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C.B. South continues turnaround with win over Pennsbury

01/20/2023, 1:45am EST
By Jared Leveson

Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)

FAIRLESS HILLS — A short memory is critical for success in basketball.

Missed shots will happen and all teams lose games. It’s about one’s mindset, forgetting what happened before, not thinking about the future, rather focusing on the present moment. 

Louie Ditri’s Central Bucks South squad has one of the shortest memories in the area.

They lost five straight games to open the season and after 10 games their record was 2-8. One heartbreaking loss piled up after another. Key players went down with injuries.

The adversity during a brutal season opening schedule with tightly clustered games, against opponents packed with talent could have broken any team, causing selfishness and doubt.  

The Titans, however, have stayed present, taking each day as it comes, and trusting in themselves and their process. Their patience and attitude are paying off. CB South has won six of its last seven games and is on a four-game winning streak after beating Pennsbury, 62-51, on Thursday night. 


C.B. South senior Tyler Meinel scored 25 points against Pennsbury on Thursday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“It feels good to get a few under our belt now,” senior Tyler Meinel said. “In the beginning of the season, we faced some pretty tough competition (and) a lot of people were writing us off at first but we came back and now we’re 8-9.” 

“It was brutal (but) we were able to push through. We were able to focus and keep pushing forward and keep going to the next game.” 

“We were playing some high powered teams with some really good offenses,” added Ditri, a first-year head coach and former 19-year varsity assistant on the Titans’ staff. “We had a lack of early practices with a lot of games early on.”

Ditri’s team was learning their new defensive and offensive principles on the fly, making their mistakes during games and not within the safe confines of practice. 

The Titans (8-9, 7-3 SOL Colonial) lost their first five games, three of which came by single-digit margins: a four-point loss to Perkiomen Valley, followed by one-point loss to Pope John Paul II, and then a three-point loss to CB East after a 10-point defeat to Souderton. 

CB South’s schedule did not get any easier after that as six of its next seven games were on the road against teams like Malvern Prep, Episcopal Academy, Pennridge and Spring-Ford. The Titans lost each one.

Ditri’s squad managed to win its lone home game against CB West and a road game against North Penn during that stretch, but things didn’t look great. 

 It would be easy for a team to keel over and die while sitting at 2-8 with slim chances of playing postseason basketball. But CB South’s captains, Meinel, Flynn Carroll, Chris Granito, along with other upperclassmen like Dalton VanZanten came together through adversity and prevented the losing from spiraling out of control. 

“We had some unfortunate losses, tough losses, and buzzer beaters,” Ditri said. “Then it’s a matter of regrouping because if you carry that loss (it’s) gonna steam roll and avalanche in a negative way.

“When four of your eight losses are by four points or less you know you are there.”

“The bus rides home weren't the best,” VanZanten added. “On the way home we were saying ‘we need to fix this or the rest of the season is going to be brutal.’

“We all put our heads together and fixed it.” 

The message to the team was the same each day — let's work. 

“Our captains led the way, making sure we’re coming to work,” Ditri said about his seniors’ response to their early-season slump. 

“We all thought we were better. Our mentality was to shake it off. If we lose, alright be unhappy, tomorrow is a new day and let's attack it that way.” 


CB South's Chris Granito had 14 points against Pennsbury. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The Titans took things one day-at-a time, laying one brick down after another. The first brick got placed down with a win over Neshaminy and then another after beating Council Rock North. South had a slight set-back against Penn Wood, losing 68-44 but the Titans stuck to their process and focused on getting better each day.

“We gotta keep it locked in,” Meinel said to his team. “We got to work on everything in practice.”  

“Keep looking ahead and put everything in the past.” 

Ditri’s squad has rattled off four wins in a row since its Jan. 7 loss to Penn Wood. Everything is starting to work for CB South. 

The offense has become multi-dimensional with the return of the sharpshooting Granito after a combination of injuries and illness. Granitos’ shooting opens up lanes for Carroll, VanZanten, and makes defenders hesitate on their rotations toward a slashing Meinel, who is lethal from mid-range and around the rim. 

CB South’s defense is beginning to play as a cohesive unit too. 

“I think it took time and practice to get into that groove of everybody on the court doing (the same thing) and communicating,” Ditri said about his team’s turnaround. “I think as we play more games (our defense) is getting better and better, which is helping us win games.”

“It all starts with our defense which gives us good offense.” 

South was firing on all cylinders against Pennsbury (10-5, 7-4) in its SOL crossover matchup. Ditri’s team played in the driver’s seat, controlling the tempo and keeping the Pennsbury student section quiet. 

Meinel, who’s fielding interest from Holy Family and Susquehanna, led the way for the Titans’ offense, recording 25 points and four assists. Granito knocked down four threes and VanZanten helped put the game away by scoring six of his 10 points in the fourth quarter. 

The Titans’ defense allowed 14 first-half points, added four blocks, and caused 13 Pennsbury turnovers before the final buzzer blared. Five second-half turnovers by CB South let Pennsbury hang around, trailing by as little as eight points in the fourth quarter. 

But Meinel and VanZanten’s effort on the glass (13 rebounds) repelled a Pennsbury comeback. 

Ditri was happy after the win, but he wanted his team to know that there is still plenty of work left. 

“I went into the locker room after the game, and I am known for sometimes getting crazy after a win, (but) I didn't,”Ditri said. “I said, ‘This is what we expected to go in and do this season.’ it's taken a while to get here, but this is what I was expecting of them.” 

CB South came into Thursday night’s matchup ranked 27th in the PIAA District 1 6A standings, three spots behind the coveted 24th spot that qualifies teams for the district playoffs. The Titans moved up to the 25th spot after beating 13th ranked Pennsbury, 

With five games remaining against Souderton, CB East, CB West, North Penn, and Pennridge, South still has a chance to qualify. If they win out or win four games the Titans should be safely in the field, but if they win three and drop two, things will get a little harder.

Although, if this team continues playing well, focusing on each individual practice and game, talking things day-by-day, and continuing to play together, there’s no doubt that CB South could take its turn around a little bit further. 

“It proves that if we put our mind to something, we can do anything,” VanZanten said.

By Quarter
CB South: 14 | 8 | 19 | 21 || 62
Pennsbury: 6 | 8 | 15 | 22 || 51

Scoring: 

CB South: Meinel 25, Granito 14, VanZanten 10, Carroll 7, Owen Wheeler 4, Dylan Valentine 2

Pennsbury: Kocak 22, Taddei 8, Roccograndi 6, Cohen 5, Mangan 5, Zuckerman 3, Callahan 2


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