City of Basketball Love

Jake Adams (@jakeadams520)
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The Suburban One League Tournament semifinals are set, and there aren't too many surprise entrants in the boys or girls brackets.

Nearly all of the quarterfinal games Friday night went chalk, with only the 4 vs. 5 matchups and the boys 3 vs. 6 game ending in an "upset."

Here is Saturday's girls semifinal slate: 

• No. 5 Central Bucks East at No. 1 Upper Dublin, 2:30 p.m.
• No. 3 Neshaminy at No. 2 North Penn, 7:30 p.m.

And on the boys side:

• No. 5 Abington at No. 1 Upper Dublin, 1 p.m.
• No. 6 Central Bucks West at No. 2 Central Bucks East, 6 p.m.

Here's how Friday's quarterfinals shook out:

Upper Dublin girls advance, but without star guard

Girls top-seed Upper Dublin dropped Bensalem 61-41 to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. But the Flying Cardinals’ minds and hearts are not on the outcome or the next opponent — Central Bucks East.

Their attention is on star guard Megan Ngo, who went down with an apparent knee injury in the first quarter when she stepped on a defender’s foot while driving to the basket and her knee twisted awkwardly.

Teammates were in tears the rest of the game and the gym was hushed. For one of the SOL favorites, it was a heartbreaking moment. 

“We don’t know the extent, we’re trying to stay positive,” head coach Morgan Funsten said on the phone after the game.

“It’s tough. Megan has been absolutely incredible for us this year. We’re gonna have to re-establish some roles because she filled up the stat sheet every night for us.”

Funsten said Ngo, a 5-foot-2 sophomore with Division I offers, will have an MRI next week and will miss the rest of the league tournament. Whether she’ll play again this season is uncertain.

“Obviously, it was a mentally exhausting night tonight,” Funsten said. “And our mental toughness will surely be tested tomorrow against a very good CB East team.”

Ngo’s older sister, Amy, stepped up with 22 points, seven assists and three rebounds while taking on three roles as distributor, playmaker and scorer once her sibling went down, Funsten said. Amy, a Holy Family commit, knows well serious knee injuries, having suffered a torn ACL in the spring of 2022 and missing all of last season.

Tamia Clark “was just dominant around the basket,” Funsten said, and finished with 14 points (9 of 20 shooting) and 12 rebounds while battling Bensalem’s Amber Howard (16 points) in the paint despite giving up about 5 inches. UD went on an 18-4 run to close the second half and pull away for good.

The Cardinals do not have much time to shake off a potential devastating loss, though. The coaching staff will have to find a way to make up for Megan Ngo’s sizable absence. But Funsten doesn’t expect the girls to feel sorry for themselves or give up.

“This team’s been special all year, just the way we pick each other up,” he said.

Remaining girls quarterfinal action …

No. 5 CB East put away fourth-seed Lower Moreland 55-38 to set up Saturday’s afternoon tilt with UD.

No. 2 North Penn survived a fight from seventh-seed Pennsbury 48-42 and will host third-ranked Neshaminy, a 63-45 winner over No. 6 Abington.

CB East boys knock off defending champ Plymouth Whitemarsh

Central Bucks East exacted some revenge, knocking out defending SOL Tournament champion Plymouth Whitemarsh 62-56.

With Justin DiRoberto out with an illness, Bryce Lolas played hero, drilling a critical third-quarter 3-pointer that drew a foul for a four-point play. Normally a key reserve, Lolas finished with 17 points in a starting role — a job he has experience with after starting 10 games previously this season.

The shot from the wing came after PW jumped ahead suddenly by four points and was threatening to take control of the game.

“He’s really a weapon from beyond the arc, but he’s also a smart player,” CB East coach Erik Henrysen said on the phone.

Jacob Cummiskey scored a team-high 19 points, including 10 in the third quarter according to his coach, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists for the second-seeded Patriots in a rematch of last year’s title game.

“We know Jake can score, we know he can rebound,” Henrysen said. “Tonight, I thought he did a great job facilitating. He was able to find guys for easy ones, he was able to penetrate when we needed him to.”

Miles Demby scored 13 points to round out the Patriots’ double-digit scorers.

No. 7 PW made 11 3-pointers, more than double CB East. Four of them came from Mani Sajid, who had a game-high 21 points, and Ben Marsico (12 points) scored all his points from distance. Jaden Colzie finished with 11 points.

CB East will host rival and sixth-seed Central Bucks West, which beat No. 3 Bensalem 56-53, in Saturday’s semifinal. The previous meeting proved a turning point for the Patriots; the loss showed they were pressing to do too much and needed to let the game come to them and trust each other, Henrysen said.

“Guys were trying to take on too much responsibility, guys were trying to do too much,” he said. “Since then, we’ve had a bit of a program reset.”

Remaining boys quarterfinal action …

Brady Fogle scored 16 points as four Upper Dublin boys players reached double figures in a quarterfinal blowout victory over Neshaminy, 73-46.

No. 1 UD knocked down seven 3s to Neshaminy’s one and was 22 of 29 at the foul line. The Flying Cardinals went up 17-6 by the end of the first quarter and were never threatened the rest of the way.

Chris Kohlbrenner scored 15 points, Ryan Mulroy 13 and Idris Rines 12 for the Cardinals. They next host No. 5 Abington — which beat Cheltenham 70-57 in the other quarterfinal — in the semis.

Nate Townsend scored 16 points for Neshaminy, but 14 of them came in the second half with the game already pretty much decided.