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William Tennent boys outlast Upper Moreland in OT, continue turnaround

01/28/2023, 12:30am EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

WILLOW GROVE — George Marion wasn’t going to waste a perfect chance at redemption.

There was less than a minute left in overtime when the William Tennent senior was called for an offensive foul on a fastbreak layup attempt, his team down a point on the road at Upper Moreland. But the Panthers got a break when the Golden Bears committed an over-and-back violation, giving Marion another chance — and Tennent coach Robert Mulville told him to take it.

“He said ‘I’m going to put the ball in your hands to do the same thing,’” Marion said, “and that’s exactly what I did.”

“I said ‘look, a lot of these guys have four fouls, you’re still going strong, if you can get to the rim, they’re either going to foul you or you’re going to score,” Mulville said, “and that’s what he did.”

Less than 20 seconds later, Marion turned a corner off a screen and found himself with a lane to the bucket, Upper Moreland’s 6-foot-9 junior Sean Murphy closing hard. Flying through the air, the bouncy 6-1 guard was just able to get the ball over Murphy’s reach, laying the ball gently off the glass and through the hoop.

No contact, no whistle, just a clean bucket. 

Tennent still had to make a couple defensive stands, but Marion’s bucket proved to be the game-winner in the 72-69 overtime decision, one which kept the Panthers on a path to be the program’s most successful squad in a couple decades. 

After going 9-12 a year ago, with an 8-8 mark in the Suburban One League’s Freedom Conference, Tennent moved to 13-5 (9-4) with Friday night’s win, a game ahead of typical league front-runner Cheltenham (9-8, 8-5) with four games (three league) left in the regular season. 

It’s a program that hasn’t won a Freedom title since 2004, which was also the last time the program made it to the PIAA state tournament, the Panthers accomplishing both in ‘02 and ‘04 and neither since.


George Marion (above) had the go-ahead bucket in Tennent's overtime win. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“It definitely is fulfilling,” said Marion, in his second year at Tennent after coming in from Academy New Church. “Last year, it was a disappointment the way the season went [...] this year, me and the team are hitting our stride, and it feels amazing to be where we are right now.”

“They see the banner every day and they would like to accomplish something that hasn’t been done in a while,” Mulville said. “But we really don’t talk about it a lot, we just want to stay focused.”

Friday’s win was the third in a row and four in five games for Tennent, which gained some early-season confidence by beating Pennridge in its second game, then really picked up steam with a five-game win streak in late December, including wins over Neshaminy and Holy Ghost Prep at Holy Ghost’s holiday tournament. They also won at Abington earlier this month, losses coming a Upper Dublin and Plymouth Whitemarsh, plus one they’d like to get back, a two-point home loss to Quakertown. But that’s been the exception for a group that’s been consistent all season long.

“For these guys, we’ve been stressing (one game at a time) this week, because this is our fourth road game [in a row] and that can take a mental drain on you, but these guys try to stay focused on what they need to do,” Mulville said. “They do police each other with making sure that they’re preparing themselves for games and things like that, so they are really a good, focused group of guys.”


Kirby Mooney (above) scored 23 points in Tennent's in on Friday night. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Marion is one of two high-scoring guards leading the way for the Panthers, joined by 6-4 junior Kirby Mooney, the two often going for 20-plus in the same game in Tennent’s uptempo attack. That was the case once again on Friday, as Marion had a game-high 26 against Upper Moreland, Mooney following close behind with 23 of his own. 

Both came up with clutch plays all game long, helping Tennent outlast Upper Moreland (11-8, 5-8) in a terrific back-and-forth contest which saw the teams trade leads all evening, heroes aplenty on both sides, the gym at Upper Moreland comfortably full, a big Bears student section keeping things lively on one baseline.

It wasn’t a particularly good outing shooting night for either team, but they made up for it with up-and-down action, plenty of interior scoring and some offensive rebounding, especially on Upper Moreland’s side.

Senior wing Jon Clark paced Upper Moreland with a 24-point, seven-rebound effort, but junior guard Alex Best (15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists), Murphy (10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks) sophomore forward Nigel Adamson (8 points, 14 rebounds) and sophomore guard Colson Campbell (9 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) all had big contributions.

Ultimately, though, it was Marion’s layup and a block by Mooney on Clark at the other end that helped seal the win, Marion and Isaiah Dawson each hitting one foul shot in the final 30 seconds for the final score. 

“Definitely a big win,” Mooney said. “Every time we come here it’s always a big atmosphere. We were ready coming in here, [and] it’s our first overtime win, in my high school career. So it’s definitely a good feeling, and just getting the job done, it’s a great feeling.”

Marion and Mooney are Tennent’s only two returning starters from last year, joined by a trio of seniors the 6-5 wing Dawson, 6-3 wing Danny Scheller and 6-1 wing guard Evan Devor, a screen and 3-point specialist. Robert Mulville, the Panthers’ boss the last 16 seasons, goes five deep to his bench with a number of different sophomores and juniors, but there’s no doubt they’re a top-heavy group when it comes to getting buckets at a high rate; everybody else fills in with a layup or open 3-pointer when they get one.

Mooney comes from a hoops family; his uncle is Richmond men’s coach Chris Mooney, the former Archbishop Ryan standout who played at Princeton. 

“He’s been my role model ever since I was younger, watching games,” Mooney said. “It really inspires me and even his legacy just inspires me, and motivates me to work hard and try to get to maybe that level one day, the Division I level, that’s my goal.”

The college part is a work in progress; Mooney said that Lafayette came to see him, and he’s also had some communications with Penn, as well as some high-academic Division III programs. Marion’s also been talking with some Division III schools, including Penn State-Abington.

For now, the focus is on getting postseason berths secured. With a four-game lead on the third-place teams in the Freedom, Upper Moreland and Lower Moreland, Tennent is assured of at least a spot in the SOL’s eight-team playoffs; a home game against Cheltenham on Tuesday will likely be for the league title, Cheltenham having won the first matchup 68-63 on its home court in December. 

Beyond that is the District 1 6A tournament, which Tennent is all but assured a spot in; the Panthers entered Friday night No. 11 in the district, the top 24 teams qualifying. If they win out, they’ll be in the mix for a top-eight spot and bye in the first round, putting them just one win from a state playoff spot, with 12 teams from the district making it to states.

“It’s amazing, it’s amazing. We’re not used to it from this school,” Mooney said. “The position we’re in, we’re playing the best basketball we have in I’d say 20 years, so it’s a great feeling.”

Of course, that starts with winning out. 

“We’re not letting none of the rankings, wherever we are [...] we’re not letting that get to our head,” Marion said. “We’re just going out there and playing our basketball…energy and effort. We’ve been giving that since day one, and that’s why we’re in this space right now. We give all that energy and effort on the court, we’re just not letting anything go to our heads.”

By Quarter
William Tennent:  17  |  22  |  15  |  12  |   6   ||  72
Upper Moreland:  22  |  13  |  17  |  14  |   3   ||  69

Shooting
William Tennent: 26-57 (5-19 3PT), 15-29 FT
Upper Moreland: 27-62 (5-20 3PT), 10-14 FT

Scoring
William Tennent: George Marion 26, Kirby Mooney 23, Evan Devor 7, Isaiah Dawson 6, Imad Abunima 4, Danny Scheller 2, Sean Devine 2, Chris D’Ambra 2

Upper Moreland: Jon Clark 24, Alex Best 15, Sean Murphy 10, Colson Campbell 9, Nigel Adamson 8, Jimmy Perle 3


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