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Brady Fogle heats up for Upper Dublin boys in SOL crossover win

01/11/2023, 1:00am EST
By Zak Wolf

Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)

Watching Brady Fogle play, it’s hard to tell he doesn’t have much experience playing varsity basketball. 

The Upper Dublin junior has blossomed into an offensive weapon for the Cardinals this season. Starring on JV last season, Fogle rarely subbed out, but when it came to varsity, he would sit on the end of the bench. Fogle felt he could contribute, but never got the chance to play, watching from the sidelines. 


Brady Fogle (above) heated up quickly in the third quarter as Upper Dublin raced paced Upper Moreland. (Photo: Zak Wolf/CoBL)

This season has been different. With a new coach and offensive system, Fogle has stepped up and been a bright spot for Upper Dublin. The guard’s ability to knock down shots was crucial in the Cardinal’s 57-45 win over Upper Moreland on Tuesday. After a slow start for Fogle and his team, the junior’s impressive shot-making boosted them in the second half. 

“I worked really hard in the summer just to get to this spot,” Fogle said. “My teammates and coaches believed in me and the new system that benefitted me more. There’s more focus on offense, spacing and shooting, so that helped me crack the rotation.”

After not getting minutes as a sophomore, Fogle knew he needed to put the work in during the offseason if he wanted to contribute. Fogle did everything. He attended each team workout, summer league game, while working out on his own and lifting. 

Fogle worked out constantly, putting up (in his estimate) 300-400 shots a day in the summer. He played AAU with Next Play to work on his game more, while getting stronger in the weight room.

“It's because of how hard he worked in the offseason,” first-year head coach Derek Brooks said.  “He’s one of our most dedicated guys that puts in the work every day and puts in a ton of extra work when he gets the chance. That's usually when you see that type of jump from one year to the next so he deserves every every every bit of success that he's had.”

Fogle knows that his jump shot is his strength with teams keying in on his ability to know down the three. He hears people in assistant coaches yelling out “shooter” every time he catches the ball. Fogle also can hear parents screaming “Watch 35” and “don’t let him catch the ball” while he’s out on the floor. 

He finds the callouts amusing, yet gratifying because he knows that other teams respect his shooting ability. 

“It just makes me smile just makes me happy because they recognize that I can shoot it and it's what I’ve been working so hard on,” Fogle explained.

What Fogle lacks in his experience, he doesn’t lack in confidence. A tough first half, missing all five of his shots (four threes), didn’t prevent him from firing away in the third quarter. Upper Dublin as a team struggled to hit open shots, going 2-10 from three in the first half. 

Everything changed in the third quarter once Fogle drained his first three, Upper Dublin’s first field goal of the second half. Soon after his first, he drained another. Fogle found himself wide open on the wing and with no hesitation he let go another shot that was nothing but net. In the blink of an eye, Fogle had nine points, and an eight point half-time deficit turned into a four point lead for the Cardinals. 

The cold start didn’t bug Fogle at all, he kept playing his game. 

“I believe in the next play,” he said. “So if you miss the first shot, it doesn't matter if you make it or miss it. You have to have that confidence that you’re going to make the next one.” 

“I don't think I've had any stretch like that before, it was crazy,” he continued “My teammates kept getting me the ball and I was wide open so I had to shoot it.”

With the ball coming to Fogle on the wing, Upper Moreland knew better than to let him shoot. A hard closeout from the defender forced Fogle into a ball fake, before sinking a mid range pull up. The junior wants to become more of an “all-around” scorer instead of just a catch and shoot guy. To put the icing on the cake, he swished home his fourth three of the quarter, giving him 14 points. Fogle’s points came on just five shots, not missing a single field goal in the third. 

Upper Dublin flipped the game on its head, more than doubling their points total from the first half. The Cardinals scored 26 points in the third quarter to lead 44-35 going into the fourth. 

“He can have moments like that where he’ll  miss three or four, but then all of a sudden he hits one and boom, the rim looks like it's twice the size,” Brooks said. “That was huge. We couldn't hit anything in the first half, but having at least one guy knock out a bunch of shots helps everybody.”

The junior finished with 17 points to lead all scorers, with D.J. Cerisier chipping in with nine points and five assists. Seaton Kukla and Ryan Mulroy each had 8 points while Chris Kohlbrenner and Griffin Pensabene had 6. 

Upper Dublin (9-4, 6-2 Suburban One) speeds teams up with its press, which has worked this season, but Upper Moreland (10-4, 4-4) was prepared. The Golden Bears took care of the ball in the first half, forcing Upper Dublin to but backed out of it in the second half. The adjustment worked with the Cardinals holding Upper Moreland to nine points in the third quarter. 

“Our guys did a good job in the second half of talking about our rotations, bumps and cuts,” Brooks said. “We tried to rush them, get some turnovers early on, they did a good job of handling the press. We got out of it and did a good job from there.”

Junior point guard Alex Bets scored 14 points to lead Upper Moreland. Senior Colson Campbell contributed with nine points, while Nigel Adamson had 8. The Golden Bears struggled from the outside, only hitting three three pointers in the entire game.

After the strong third quarter, Upper Dublin led by double digits for most of the fourth. The Cardinals led by as much as 13, keeping the Golden Bears at arm's length. 

Going forward Upper Dublin needs Fogle and everyone else to continue to shoot well. The most important thing for the Cardinals is shooting with confidence, not hesitating when players get open looks.

“If we can knock down shots, we're gonna be very tough to beat so we just have to keep on working, shooting and practice. If we do that we’ll be in good shape.” Brooks said. 

By Quarter
UD:  7 | 11 | 26 | 15 || 59
UM:12 | 14 | 9 | 12 || 45

Scoring
UD: Fogle 17, Cerisier 9, Mulroy 8, Kukla 8, Kohlbrenner 6, G. Pensabene 6, M. Pensabene 5

UM: Best 14, Campbell 9, Adamson 8, Murphy 7, Tyler 5, Clark 4


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