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NEBL Notebook: Tuesday, May 5

05/06/2015, 1:00am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The 2015 edition of the Northeast Basketball League tipped off Tuesday night with a quartet of games up at the Mayfair Recreation Center (2990 Saint Vincent Street). CoBL will be providing coverage of the NEBL and its 20 teams over the next eight weeks, with coverage every night of the action, every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday.

An up-to-date schedule and standings can be found at our NEBL homepage; here’s a notebook from the action on Tuesday, May 5, with results first and some quotes afterwards:

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Central Bucks West 56, Council Rock North 40
An experienced group at CB West took advantage of CR North’s youth, going on a 20-3 run in the first half that boosted them to an early 28-10 lead they would never relinquish. Rising senior wing Cal Reichwin had 12 points to pace a balanced CB West (1-0) attack, with nine different Bucks hitting at least one shot. The Indians (0-1) were led by rising senior guard Riley Thompson’s 17.

West Catholic 69, Pennsbury 59
The Burrs (1-0) and Falcons (0-1) battled back-and-forth over the opening 20 minutes, though it was West Catholic who would establish a 35-27 lead at the break. They would hold that advantage the entire second half, with John Herndon’s 21 points leading the way; rising sophomore Stefon Maddox hit three 3-pointers for his 18. Pennsbury was led by rising junior forward Mark Flagg’s 16, and rising senior Rob Daly had four triples and 13 points.

Central Bucks East 55, Neshaminy 42
Triples were raining all game long for the Patriots (1-0), who hit eight 3-pointers in their win over the Redskins (0-1). Justin O’Neill and Matt Pattyson led Central Bucks East with 10 points apiece as nine different players made buckets for CB East, which was quite different from Neshaminy; Billy Warren (16 points) and Chris Arcidiacono (14 points) accounted for nearly 75 percent of their teams’ scoring.

Neumann-Goretti 73, Conwell-Egan 49
This battle of Catholic League foes was surprisingly similar to their meeting this past regular season, a 70-49 win for the Saints over the team that would go on to win the PIAA Class AA championship. Rising senior Rasheed Brown’s 18 led Neumann-Goretti (1-0), while super sophomore Quade Green added 17 though he sat out the final 10 minutes. CEC (0-1) got 17 from rising senior LaPri McCray-Pace and 12 from Vinny Dalessandro.

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Coleman starting almost entirely anew at Pennsbury
Pennsbury head coach Bill Coleman admitted it was “a little weird.”

For the first time ever, he coached his Falcons without the duo of Cameron Jones and Mekhi Bryant. The two 1,000-point scorers have been the stalwarts of the Pennsbury backcourt for the last four seasons—the exact amount of time Coleman’s been at the school—in helping keep the program one of the top ones in District 1 during their stay. The last two years, they were joined by 6-8 big man Derrick Woods to form a talented trio under Coleman’s guidance, making it to the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals as seniors.

Now all three are gone—Jones (Saint Peter’s) and Woods (Saint Bonaventure’s) off to Division I schools—leaving behind a roster that features just two rising seniors and not a lot of varsity experience.

“It’s a learning curve for everybody,” said Coleman, whose Falcons fell 69-59 to West Catholic in their NEBL opener. “You knew what to expect with the old guys. This group, because they’re so young, you really don’t know. You see the pieces, what could be, but it’s going to take a lot of work on their part to get back to where we were.”

The last two years, Coleman has put out a four-guard lineup around Woods and played a pressing, up-tempo style, but the strengths of this squad might force his hand to change somewhat. 

The Falcons boast a pair of intriguing 2017 forward prospects, with 6-7, 175-pound Mark Flagg and 6-8, 255-pound Isaiah Carpenter (pictured above) sure to give opponents fits down low. 

Carpenter is a big-bodied center whose conditioning is going to have to come a ways for him to be running up and down the floor for long stretches, while Flagg, who had 16 points in the loss, is an intriguing forward who will need to get a lot stronger to be at his most effective. 

But the upside is certainly there.

“Bang it in, man we’ve got to bang it in the post and go with it from there,” Coleman said. “That’s where we’re going to have mismatches all night long, so we’ve got to utilize it.

“I like to press a lot and with two bigs on the floor, especially Isaiah, it’s going to be tough,” he added. “But we’ll figure it out.”

Of course, just because he’s going to have to adjust some things doesn’t mean Coleman is anxious about the days ahead. 

“It’s fun going to work,” he said.

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CB East’s Henryson hoping injury woes are over
After tying for the Suburban One League’s Continental Division title in 2013-14, the injury bug bit Central Bucks East hard last season. 

“At any point in time we were missing eight or nine guys,” head coach Eric Henryson said—and a 6-16 season, including a 1-13 record in SOL play, was the the result.

Now that a few months have passed since the year’s end, Henryson is able to assemble something much more resembling the team he wished he had this past season. Back on the floor were players like rising seniors Tommy Strasburger and Blake Peterson, two of those who battled injury last year, and they helped CB East to a 55-42 win over Neshaminy in the NEBL opener.

“Having our guys on the court all at the same time was nice,” Henryson said. “We hope that in the offseason, with all of our guys, we feel like we can compete with anybody.”

If there was a silver lining from the injuries, it’s that Henryson’s underclassmen got plenty of playing time. Rising juniors like Matt Pattyson and Sean Dann got varsity minutes that will pay dividends in the upcoming year, when Henryson should go from having a dearth of experience to an abundance of it.

So though going from worst to first in one year isn’t so easy at the high school level--especially at a public school--the Patriots could certainly be in for a big jump in the SOL Continental standings. After leading his team to the top spot two years ago, Henryson knows what it takes.

“They bought in and played well and we won a league title, so hopefully that’s mimicking what we’re going to do this year,” he said. “With them gaining experience, you would think that it would only help us.”

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Quick Shots
—If the name Arcidiacono doesn’t ring a bell, you probably haven’t been paying much attention lately to the local hoops scene. Ryan Arcidiacono has put together a more-than-solid three year career at Villanova with high expectations upon him as a rising senior, and now his younger brother is starting to carve a path at Neshaminy. When he made his NEBL debut last year, 2018 PG Chris Arcidiacono was maybe about 5-foot-9 and scrawny; now, the 6-1 rising sophomore has a developing game as well. He’s a good drive-and-kick point guard who’s developing the same on-court leadership skills as his brother, and he’s got a nice shooting touch to boot.

—Speaking of players who have matured quite a bit in the last year, Neumann-Goretti 2017 forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree has gone from an awkward 6-7 freshman to a 6-9 rising junior with high-major recruitment rather quickly. The Saints’ big man showed another developing element to his game in the second half of the blowout win over Conwell-Egan, knocking down a rhythm 3-pointer from the left wing to finish off an easy nine-point outing. Rounder’s really adjusting well to his frame, and if he can become a face-up ‘4’ man his recruiting stock could really skyrocket next summer.

—Really like the game of CB West 2016 wing Cal Reichwein, who had 12 points in his team’s win over Council Rock North. The 6-2, 185-pound guard/forward does a little bit of everything for the Bucks; on this particular occasion, he knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, did a great job of getting into the lane and dishing off to teammates, and played everything from the ‘1’ to the ‘4’ for his squad. He’ll likely be playing at a high-level Division III school next year, though D-II isn’t out of the question.


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