Upper Dublin pulls away in 3rd quarter, rolls past Springfield-Montco

UPPER DUBLIN >> After finding its footing late in the first half, the Upper Dublin boys basketball team raced away from Springfield-Montco in the third quarter Friday night.

 Consecutive 3-pointers to cap the second quarter gave the host Cardinals a 25-18 lead at the break and they kept the momentum going following the break, opening the second half with 10 straight points to go up 17.

“Just in the locker room we knew we had to lock in defensively and come out and get stops,” Upper Dublin junior Colin O’Sullivan said. “And then when we play well defensively, it translate to the offense. So when we’re able to get stops then we’re in transition, that’s when we’re best and that’s really what happened in the third quarter.”

Upper Dublin ended up outscoring the Spartans 20-5 in the third to build a 22-point advantage and cruised to a 54-29 victory in the Suburban One League crossover contest.

“I didn’t think our defense was terrible in the first half, we shot eight for, what, 17 from the line,” Cardinals coach Chris Monahan said. “You know, you’re up seven and you miss nine free throws, I thought we were in pretty good shape. But we did at halftime talk about turning up the defensive pressure. We were able to turn them over, we rebounded that got us out in transition and then, yeah, making shots.”

O’Sullivan scored seven of his 10 points in the third while Seaton Kukla went 8-of-10 on free throws in finishing with a game-high 14 points as Upper Dublin (6-2, 4-0 SOL Liberty Division) continued its solid start, having won two straight and five of its last six. The Cards’ only losses this season have come against Souderton – first in the Indians’ Jim Church Classic final Dec. 11 then again in West Chester Rustin holiday tournament’s title game Dec. 29.

“It’s just a lot of excitement,” O’Sullivan said. “You really didn’t know what to expect this year losing Drew Stover but to come out and just do what we’ve done so far it feels good.”

Kyle Smythe totaled 11 points to pace Springfield (3-4, 1-4 SOL Freedom), which has dropped its last four since beginning the year 3-0.

Both teams next play nonleague opponents – Upper Dublin at home against Holy Ghost Prep 2:30 p.m. Saturday while Springfield visits MaST Charter 6 p.m.  Monday.

A Griffin Pensabene basket opened scoring in the third with Pensabene then finding O’Sullivan upcourt for a layup and a 29-18 lead.

“When we speed the game up, that’s when we’re best,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re a really fast team with a lot of guards that can really run so that’s when we’re best when we’re out and running.”

O’Sullivan corralled a loose-ball steal and drove in for two before Kukla collected the next four – scoring inside off a Chris Kohlbrenner assist then hitting two free throws for a 35-18 advantage at 4:56.

“He’s a talented offensive player,” said Monahan of Kukla. “And today he showed going to the glass, rebounding the ball with two hands instead of trying to tap it and he was a nuisance for them.”

Springfield snapped the 10-0 run with a Smythe bucket but the Cardinals responded by ripping off seven straight, O’Sullivan’s triple assisted by Kohlbrenner extending the lead to 42-20.

Ryan Mulroy drove and kicked it out to Noah Lee for a three from the right wing and a 45-23 UD lead heading into the fourth. Five straight points from Mason Pensabene – a three-point play at 2:23 then two free throws with 1:07 – gave the Cardinals their largest lead at 54-27.

The Spartans did get off to a good start Friday night, scoring the game’s first six points – four from Dylan McKenzie – while a Tommy Coppol basket inside had the visitors up 8-1. Upper Dublin, however, answered with the next eight, taking its first lead at 9-8 after DJ Cerisier’s corner three.

Ben Cooney scored off a baseline drive to put Springfield back up 10-9 before a Griffin Pensabene free throw with 16.2 seconds knotted things at 10 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cardinals were in the bonus 1:09 into the second quarter and while they went 5-of-9 from the line in the period – and just 8-of-17 in the half –  it was enough to keep things close before finally getting their offense going prior to halftime.

“I didn’t think we had terrible offensive possession the very beginning of the game,” Monahan said. “It wasn’t really a panic situation at all. Seaton did a very good job on the offensive glass and he was a big reason why they got into foul trouble.”

Two Kukla free throws at 5:19 gave Upper Dublin a 15-14 lead while Cerisier’s transition basket after a Mulroy steal had the Cards up three.

Springfield got within a point twice but O’Sullivan – who missed a few minutes after injuring his nose in a collision late in the first quarter – connected on a three after a Griffin Pensabene assist then drew a charge with 59.3 seconds.

Kohlbrenner buried a corner trey off a Cerisier assist with less than four seconds left before halftime to give Upper Dublin a 25-18 lead.

Upper Dublin 54, Springfield-Montco 29
Springfield 10 8 5 6 – 29
Upper Dublin 10 15 20 9 – 54
Springfield: Kyle Smythe 5 0-0 11; Dylan McKenzie 3 0-0 6; Miles Godwin 2 0-1 4; Ben Cooney 1 1-2 3; Tommy Coppol 1 0-0 2; Brett Smith 1 0-0 2; Harry Rittenhouse 0 1-4 1; Totals 13 2-7 29.
Upper Dublin: Seaton Kukla 3 8-10 14; Colin O’Sullivan 4 0-0 10; Griffin Pensebene 3 2-4 8; DJ Cerisier 3 0-1 7; Chris Kohlbrenner 2 1-4 6; Mason Pensebene 1 4-5 6; Noah Lee 1 0-0 3; Totals 17 15-24 54 
3-pointers: S-Smythe UD-O’Sullivan 2, Cerisier, Kohlbrenner, Lee.