City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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BENSALEM — Compared to what it’s been doing, Bensalem’s win on Saturday seemed almost tame.

There were no triple-digits in the final score, no viral video of a game-saving shot or buzzer-beating winner, but the Owls’ eight-point win over visiting Wissahickon was not mundane. It’d be a discredit to coach Ron Morris’ group to suggest anything comes without effort, preparation or resiliency no matter how exciting they can make it look.

Bensalem didn’t need the late-game theatrics but it did need, and got, a group effort to down the Trojans 63-55 and extend its win streak to nine games.

“This is a really resilient group and they’re fun to coach,” Morris said. “We have so many different options offensively and defensively. It’s a culture, it’s something we’ve been striving to work and grow and we can always get better, but it is a culture of a family.”

The Bensalem boys basketball team extended its win streak to nine on Saturday against Wissahickon. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

The Owls haven’t lost in a month, their first and only setback of the season coming to a strong West Chester Rustin team on Dec. 16. Since then, it’s been a clean sweep of the first half of SOL Patriot division play, an offensively-charged holiday tournament title and a to-date unblemished mark in SOL crossover play against the SOL Colonial.

During the nine-game run, five of the wins have come by three points or fewer and of those, two were by two points and two more by just a single point. Those wins don’t happen without the unheralded contributions as much as the highlights and late-game dramatics.

“We’re having a lot of fun, the biggest difference between this year and last year is that we’re playing more together and everyone’s buying in,” senior guard Antonio Morris said. “That’s just what it is, to be honest. We had the talent last year, it’s a lot of the same guys returning and it’s a lot more fun when we’re playing together and winning.”

Antonio Morris led all scorers with 19 on Saturday, joining Jaidyn Moffitt (17) and Amir Drummond (16) in double-figures for the Owls, the guard also the author of the game-winning three with 0.4 left against CB West on Wednesday. His brother Noah, also a senior, was the one sprawling out of bounds making a desperation three at the buzzer to force overtime Friday night against CB South to help get the streak to eight.

Moffitt has led the team in scoring several times, as has Drummond - the junior playing an extremely effective role as the Owls’ sixth man, although the team just sees him as a sixth starter. Bensalem can go to different guys on different nights and get the same results.

“We all play for each other,” Noah Morris said. “We all come together in the moment, our friendships off the court help us on the court. We play for the name on the front and we know our guys have our back.”

Bensalem doesn’t necessarily have one guy, but the Owls have a lot of guys. They went nine deep on Saturday but they can go beyond that if needed.

Some of them may play a lot one night and not at the next, they could go in for one possession as Angelo Semon did against CB East, and the rest of the team believes in them. Ron Morris said it’s a collective ability to stay ready that he’s not often seen in a high school team and one that tells him plenty about the group he has.

“That’s not easy to do,” Ron Morris said. “We have a saying, ‘Roles change, goals don’t’ meaning your role can change at any minute. Jahmir Champman came in today, played awesome minutes and didn’t play a second (Friday) night but that’s buying into the culture and buying into being together and there for one another.”

Chapman came off the bench to help play defense on Wiss standout Dom Vacchiano and he was the one showing no hesitation to hit the deck diving after a loose ball, winning it and flipping it to Antonio Morris for a three in the second quarter. Micah White isn’t afraid to stick his nose in either, literally, the senior getting crunched between two Wiss players and needing to have a bloody nose plugged Saturday.

Nate Cooper can score, he was key in Friday’s overtime, but he’s also a rugged defender and Idris Savadogo has the rare advantage of a little bit of size, so he’s the one Bensalem trusts when they need a stop and a board. Drummond said they may not get the shine, but their work shows when the opposing team’s top players aren’t finishing with their usual scoring averages.

“It keeps everybody ready,” Drummond said. “We get to have people, they may play a lot of minutes one night but the next not get as many minutes but they’re still someone who can come into a game late and give you energy.

“A week like this, we had three games and having guys fresh, we get to stay fresh and everybody has so much talent.” 

Noah Morris followed on that point, also extending a lot of credit to the Owls’ scout team and assistant coach Mike Rongione.

“If we didn’t have them, we’re not where we are,” Noah Morris said.

Bensalem only led 26-20 at half despite 14 points from Antonio Morris and a credit to Wissahickon’s own competitiveness. The Owls got their spark in the third quarter from Drummond, who had two baskets, two steals and three assists.

With time running out in the quarter, Drummond easily could have taken a shot from halfcourt, but he spotted Antonio Morris ahead of him and willingly gave up the ball. Morris would drain the buzzer-beater, the hoop extending the hosts’ lead to 11.

“We love to see our teammates win,” Antonio Morris said. “We know at any moment any guy could go off for like 20, any night, any guy can be our leading scorer. When we like seeing each other win, that’s what gets us wins on the court.”

Noah Morris admitted to watching the video of his tying shot from Friday at least 20 times and they’ve all enjoyed watching Antonio’s winner against CB West and Drummond’s game-winner against Lincoln during the holiday break just as much.

“Every time someone does something, everyone else rushes over to them,” Noah said.

“If you see one of us, nine out of 10 times you’ll see three or four more of our guys with him,” Drummond said. “Us being so close and getting along well, even through bad things, we pick each other up and it brings us closer.”

Monday, the team will be doing some community service, which ties into the culture Ron Morris and his staff want their team to represent. Basketball may or may not continue for the guys on the team beyond high school but that doesn’t mean they can’t take anything with them from their time in the program.

“We’re trying to be better young men today than yesterday, basketball is just a tool we use to teach these young men about life,” Ron Morris said. “(Friday) night, that’s what I talked about in the locker room, that’s why you don’t ever give up. In life, you’re going to be in some really tough situations and if you keep working and fight through it, you’ll come out on the other side.

“We’re happy where we’re at, but we’re not content.”

By Quarter

BENSALEM 12 | 14 | 19 | 18 || 63

WISSAHICKON 9 | 11 | 14 | 21 || 55

Scoring

B: Antonio Morris 19, Jaidyn Moffitt 17, Amir Drummond 16, Noah Morris 6, Micah White 3, Jahmir Christian 2

W: Dom Vacchiano 18, Josh Palutis 12, Nico Vacchiano 9, Brayden Ryan 7, Michael Maltin 7, Gabe Lassiter 2