Upper Dublin leans on defense, holds off Hatboro-Horsham
HORSHAM >> Coaches never miss a good teaching moment.
During a first quarter defensive possession, one of the Upper Dublin boys basketball team’s assistants turned to the JV players seated behind them and asked “do you see what they’re doing and how they’re communicating?” On the floor, the five Cardinals players were working through every screen and handoff Hatboro-Horsham was trying to free space with little success.
UD got back to basics on the defensive end and held off a furious rally by the host Hatters to pick up a 46-40 win to open SOL American play Friday night.
“We were on the same page,” Cardinals center Drew Stover said. “We scouted them and picked up on that in practice and maintained it well. The biggest outtake from Tuesday night’s game against Downingtown West was our lack of defense so I think we definitely bounced back and played better on defense.”
While the Cardinals still aren’t at full strength, with senior point guard Jason Williams’ absence noted in the final few minutes, the lineup they started on Friday was very switch-able. Stover had the middle while the perimeter players were able to talk their way through whatever the Hatters were doing.
Two buckets by Stover, both assisted on entry passes by Bazel Brady, put UD up 16-7 but the Cardinals fouled Colin O’Sullivan on an end-of-quarter heave and the freshman knocked down all three foul shots. O’Sullivan and senior Jack Marvin took over for a spell, with Marvin hitting a three to put the hosts up 18-17 and O’Sullivan converting a traditional three-point play for a 21-17 lead.
Upper Dublin then locked down on the defensive end, got a couple stops and turned them into a 7-0 run to end the first half.
“They’re a really well-rounded team and they can hurt you in a lot of different ways,” Hatters coach Ed Enoch said. “That last two-and-a-half minutes of the first half was when the game turned. It goes from us leading a one-point game and next thing you know we’re down five. With as hard as it is for us to score, it’s hard to come back.”
On top of the second quarter ending run, Upper Dublin opened the third on a 6-0 run again spurred by its defense. The Cardinals had four steals in the quarter, leading to a couple of fastbreaks and a layup in transition by Will Mead gave UD a 31-21 advantage.
UD’s third was by far its best, with the Cardinals claiming the period 12-5 while forcing five turnovers. Stover had a solid quarter too, with six points including a two-handed dunk.
“Coming out of the locker room in the second half, Coach (Chris Monahan) said we’d done pretty well on defense but we had to pick up our offense and start running through our stuff quicker,” Stover said. “I think we came out doing that, started cutting harder and got open looks around the basket.”
Scoring has been the Hatters’ biggest issue so far this season. Hatboro-Horsham had to work extremely hard in the halfcourt just to get looks on Friday not counting the possessions that ended with turnovers.
Marvin scored on a drive to open the fourth quarter, but only after the Hatters worked for nearly 40 seconds to find some room against the Cardinals’ defense.
Enoch noted the Hatters haven’t started the same five in any game this year which has led to better practices with guys battling for minutes. He was happy with the way Marvin and O’Sullivan played, adding it’s up to the staff to find Marvin more shots and O’Sullivan has gotten stronger as he’s healed up after football season.
“It’s one thing if you’re taking 30-40 seconds off the clock to get a shot but we’re doing that and adding in untimely turnovers where they’re getting a run-out layup and it only makes it that much harder,” Enoch said. “For some reason, we really struggle. This is the most points we scored all year but we’re working hard.”
Monahan noted the Hatters offense with its handoffs and ball screens is tough to guard, especially with shooters like Marvin and O’Sullivan. That’s where the communication and switches became important as UD tried to limit the amount of times a Hatters guard could turn the corner and slice into the lane.
“For the most part, we executed pretty well, we had some lapses here and there in terms of judgment but overall the defense was pretty good,” Monahan said. “With the team we have, we’re playing guys who are learning on the fly so the defensive end is where we want to start. A lot of that is communication and right now we don’t have the communication with all five guys but tonight we got a lot closer to that.”
A Stover hoop put the Cardinals up 41-28 with 4:55 to play then things started to come unglued. UD, which had been pretty good with the ball all game, committed eight fourth quarter turnovers and allowed Hatboro-Horsham to start hacking down the lead.
Marvin and O’Sullivan hit threes, O’Sullivan found Zehier Cheeze off an inbound and N’Gianni Cerisier turned a steal into a layup to get within 43-40 with 18 seconds to play.
Mead, who turned an ankle in the third quarter but returned in the fourth, would stabilize UD. The guard was fouled with 10.9 to go, making his first free throw before missing the second. Mead just chased down the miss, got fouled again and this time hit both at the line to ice the win.
“We have a long way to go,” Monahan said. “We still have guys who are injured, so we need to get healthy but we also need to figure out how to play 32 minutes and how to guard for 32 minutes. This next week, we’re looking at upper echelon league teams in Cheltenham and Abington, so that’s the test before Christmas.”
UPPER DUBLIN 16 9 12 9 – 46
HATBORO-HORSHAM 10 11 5 14 – 40
UD: Bazel Brady 2 2-5 7, Drew Stover 7 1-2 15, Will Mead 3 3-4 10, Amare Johnson 2 0-0 6, Aidan Pullian 2 2-2 6, Tim Boutilier 10-1 2. Totals: 17 8-14 46
HH: N’Gianni Cerisier 2 0-0 4, Zehier Cheeze 2 0-0 4, Jack Marvin 7 0-0 17, Colin O’Sullivan 4 4-4 15. Totals: 15 4-4 40
3-pointers: UD – Johnson 2, Mead, Brady; HH – O’Sullivan 3, Marvin 3
