Check out the results for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action Friday. To view photos of the CB South/CB West and CR North/Bensalem games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
American Conference
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 57, NORRISTOWN 44
(Check back for a feature about PW golf coach and long-time basketball assistant George Wadlin, who will be retiring at the close of the season.)
In his more than 20 years of being an assistant coach for the Plymouth Whitemarsh High School boys’ basketball team, George Wadlin has always stressed the concept of playing as a team and the importance of strong fundamental defense.
Well, the Colonials made Wadlin proud Friday on a night when the longtime assistant basketball coach and head golf coach was honored prior to his retirement at the end of the year.
PW forced visiting Norristown into 15 turnovers, with Jimmy Murray grabbing five steals, while Murray and fellow junior Andre Mitchell paced the team with 19 points apiece.
“Andre and Jimmy grinded it out,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “You can’t keep winning at a level that we were winning the last couple weeks without getting comfortable.
“It was a good game for us to see a tough Norristown team, and it was one of those games where that moment in the game where you get separation didn’t happen until the third quarter. Andre and Jimmy just grinded it out in the second half to get those points.”
With the win, the Colonials clinched the championship in the Suburban One American Conference.
“It’s fun because this is a team that appreciates this championship, and we have had some teams obviously a few years ago that won, but they had high aspirations and maybe they took it for granted,” Donofrio said. “It was fun to see a bunch of kids who were really excited. They appreciate what they accomplished. Our biggest starter is 6-foot-1 and we’re 12-0 and they want to keep going.”
For all the defensive prowess by the Colonials, the game was still a one-point battle midway through the third quarter. But over the final four minutes of the third, PW would go on a 16-0 run, with Murray scoring 10 points during the stretch, to pull out to a 45-28 lead. A three from the right baseline by Norristown's Roy Green would end a scoring drought of 4:48.
PW is now 18-2 on the season and 12-0 in the American Conference, the Colonials taking the league crown for the first time in three years.
“I thought they could (win a league title), I was just quiet about it,” Donofrio said. “I hoped. Because of a couple of things: one, watching them throughout the summer; and two, what you go through last year pays off this year.”
Green led Norristown (11-7 overall, 8-4 American Conference) with 11 points, Curt Lever putting in nine and Chris Evans eight. But the Eagles could never put together a run as too many possessions ended in a missed shot or a PW steal. When Manuel Herezi hit a three with 2:45 left in the second quarter, it gave the Colonials a 20-18 lead. Norristown would not hold the advantage the rest of the evening.
Behind Murray and Mitchell, Cameron Johnson added 10 points for the Colonials.
Norristown 11-10-7-16—44
Plymouth Whitemarsh 13-11-21-12—57
Wissahickon 67, Upper Merion 52
Wissahickon improved to 11-8 overall and 8-4 in American Conference play with a 15-point victory over host Upper Merion on Friday night.
Chris Vila led the Trojans with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Carradoroni and Chase Wilson added 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Dan Kubler’s 11 points and Ryan Brennan’s 10 led the Vikings, who dropped to 5-14 overall and 2-10 in conference play with the loss.
The Trojans took an eight-point lead into the second quarter (23-15) and led 37-24 at the half on their way to the big win.
Wissahickon 23 14 16 14—67
Upper Merion 15 9 8 20—52
Cheltenham 60, Upper Moreland 53
Cheltenham trailed 17-12 after one quarter but came roaring back in the second and escaped with a seven-point win at Upper Moreland on Friday night.
A 15-8 second quarter advantage put the Panthers up by two at the half. In the third, the two teams played to a draw, and the Panthers took a 38-36 lead into the final quarter when they went on a 22-17 run.
Khalil White led Cheltenham (9-11, 9-3) with 15 points, while Aaron Burton scored 11 – seven of which came in the second half.
Kevin McFall and James Martin led the Bears (6-14, 5-7) with 19 and 16, respectively.
Cheltenham 12 15 11 22—60
Upper Moreland 17 8 11 17—53
Upper Dublin 73, Springfield 41 (Thursday, Jan. 30)
The Flying Cardinals celebrated “Elementary School Kids Night” by earning a big win. Any elementary student in kindergarten through fifth grade received a free pretzel for attending Thursday’s game, and they were given a picture of the team at the end of the game. The Upper Dublin players – undoubtedly feeling a bit like celebrities – were seated at tables and autographed the photos for any student that stayed around at the end of the game.
