitchell and Jimmy Murray both scored 14 points to lead the Colonials while Xzavier Malone also finished in double figures with 10 points. Mike Lotito had eight points, and Cameron Johnson, six.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Colonials, who are 16-2 overall.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 22-14-6-15 57
William Penn 16-21-16-19 72
Plymouth Whitemarsh (57) – Xzavier Malone 10, Jimmy Murray 14, Devon Monteiro-Gray 3, Cameron Johnson 6, Andre Mitchell 14, Mike Lotito 8, Jesse Hoffman 2.
William Penn (72) – Shaw 6, Smallwood 15, Boxley 2, Johnson 8, Casiano 6, Morgan 11, Shifflett 5, Wilson 19.
METHACTON 67, HARRY S TRUMAN 50
Girls
PENNRIDGE 58, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 52
Saturday’s non-league battle at Plymouth Whitemarsh featured a pair of teams in the hunt for a postseason berth. In last week’s unofficial district rankings, Pennridge was ranked 25th while PW was clinging to the final spot at 32.
Not a whole lot separated the two teams in Saturday’s game. They found themselves deadlocked 15-15 after one quarter, and the difference in the game was a second quarter that saw the Rams outscore their hosts 17-9 to go into halftime with a 32-24 lead.
PW freshman Taylor O’Brien, who finished with 24 points, picked up her second foul with two minutes remaining in the first quarter and, according to coach Daniel Dougherty, was on the bench when the Rams made their second quarter run.
The Colonials battled valiantly to get back into the game.
“(We) made a late run in the fourth to cut it to three points and (had) the ball but missed a fastbreak layup,” Dougherty said.
Junior Lydia Konstanzer had a monster day to lead the Lady Rams, sharing game scoring honors with 24 points. She also pulled down 16 rebounds – six on the offensive end – to finish with an impressive double-double. In addition, Konstanzer had three assists and two steals. Shelby Schoonover added 13 points, which included a 6-for-8 effort at the foul line. Jenna Dominic added 10 points while Devan Rimmer had seven points and six rebounds. Kaeli White handed out four assists for the Rams, who improved to 10-7.
While O’Brien led the Colonials, Alynna Williams added 10 points and Khadijah Hickson added nine. Each had a pair of three-pointers.
The Colonials (11-6) connected on just 12-of-23 from the foul line. They are shooting over 70 percent from the charity stripe for the season.
Pennridge 15-17-11-15 58
Plymouth Whitemarsh 15-9-9-19 52
Pennridge (58) – Monika Brill 4, Shelby Schoonover 13, Jenna Dominic 10, Devan Rimmer 7, Lydia Konstanzer 24.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (52) – Taylor O’Brien 24, Alynna Williams 10, Laurel Suchsland 5, Alison Spinelli 2, Khadijah Hickson 9, Lauren Coscia 2.
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