Upper Dublin shows its strengths against CR North in SOL quarterfinals
UPPER DUBLIN >> Upper Dublin wasn’t giving up on DJ Cerisier just because he had blown two layups in the fourth quarter.
There hasn’t been much that has come easily for the Cardinals’ boys basketball team this winter but they’re not complaining about it either. All the adversity and challenges they’ve faced have so far led to the program’s first division title in 20 years, a spot in the SOL tournament and at the very least, a first-round home District 1-6A playoff game next weekend.
Saturday, there was the matter of taking care of the day’s challenge in Council Rock North in the quarterfinals of the Suburban One League’s newly expanded tournament.
Cerisier shook off those misses and converted two critical layups down the stretch while No. 3 seeded UD’s defense made enough stops at the end to hold off No. 6 CR North 44-41.
“It speaks to him as a person to be able to come back and hit two layups right after that,” UD junior Colin O’Sullivan said. “It was big for him and for us. Last year, we were all new to it but this year, we have experience and we’re playing really well right now.”
A year ago, the Cardinals had to win out just to get into the condensed district playoff field but they took the initiative with that second chance to make a run through the bracket. With almost the entire team back, the Cardinals have played like a group that knows how to handle the ups and downs of not only a long season, but a game-to-game basis.
Take Saturday for example. UD had been expecting to play CB East in the quarterfinals but things changed late on Friday night, with the brackets changing due to results from that day’s games and swapping the match-up to Council Rock North with minimal preparation time.
“Technology helps, it’s easier to gameplan than it used to be but even during our film session last night, I said ‘we’ve played 25 games, there aren’t going to be things we haven’t seen,'” UD coach Chris Monahan said. “We have answers, which is keeping our composure and running our stuff. We started the game and were shaky as could be, which let them get off to a good start but by the third quarter we settled in.”
Aside from keeping their collective composure in challenging spots, the Cardinals have found plenty of success this season through speed and sharing. Each game, it seems like there’s a different player leading UD’s book in points and Saturday, that happened to be O’Sullivan.
The junior guard netted a game-best 20 points, scoring 11 of them in the third as he helped smooth things out on the offensive end. Also the team’s standout football quarterback, O’Sullivan knows the value of a good pass and he was quick to point out the trio of 3-pointers he hit in the frame were not from him going off the dribble.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity, we’ve had to come back from a lot of games because we sometimes start slow so the halftime break was big calming everything down and we were able to hit some shots in the third,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s my guys DJ and Chris (Kohlbrenner) being able to find me on the 3-point line, then I was able to knock down some of the big shots we needed today.”
Upper Dublin isn’t the biggest team to begin with and with fouls limiting big men Ellis Johnson and Seaton Kukla for most of the second half, the Cardinals had to compensate against a big, physical and tough CR North team.
The Indians started the game very well. taking a 9-3 lead off the rip but UD closed the first quarter on a run to tie it 10-10. North, led early by senior guard Bernie Parent, went back in front 16-10 before the hosts again rallied to not only tie, but take their first lead and held it at the break on a late score by Cerisier that put UD ahead 22-19.
That three-point lead at the break stayed that way the rest of the game as the teams played even on the scoreboard. But there was something about the way Uppper Dublin defended in the second half that just seemed to have CR North a little out of its element.
“It’s a strength, we’re fast,” Monahan said. “We played an even smaller lineup for large portions of the game and I thought that was going to be an advantage for us. I felt we had better team speed at all five spots and it showed up in the second half.”
“We’re a fast team, so we’re at our best when we’re rotating and flying around to create havoc and force steals,” O’Sullivan said.
Upper Dublin will compete in the SOL semifinals on Monday, at No. 2 Bensalem.
“I told our guys that I think the best thing for us is to keep winning in this tournament,” Monahan said. “We’re playing meaningful games before we even get into districts. They all have their individual strengths, so you get a look at more things the longer you play.”
Upper Dublin 44, CR North 41
UPPER DUBLIN 10 12 13 9 – 44
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 10 9 13 9 – 41
UD: DJ Cerisier 4 3-4 11, Colin O’Sullivan 7 2-6 20, Seaton Kukla 3 2-4 9, Chris Kohlbrenner 0 2-2 2, Mason Pensabene 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 9-16 44
CRN: Shane Anhalt 0 1-2 1, Bernie Parent 4 6-9 15, Adam Mahtat 5 2-4 14, Jack Blum 1 2-2 4, Logan Saifer 2 0-0 4, Oliver Shaefer 1 0-0 3. Totals: 13 11-17 41
3-pointers: UD – O’Sullivan 4, Kukla; CRN – Mahtat 2, Parent, Schaefer
