Check out the results for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action on Friday night. To view photos of the Souderton/CB West and Wissahickon/PW games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
American Conference
Upper Merion 55, Springfield 54 (OT)
Upper Merion’s David Stecz sank 6-of-7 free throws in overtime and also connected on a pair with no time remaining in regulation to force the extra period in a dramatic one-point win for Upper Merion over Springfield on Friday night.
It was a huge win for the Vikings, who had not only lost their previous nine games but played to two consecutive overtime losses prior to Friday night’s OT victory.
“This win is immense,” Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer said. “You play and you practice and obviously not everything is about wins and losses, but it feels pretty darn good to get a win here.
“Springfield brought it tonight and definitely played one of their better games. We’ve played four overtime (periods) in three games. So, we’ve been on the cusp for really long and a play or two here and there from three wins instead of one. It was just nice to finally see a win as the result and to see the smile on these guys’ faces. It’s just an indescribable feeling as a coach.”
Trailing by two in the final seconds, Stecz was fouled with no time showing on the clock and went up and hit a pair of free throws to force overtime. In the extra period, it was all Vikings.
“The crowd was crazy in the background for David’s free throws,” Quenzer said. “That’s one of the toughest things you can do. And then Samik (Patel) came in and had a double-double.”
Upper Merion led 21-9 after one quarter and took a seven-point lead into halftime (31-24). Quenzer said his team has had trouble all season long coming out of the locker room, and Friday night’s game was no exception as they were outscored 16-6 by the Spartans, who took a 40-37 lead into the final quarter.
“We came out early and took command of the game and built a 12-point lead,” the Vikings’ coach said. “They came back and fought us hard. It has been our Achilles heel this year and our goal was to not come out flat yet again in the second half.”
Springfield (2-14, 0-0) led the Vikings (5-12, 2-8) by five points with four minutes to play in regulation, but the Vikings would not be denied. Stecz and Patel each finished with 20 points to lead Upper Merion.
Larry Clark led Springfield with 14 points.
Upper Merion 21 10 6 14 13—55
Springfield 9 15 16 11 4—54
Cheltenham 57, Upper Dublin 48
With first-year coach John Timms at the helm, not many people saw this coming, but after Friday’s win, Cheltenham remains one game out of first place in the American Conference behind undefeated Plymouth Whitemarsh, while holding a comfortable two-game lead on Norristown for second place.
The Panthers were able to maintain their stronghold on second place, thanks to a come-from-behind 57-48 win over Upper Dublin at Cheltenham High School.
Seniors Aaron Burton and Jeremiah Coleman led the Panthers (8-9, 8-1) with 15 points and nine rebounds and 13 and eight, respectively, while leading Cheltenham to the win, despite trailing 11-2 in the first quarter.
“I think that it was a good challenge for us to be down and having to fight back and have it be a league battle,” Timms said. “It shows team growth.”
The Panthers went down 11-2 after Upper Dublin sophomore Simeon Fryer completely dominated the game, scoring nine consecutive points in the opening quarter. He finished with 11 in the quarter, and the Flying Cardinals (7-9, 4-5) led 15-10 at the end of the frame and still led 29-24 at the intermission.
Slowly but surely, the Panthers fought back, climbing their way from the early deficit until they were finally able to take their first lead of the game midway through the fourth quarter.
“It was tough for us,” said Coleman, who hit successive layups to tie the game and then a three-pointer to give Cheltenham its first lead. “We picked up the energy and didn’t underestimate our opponent.”
Burton and Coleman hit a combined 11-of-12 free throws down the stretch to help the Panthers to the nine-point win, despite the game being within one possession with under a minute remaining.
Upper Dublin was led by Fryer’s 19 points. Kevin Woods and Zach Greenberg added 15 and eight, respectively.
Cheltenham also received six points and nine rebounds from Justin Sutton, as well as nine and eight points, respectively, from Khalil White and Faatir Al-Ahad.
Upper Dublin 15 14 12 7—48
Cheltenham 8 16 15 18—57
Plymouth Whitemarsh 80, Wissahickon 44
Jimmy Murray led the Colonials with 19 points, and Cameron Johnson added 18 in an easy 36-point PW win over host Wissahickon on Friday night.
Andre Mitchell added 15 points for the Colonials (14-2, 9-0), who remain alone atop the American Conference.
Wissahickon was led by (8-8, 5-4) Chase Wilson’s 24 points.