As a result of Thursday’s win, Upper Dublin improved to 9-11 overall and 6-7 in American Conference play. John Barrett led the Cardinals with 19 points, while sophomore Simeon Fryer scored 18.
Malik Ball led Springfield with eight points. The Spartans fell to 2-18 overall and 0-13 in conference play with the loss.
Upper Dublin scored 17 points in each of the first two quarters and led 34-23 at the half before outscoring the Spartans 16-7 in the third.
Springfield 11 12 7 11—41
Upper Dublin 18 18 16 23—73
National Conference
Abington 77, William Tennent 49
Thanks to a solid night on both sides of the court, Abington will now have the opportunity to play for an outright National Conference title on Tuesday night on its home court against Pennsbury.
“We feel good,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “We’re going to be at home on Tuesday, and it’s for the league, so it’ll be a lot of fun. Our guys are excited. We go to Archbishop Wood tomorrow and that’s what we’re focusing on now.”
The Ghosts’ coach believes that going against a team that plays in the very talented Philadelphia Catholic League should be a good test for his squad.
“It’ll absolutely be a test. It’ll be loud and it’ll be exciting,” Grasty said. “It’s a very good test for us, and we’ll get ready for Pennsbury after the game and go from there.”
Amir Hinton led the Ghosts (17-2, 12-) with 18 points, while Matt Penecale added 15.
The Ghosts also received 14 points from Anthony Lee and 11 more from Laz Mackrides in the easy victory over the Panthers, who fell to 7-10 overall and 5-6 in conference play.
Abington led by 14 at the half and cruised to the victory while being able to get some bench players some quality playing time.
“We played well,” Grasty said. “We played especially well in spurts. Our guys played extremely hard and they competed, and we were able to share the ball. Everybody got some shots up and our guys played very hard.”
Pennsbury 81, Harry S. Truman 50
Pennsbury improved to 16-2 overall and 10-1 in National Conference play with a convincing 31-point victory over visiting Harry S. Truman on Friday night.
Steve Ciotti and Mekhi Bryant led the Falcons with 16 points apiece, while Cameron Jones added 13. Derrick Woods chipped in with nine for the Falcons.
Truman, which was led by Tyquan Law’s 12 points, fell to 5-15 overall and 3-9 in conference play.
Pennsbury took an 11-point lead into the second quarter (18-7) and a 20-point lead into halftime en route to the easy victory.
Harry S. Truman 7 14 14 15—50
Pennsbury 18 23 21 19—81
Council Rock North 62, Bensalem 43
Council Rock North celebrated Senior Night by going up big early on and never looking back on its way to a 19-point win over visiting Bensalem on Friday night. The win avenged a 39-30 loss to the Owls on Jan. 7 that saw the Indians fall to 3-6. Since that time, they have won seven of nine games.
Chris Rowland and Josh McWilliams led the Indians (10-8, 7-5) with 15 points apiece, while Rowland added 14 rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
Matt Margolis scored 13 for CR North, while Will Desautelle added 10.
CR North led 35-15 at the half thanks to some solid defense and a 20-point outburst in the second quarter.
Bensalem, which was led by Brian Kilcoyne’s 13 points and Chris Kilcoyne’s 11, fell to 4-14 overall and 3-8 in conference play with the loss.
Bensalem 6 9 13 15—43
Council Rock North 15 20 12 15—62
Neshaminy 44, Council Rock South 41
Neshaminy picked up a rare National Conference win with a three-point victory over visiting Council Rock South on Friday night.
The Indians improved to 3-11 overall and 2-8 in conference play with the win, while CR South fell to 6-14 and 4-9, respectively.
Continental Conference
Central Bucks South 43, Central Bucks West 41
Central Bucks South’s position at the top spot of the Continental Conference was tested on Friday night, but the Titans came through when it mattered the most.
Despite trailing by four points going into the half, CB South had a huge third quarter, outscoring CB West 18-6.
“It was a big win,” CB South coach Jason Campbell said. “Both teams were banged up. My best scorer Matt Scamuffo hasn’t played since last Friday when he got hurt against Quakertown, and we got him in a couple minutes tonight to ease him in, but we didn’t want to push it. CB West was missing two starters also, and it was just a matter of making some big plays.”
The Titans actually trailed 10-0 early in the first quarter but began to chip away, eventually pulling to a tie in the third quarter before going on top entering the fourth (34-26).
