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NEBL Notebook: Tuesday, May 12

05/12/2015, 11:45pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The 2015 edition of the Northeast Basketball League continued Tuesday night with a quartet of games up at the Mayfair Recreation Center (2990 Saint Vincent Street).

An up-to-date schedule and standings can be found at our NEBL homepage; here’s a notebook from the action on Tuesday, May 12, with results first and some quotes afterwards:

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Council Rock North 67, Bishop Shanahan 54
There was nothing Bishop Shanahan could do to stop Council Rock North’s Riley Thompson. The rising senior guard poured in 43 points to even his team’s record at 1-1 in NEBL play, and he was hitting from everywhere on the court, taking advantage of openings in the Shanahan defense to drain nine 3-pointers. Shanahan (0-2) was led by rising senior guard Jordan Ambrose, who went for 21 points, while rising junior forward Justin Krasnick had 14.

Central Bucks West 59, Cherry Hill East 38
The whole first hour at Mayfair Recreation Center was a 3-point barrage. CB West hit nine triples in the first half alone to take a 38-14 advantage after 16 minutes, finishing with 11 total to also stay undefeated in the first two weeks of play. CB West (2-0) was led by senior Cal Reichwein for the second game in a row, as he had 15, all in the first half; Cherry Hill East got 14 from Pierce Elliott.

Imhotep Charter 67, Conwell-Egan 60
Despite having just five players available, Imhotep was able to overcome a Conwell-Egan squad that’s just learning how to fill some key roles. Rising junior Daron Russell, the Panthers’ leading scorer as a sophomore, dropped 24 points, while his new teammate and classmate Koby Thomas added 22, including no fewer than six dunks; Josh Townsend had 11 and Jaquan Arrington added 10. For Egan, it was the rising senior duo of Stevie Jordan (19 points) and LaPri McCray-Pace (16) who hit double figures.

West Catholic 66, Lincoln 64
West Catholic’s 12-point halftime lead disappeared at the hands of the Railsplitters, who took a three-point lead with under three minutes remaining, but the Burrs were able to hit some clutch late shots and escape with the win. Jeohnni Moore (18 points) paced West Catholic, while John Herndon (14) and Keyohn Maddox (12) joined him in double figures. Lincoln was led by Shikier Morrison, who had all 22 of his points in the second half.

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Senior-laden CB West focused on big picture
With plenty of experience returning from a 17-win squad that was a top-10 seed in District 1, Central Bucks West head coach Adam Sherman has high hopes for his team in 2015-16.

So far, he likes the way they’re preparing this offseason.

“This whole group is a bunch of gym rats, so it’s neat to see,” he said after his team finished off a 59-38 win over Cherry Hill East. “They put the time in, so I’m hoping they get the success that they deserve with the amount of time they put in.

Sherman has seven seniors returning, and this is a group with a chip on its shoulder. The Bucks were awarded the No. 8 seed in the District 1 AAAA playoffs after going 17-7, with a 10-4 record in Suburban One-Continental play. But they were upset in the first round of the district playoffs by No. 25 Great Valley, without even a chance to earn a spot in a play-back game.

So far, that’s translated into two big wins in the Mayfair league.

“We have a lot of returning players with a lot of valuable varsity experience, so you can tell that they’re a little more seasoned than some of the other teams,” Sherman said. “Right now it’s giving us an advantage, hopefully it’ll give us an advantage as we move forward into the season.”

Those seniors are led by wing Cal Reichwein (pictured above), a versatile 6-foot-3 inside-out threat who’s a more-than-capable 3-point shooter that can also take it to the hoop. The two-year captain has led the Bucks in scoring in each of the first two NEBL games, a theme that’s likely to be somewhat consistent throughout the season.

And this year, he’ll be joined in the varsity rotation by his younger brother, Jake Reichwein, a 6-2 rising sophomore who mostly played on the JV squad a year ago. They’re not the first Reichweins that Sherman has had in his years at CB West; their cousin, Reills Reichwein, played at the school and graduated in 2009.

“They’re always good shooters, Reills back in the day was a dynamite 3-point shooter and a very strong kid,” Sherman said. “They’re always physically strong and good shooters, which is nice to have in high school.”

The other six seniors include guards Luke Irons, Connor Lynch, Ben Riegel and Billy Power plus forwards Erich Hohenleitner and Zach Paley.

It’s a group that doesn’t have a lot of size--Paley is 6-5 and Hohenleitner is 6-4, with the Reichweins chipping in on the interior as well--but they can all shoot it, as they showed in dropping 11 3-pointers in the win over Cherry Hill East.

“They’re pretty versatile players,” Sherman said. “We don’t have a lot of height--mostly we’re all 6-foot to 6-3 in that range, but we all handle well and pass well so hopefully that’ll make up for it.”

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Quick Shots
--Already mentioned the 43 points that Riley Thompson dropped, but it’s worth further discussion. The 5-11 point guard has the ball in his hands a lot for CR North, and while he does look to pass and set up his team’s offense, it’s an offense designed to help get him shots. He was knocking down pull-up triples and off the catch, and also showed he’s not afraid to throw up a floater from 12 feet and hit a few of them. He’s certainly good enough that every area Division III school should be aware of who he is, and if he keeps shooting like he has been thus far this spring he’s going to get some D-IIs taking a good hard look as well.

--Conwell-Egan has to find some bodies to replace graduated seniors Chase Kumor, Sean Kelly and Jordan Burney and fill in alongside rising seniors Jordan, McCray-Pace and Vinny Dalessandro. One young shooter who looks like he’s going to earn minutes is rising sophomore Eric Esposito; the 6-1 guard has grown five inches in the last school year, and his frame suggests there’s still a bit more height to come. He’s already got a nice, quick shot with a high release point, and as he matures into his body could become a big piece for Frank Sciolla and the Eagles.