City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@dan arkans)
—

Note to coaches: if you’d like to see more of your team’s games included in our roundup article, please feel free to send any applicable game information to cityofbasketballlove@gmail.com, within the first few hours after your game goes final if possible. Top scorers, scorebooks, and other notable information is always helpful!

~~~

It had been a long time coming for junior guard Cole Zalewski.

Almost a year to be exact. That’s how long it felt for Zalewski to feel pure joy on the basketball court again.

Conwell-Egan’s Zalewski missed most of last season due to a torn ACL, which kept him off the basketball court until the summer. He returned this season but had not made a 3-pointer in the teams’ first four games.

Zalewski’s moment came on Friday night against highly-regarded Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. Despite not hitting a 3-pointer until the fourth quarter, the Conwell-Egan guard ripped off three in a row and finished with 11 points to lead the Eagles to a 52-46 upset victory. Myles Moore paced Egan with 16 points. AJ Trunfio finished with 14 points for SCH, which had beaten Plymouth Whitemarsh and Archbishop Wood to start the season 8-3.

“I started off 0 for 3,” Zalewski said. “My guys just trusted me. They all trust me. They wanted me to shoot the ball. That first one went in and I knew the next couple would. It feels great. I hadn’t done much yet.”

Zalewski’s path may just intertwine with Conwell-Egan, who hadn’t done much yet either. The Eagles though seem different this year after a 4-1 start and most notably Friday night’s upset of highly-regarded SCH.

“I think in all reality we should be 5-0,” second-year head coach Sean Tait said. “I will take a win over Springside and a loss to Friends Central. It’s a signature win. They have won some big games. You gotta put that signature win out there. I scouted them. They owned Wood for most of the game. Wood has high expectations. You can’t play that game if we beat this team, but we as coaches all do. If we can put four quarters together we need to do that to get the kids to believe.”

Last year Tait counted five games that the Eagles led in the fourth quarter and ended up losing. On Tuesday they led again in the fourth before falling short to Friends Central. Another loss on Friday night could have been damaging to the psyche of the team.

“People don’t give you credit for almost winning,” Tait said. “I told them that. You have to go out and get these wins for the media to take you seriously. This is what we did. It doesn’t mean we stop here. It’s a good stepping stone to where we are trying to get.” 

Here's a look at some other results around the area:

HS Boys: Souderton 62, North Penn 53

After a first quarter which saw the game tied at 9-9, Nate Rusike and 8-0 Souderton got going. The Souderton guard scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the next two quarters as Souderton outscored North Penn 40-30 en route to the rivalry victory. His partner in crime Chanse Salone scored 17 points, while Bryce Rollerson added 10 for Soudy. JC Wood paced North Penn with 15 points, while Chris Kingkiner added 12.

HS Girls: North Penn 57, Souderton 47

Lily Brown scored 20 points as the Knights picked up the SOL Colonial win over Souderton on Friday night. The Knights were down 28-25 at the half before rallying for the win. In addition to Brown, Paityn Debro added 14 points and Mehya Godhania had 11. Souderton was led by Kiera Fadden with 15 points. Alaina Picard and Maddie Nenstiel both chipped in with 12 points for Soudy.

HS Girls: Episcopal Academy 40, Germantown Friends 34

EA rolled out to a 26-12 lead at the half en route to the win on Friday. Addi Thomas had the big night for EA with 13 of her game-high 16 points in the first half.

HS Girls: Pennsbury 53, Council Rock North 21

Joley Hohman was terrific with seven points, eight assists and six rebounds as the Falcons picked up the road win. Sammie Haws added 21 points, including four 3-pointers and Alyssa Thomas added 11 points and four assists. Lauren Smith added eight points for CRN.

HS Girls: MaST Charter 43, Philadelphia Academy 34

Tierney Hamilton scored 19 points as MaST Community Charter pulled out the victory on Friday. MaST used a 15-6 run in the third quarter to take control of the game. Lauren Crooks led PACHS with 10 points.

HS Girls: Central Bucks East 65, Central Bucks West 37

Payton Williams scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the Patriots won big in a rivalry game on Friday night. Haley Moran was sensational again with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals. Erinn McCusker led CB West with 11 points.

HS Boys: La Salle College 55, Salesianum 52

Tyler Branson led all scorers with 16 points, while Pat Flaherty chipped in with 12 for the Explorers.

HS Boys: Upper Moreland 69, Springfield 45

Ten players scored in all as the Golden Bears won going away on Friday night. Jose Hernandez led a balanced attack with 16 points, while Larry Hughes added 10. Upper Moreland took a 36-19 lead into the half and never let up. Ryan McGuckin scored 13 points to pace the Spartans.

HS Boys: Central Bucks South 64, Pennridge 44

Shane Farrell scored 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, as the Titans pulled away from the Rams in an SOL Colonial tilt. Davis Van Zanten and Leo Medwid each added 12 points for CB South. Connor Murray scored 11 points, while Rowan Smith added 10 for the Rams.

HS Boys: Phil-Mont Christian 56, Bristol 46

Phil-Mont Christian used a 19-5 run in the third quarter to take control of the contest and held on for the 56-46 BAL win on Friday night. Malik Minor led the way with 24 points for Phil-Mont. Myehir Conway-Brookins chipped in with 16 points, while Ethan Giddens added 13. Braylen Williams scored 20 points to pace Bristol.

Duke Brennan did a bit of everything in Villanova's win over Wisconsin (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL).

~~~

D-I Men: Villanova 76, Wisconsin 66 (OT)

The Wildcats led by 12 points with nine minutes left, but had to go to overtime to pick up the win in Milwaukee. In overtime ‘Nova opened on an 11-1 run, which included two Bryce Lindsay 3-pointers. Tyler Perkins led the way with 19 points, while Duke Brennan added 13 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

D-I Women: Villanova 72, Seton Hall 55

Archbishop Wood graduate Ryanne Allen scored 19 points off the bench as the Wildcats stormed past the Pirates on Friday night. Jasmine Bascoe added 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Wildcats. 

D-I Women: Temple 59, Coppin State 39

The red-hot Owls coasted to the victory on Friday behind 12 points each from Drew Alexander and Kelian Cedano. Jaleesa Molina added 10 points and 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

D-I Women: Penn 67, Washington State 62

The Quakers defeated the reeling Cougars behind 15 points each from Katie Collins and Simone Sawyer.