City of Basketball Love

By David Comer
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FAIRLESS HILLS — Shane Battier was often considered a “glue guy” during his 13-year NBA career that included two championships, but as he wrote in an article for The Players’ Tribune in 2016, there is no simple definition of “glue guy.”

“Funny thing is, despite being described as a glue guy for more or less my entire life, I still find that there’s no perfect way to describe what the term actually means,” Battier wrote. “In essence, a glue guy must possess a certain je ne sais quoi. In regards to skill set, glue guys can either perform adequately at every task or superbly at only a few. … I knew my value was helping us notch victories however I could.”

For the Pennsbury boys’ basketball team, that “glue guy” is Brady Kent, and on Friday night, the junior guard, who is generously listed at 5-foot-10, showed why in leading his team to a 59-48 victory over Upper Moreland in a Suburban One League crossover game. 

“He made some important plays for us,” Falcons coach Wes Emme said. “He’s played a very integral role for us this season. To us, he is the guy who can really get us going. He’s a winner.”

Pennsbury, which improved to 11-5 on the season, entered the season with a young team and high expectations. The Falcons returned three starters in sophomore Patrick Jajua, junior Sean Breslin and senior Max Manga along with last season’s sixth man in sophomore Brayden Clark. They needed to find a fifth starter.

Enter Kent. As a sophomore, he battled an ankle injury and spent the season as the JV point guard. The varsity had an abundance of senior guards, so Emme believed the JV was the best place for him.

Kent continued to work on his game during the summer with both his AAU team, the Philly Revolution, and with his high school teammates.

“He had a great summer,” Emme said.

Kent made his first appearance in Pennsbury’s starting lineup during Philly Live and has been there ever since.

“It feels great,” Kent said. “I definitely wanted to start. That was my first goal.”

Kent had early success during the first weekend of the season in wins over Northeast and Academy at Palumbo, and that helped make him feel like he belonged.

“It was great,” Kent said. “That was a huge confidence booster. It was definitely a step up in pace and physicalness.”

There have been games this season when Kent has needed to score - he’s had games where he’s had 17 and 18 points - but Friday night was not one of those nights. He didn’t light up the scoring column, but he finished with 5 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds and led both teams in floor burns.

“I feel like I’m the glue guy,” Kent said. “I’m a good three-point shooter. I love to play hard, get assists, help the team win.”

That he did on Friday. The win ended a tough stretch of SOL crossover games for Pennsbury that included losses to Abington, CB East and Souderton and a win over North Penn.

“This stretch of our schedule was really difficult,” Emme said. “We’ve been tested. Sometimes you have to go through some stuff.”

Upper Moreland, which fell to 10-5, is going through “some stuff” of its own. While 5-foot-9 senior guard Nate Best returned to the lineup after being out with an illness and scored 10 points, the Golden Bears were again without injured 6-foot-5 senior forward Larry Hughes, a first-team all-league selection last season who watched from the bench in street clothes.

“That’s a major loss for them,” Emme said. “He’s an impact player.”

Jajua and Clark each scored 8 points in the first half as the Falcons took a 25-20 lead into intermission. The Falcons, which had three players reach double figures - Jajua with 19, Clark with 14 and Breslin with 10 - extended their lead to 45-32 at the end of three quarters.

But Upper Moreland, which defeated Pennsbury last season, 56-49, on its way to a magical year that ended in the PIAA Class 5A semifinals, kept battling. An 11-2 run, keyed by 5-foot-8 sophomore guard Jose Hernandez, who finished with a team-high 17 points, pulled the Golden Bears to within 47-43 midway through the fourth quarter. Hernandez was a nuisance on defense and opportunistic on offense.

“He always plays that style,” Upper Moreland coach Dan Heiland said. “He gives full effort all the time.”

Breslin hit a three-pointer that extended the Pennsbury lead to 50-43, and Hernandez made a pair of foul shots to pull his team within 50-45 with 2:07 left in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as the Golden Bears would get.

“I was happy with the way we fought,” Heiland said. “I was happy to see our guys fight and battle to the end.”

The Falcons sealed the win from the foul line, where they made 15-of-16 on the night.

Pennsbury, which is 5-0 in the SOL Patriot Division, returns to division play next week with games at Truman and Bensalem. Kent will continue to be the “glue guy.”

“They’ve fit me in very nicely,” Kent said of his teammates. “They’re a great group of guys.”

Emme said that as the season has progressed, so has Kent.

“When he has the ball in his hands, he can make plays,” Emme said. “He was kind of overshadowed because of his stature. He’s not a big kid and not a loud kid. He’s really unselfish and will do whatever he can to help the team win. The other guys have confidence in him. He’s the kind of kid you root for every day. He’s always going to be happy because of the success of the team.”

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By Quarter
Upper Moreland (10-5): 9 | 11 | 12 | 16 || 48
Pennsbury (11-5): 15 | 10 | 20 | 14 || 59 

Scoring
Upper Moreland: Jose Hernandez 17, Nate Best 11, Cannon Campbell 6, Kyle Moore 6, Andrew Hamill 3, John Rosenbaum 3, Brody Hughes 2.

Pennsbury: Patrick Jajua 19, Brayden Clark 14, Sean Breslin 10, Max Manga 7, Brady Kent 5, Nick Bunda 2, Owen Hogancamp 2.