Plymouth Whitemarsh led 35-20 at the half and outscored the Trojans in all four quarters.
Mitchell drained three treys for the Colonials, while Murray added two.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 20 15 21 24—80
Wissahickon 11 9 16 8—44
Norristown 59, Upper Moreland 56 (OT)
It took overtime, but Norristown was able to remain in third place in the Suburban One American Conference, thanks to a three-point Eagles victory on Friday night.
Leading Norristown (8-7, 6-3) was Ty’Von Jackson, who finished with 16 points. Curt Lever added 14, and Kip Patton had 12 points. Lever also had five steals and six assists. Darryl Carr led the Eagles under the boards with seven rebounds.
The Bears (5-12, 3-7) received 24 points from Kevin McFall while Brendan O’Donnell added 10 points.
The Eagles trailed by one at halftime (24-23) and still found themselves on the short end of a 40-39 score heading into the final period. The Eagles evened things up in the fourth quarter and outscored the Golden Bears 8-5 in OT.
Upper Moreland 15 9 16 11 5—56
Norristown 10 13 16 12 8—59
National Conference
Bensalem 50, William Tennent 47 (Thursday, Jan. 23)
Bensalem, remarkably, didn’t have a single home game this season until the month of January. But now that the Owls have a little ‘home-court advantage’ in their favor, they’re taking full advantage of it.
Bensalem improved to 4-10 overall and 3-6 in conference play with a three-point win over visiting William Tennent on Thursday night.
With a bit of momentum from recent wins, Bensalem coach John Mullin believes his team has what it takes to keep winning.
“We have had a couple of home games, which is nice,” he said. “We’re hoping it’ll pay off and we’ll be able to string a couple wins here and there and make a little run at the end of the year.”
Bensalem, which received 16 points off the bench from Chris Kilcoyne, outscored Tennent 13-6 in the first quarter and went into the half up by eight (26-18). The Panthers (5-9, 4-5) fought back in the third, trailing 35-32 heading into the final period, but the Owls held on for the win.
“It’s a good win,” Mullin said. “We played pretty well, and the kids are doing well and making some shots and getting in the groove. It’s a nice win.
“Chris Kilcoyne gave us some nice offense off the bench. He put 21 points against Wissahickon and now 16 tonight. The kids are doing better on the defensive end to keep us in the game.”
Avery Nyekan added 11 points for Bensalem, while Jeff News added eight.
Tennent was led by John Ryan’s 16 points. Matt Alden added 11, while Cory Hamlet chipped in with 10.
“One at a time, baby,” Mullin said.
William Tennent 6 12 14 15—47
Bensalem 13 13 9 15—50
Council Rock North 63, Harry S. Truman 23
Drew Glenn led the way with 13 points while Matt Margolis and Chris Rowland each scored 12 in an easy 41-point Council Rock North victory over visiting Harry S. Truman on Friday night.
Tyquan Law led Truman with 11 points in the losing effort.
The Indians improved to 9-7 overall and 5-4 in conference play, while Truman fell to 4-13 and 2-7.
Harry S. Truman 5 2 2 9—23
Council Rock North 15 19 19 9—63
Pennsbury 75, Council Rock South 55
Pennsbury improved to 12-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play with a 20-point win over Council Rock South on Thursday night.
CB South dropped to 4-12 and 3-6 with the loss.
Abington 67, Neshamin 43
ABINGTON OVERPOWERS NESHAMINY IN BLOWOUT
By Jesse Bernstein for SuburbanOnesports.com
On Senior Night at Abington, Abington forward Lazaros “Laz” Mackrides had 13 points to lead a balanced scoring effort, and the Galloping Ghosts prevailed over the Redskins of Neshaminy, 67-53.
For Neshaminy, senior forward Jaylen Pickett had 15 points and Shammond Thomas had 13.
Abington coach Charles Grasty, in the spirit of Senior Night, started five seniors in the game, many of them out of position. Neshaminy, sensing the weaknesses, blitzed Abington in the first quarter, going up 19-9 and silencing a normally raucous gym. Coach Grasty said, “We understood. Our matchups were kinda off, they were playing out of position. We just wanted to see them compete and have fun.”
Whatever fun Abington had came in the next two quarters, when the Galloping Ghosts outscored the Redskins 47-12. Their aggressive press defense was simply too much for the overmatched Neshaminy guards. Abington sat all of their starters in the fourth quarter, and the Redskins were able to get a little offense going.
However, it was too little, too late, and Abington walked off the court with a victory.