“We were able to cut down their lead, and then Bryce Dobisch really sparked us with a nice run,” Campbell said. “Paul Weeks hit a big three, and we did a lot of the little things tonight, especially on the foul line, and that made the biggest difference.”
Dobisch, who led the Titans (13-7, 9-3) with 16 points, hit all four of his free throw attempts and scored 10 of his points in the third quarter.
“Bryce came up with a couple really big steals and loose balls, and Chris Hones and Ryan Tagliamonte both played great defense,” Campbell said. “Paul Weeks would just go get the ball and rip it out of people’s hands and it was amazing.”
Weeks, Tagliamonte and Shane Degnan each scored six points for the Titans, while Jared Kelly and Cal Reichwein led CB West with nine and eight points, respectively.
Tagliamonte shot 3-for-4 from the free throw line in the game’s final two minutes to help CB South come out with the two-point victory.
“It’s obviously not going to be easy without having your top scorer, but this is what it comes down to,” Campbell said. “With Matt (Scamuffo) out, I think our other guys have really picked it up and I think that’s really going to help us down the end of the road.
“As Matt continues to get healthy, we can get some other guys in and get them experience and minutes leading into the playoffs. We just have to take it one game at a time. We have to go up to Souderton on Tuesday and they beat us last time, so hopefully we’ll continue to play great defense, but we have to put some more points up on the board.”
Central Bucks South 4 12 18 9—43
Central Bucks West 10 10 6 15—41
Quakertown 63, Central Bucks East 53
Griffin Schmidt scored 20 points to lead the Panthers (7-12, 2-9) to only their fourth Continental Conference win in four years.
The win brought to an abrupt halt a six-game winning streak for the Patriots (10-8, 7-5).
“It was a nice win,” Quakertown coach Kevin Keeler said. “We played them on Monday and we were up at halftime, and we thought we should’ve finished the deal then. We were then up by 16 at the half against North Penn and didn’t close the deal. Tonight, we put the whole thing together and it was a really nice win.
Kevin Norvasis added 13 points for the Panthers, while Liam Buckley and Brian Rejniak tallied 11 and 10, respectively.
“Griffin carried us the whole game, and Brian also played a big game with some big baskets in the fourth quarter,” Keeler said.
The Panthers led by 17-10 after one quarter, but they were up by only two at the half (25-23). Quakertown outscored CB East by three and five in the final two quarters, respectively, to come out on top.
“These kids are young, and we’re talking about all sophomores and juniors,” Keeler said, “so that was a confidence-building aspect game going into next year. We’re been close before, so to finish one off is big.”
Central Bucks East 10 13 12 18—54
Quakertown 17 8 15 23—63
Pennridge 49, Souderton 45
Pennridge improved to 14-5 overall and 8-3 in Continental Conference play with a four-point win over visiting Souderton on Friday night.
Leading the way for the Rams were Zach Muredda and Dan Long, who scored 20 and 19 points, respectively. Muredda drained five threes for Pennridge, while Joe Molettiere hit 5-of-5 free throws and added seven points.
Souderton, which trailed by two at the half (23-21), was outscored 16-10 in the third quarter and never recovered.
The Indians were led by Carter Knight’s 11 points.
Souderton 7 14 10 13—45
Pennridge 11 12 16 10—49
North Penn 62, Hatboro-Horsham 55
North Penn has shown a flair for the dramatic in recent games.
On Monday, they used a buzzer beater to defeat Central Bucks South, and one day later rallied from 15 down to defeat Quakertown.
On Friday, the Knights found themselves on the short end of a 30-22 score at halftime. They came out of halftime to outscore the Hatters 19-13 to go into the fourth quarter down by just two (43-41). They outscored the Hatters 21-12 in the fourth quarter to earn the win.
“I wouldn’t mind a run-of-the-mill victory one of these days,” coach John Conrad said. “We were down eight at halftime, and we pressed a little bit. They seemed to be a little more comfortable at that pace.”
Brian Coleman had a monster night to lead North Penn, connecting on 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and finishing with a game high 27 points. Chris Akins, according to Conrad, turned in a strong defensive effort and pulled down six rebounds. Joey Richards had six rebounds, three steals and three assists and was credited for playing well off the ball.
The Knights are 10-9 overall and 8-4 in Continental Conference play, Hatboro-Horsham (6-13, 3-9) was led by Zach Quattro’s 20-point effort while Walt Kimble added 10.
Hatboro-Horsham 11 19 13 12—55
North Penn 11 11 19 21—62
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