Abington improves to 15-2, (10-0 SOL), while Neshaminy drops to 2-14, (1-7 SOL)
Neshaminy 19 5 7 22-53
Abington 9 25 22 11-6
Statistics
ABINGTON
3-Neely-7 points
12-Penecale-8 points, 2/2 FT
15-Jefferson-0 points
21-Mackrides-13 points
22-Hinton-8 points, 2/2 FT
23-Lee-12 points,
24-Porter-5 points
30-Gallagher-3 points, 1/2 FT
33-Bond-1 point, 1/4 FT
42-Brown-7 points
43-Gaines-3 points, 1/4 FT
NESHAMINY
4-Moore-3 points
5-Housel-9 points
10-McGinty-0 points
11-Warren-7 points, 2/3 FT
22-Thomas-13 points, 6/8 FT
24-Pickett-15 points, 1/7 FT
25-Stevens-2 points
34-Altiere-4 points, 2/2 FT`
Continental Conference
Central Bucks East 61, North Penn 49
Central Bucks East was finally able to return to .500 thanks to its 12-point win over visiting North Penn on Friday night.
Leading the way for the Patriots (7-7, 4-4 SOL) was Tommy Strasburger, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Brendan McLaughlin added 14 points.
“With Ben Kardane in our backcourt and with Tommy and Brendan doing what they do, our backcourt has certainly been our strength going through the year,” said CB East coach Erik Henrysen. “They did it again tonight. Ben doesn’t score as much, but he does a great job on the defensive end and keeping control of the game. They do what they do best – get points, assists and rebounds.”
The Knights (7-9, 5-4) went down by seven points after one quarter and trailed 34-24 at the half. CB East never allowed North Penn to get back in the game in the second half.
Matt Gentry added 11 points for the Patriots, while Brendan O’Neil added nine. CB East shot 8-for-14 from three-point range.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Henrysen said. “We let it get away from us before, but being 7-7 and 4-4 and looking at the rest of our schedule, we have to credit the guys for not panicking. We knew we should’ve been an above-.500 team, so we’ve been working our way back and it feels good. When you hit shots in the first quarter and come out with energy, it makes the rest of the game better and it sets the tone. We were able to do that tonight.”
North Penn was led by Suleyman Hakim’s 18 points and Jin Lim’s 15.
North Penn 12 12 15 10—49
Central Bucks East 19 15 13 14—61
Central Bucks South 49, Quakertown 41
Central Bucks South outscored Quakertown in each of the final three quarters en route to an eight-point win on Friday night. Bryce Dobisch led CB South with 12 points, as the Titans improved to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in conference play, keeping them all alone in first place in the conference.
Quakertown was led by Jake Perrine’s 11 points and Brian Rejniak’s nine.
The Panthers dropped to 6-10 overall and 1-7 in conference play with the loss.
Quakertown 13 7 11 10—41
Central Bucks South 12 10 16 11—49
Pennridge 60, Hatboro-Horsham 49
Dan Long scored a game-high 29 points for Pennridge as the Rams defeated visiting Hatboro-Horsham by 11 points on Friday night.
Zach Muredda added 14 points for the Rams (12-6, 6-3), while the Hatters received 24 points from senior Zach Quattro, who was able to record his 1,000th career point during the game.
Pennridge led 18-8 after one quarter and increased its lead to 39-15 by the half. With the comfortable lead, the Rams were able to sit back. The Hatters staged a late-game rally, but they fell short.
Quattro nailed four three-pointers for Hatboro-Horsham, while sophomore Dan Long hit six treys himself.
Hatboro-Horsham 8 7 22 12—49
Pennridge 18 21 9 12—60
Central Bucks West 57, Souderton 42
(To read a complete game story about Friday’s SOL Featured Game, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/article/content/west-runs-win-over-souderton-0041166 )
Jared Kelly and Pat Kelley each scored 11 points while helping Central Bucks West to a 15-point home win over Souderton on Friday night. Cal Reichwein and Kyle Salvitti each added eight.
Tim Markow led Souderton with 13 points.
CB West took a 16-7 lead into the second quarter, but Souderton was able to tie things up at 34-34 after three quarters. In the fourth, CB West dominated, outscoring the Indians 23-8.
With the win, CB West improved to 11-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play, while Souderton dropped to 10-7 and 4-6.
Souderton 7 12 15 8—42
Central Bucks West 16 10 8 23—57
- Log in to post comments
