BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Upper Dublin finding its groove with full roster
After starting the season 3-4, the Upper Dublin boys basketball team has rattled off five straight wins to improve to 8-4 and sit in the No. 6 spot of the District 1-5A rankings.
The football players on the team are a big reason for the turnaround.
Upper Dublin’s football team won the Suburban One League Continental Conference and District 1-5A championships before losing in the PIAA-5A state semifinals. The lengthy postseason run meant their season didn’t end until Friday Dec. 2.
That same night, the boys basketball team’s season started with a three-point loss to Dock Mennonite Academy.
“We have multiple returning football guys who really didn’t get much chance to work with us,” first-year Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks said. “They had such a good season. They missed three-to-four games, those guys… We knew it was going to be a process of us evolving into who we want to be. This is our fifth in a row, now. We’re starting to play like the team we can be.”
There’s a lengthy list of athletes who play football and basketball. DJ Cerisier starts for the basketball team while Chris Kohlbrenner and Griffin Pensabene are the first two off the bench. Colin O’Sullivan was a second team all-league guard as a junior last winter, but hasn’t played since getting banged up at the end of the football season. Nyles Bunn-McNeill, Coleman Zamborsky and Ryan O’Sullivan contribute on both the gridiron and the hardwood.
Now that these players are up to speed with a new coaching staff, the Cardinals are playing their best basketball of the season. All five wins during the winning streak are by 10 or more points, including a 24-point win over a strong William Tennent team Friday.
“We struggled in the beginning of the year because we were missing our football guys,” UD’s Ryan Mulroy said, “but (Tennent) was a good win. It’s going to be good for the rest of the year for us.”
Cerisier had nine points, seven rebounds and two assists against Tennent while leading a strong defensive performance that held the high-scoring Panthers to their lowest point total of the season (49 points).
“We have really athletic guys like DJ Cerisier,” UD center Seaton Kukla said. “He has a D1 football offer and he’s a first team all-state d-back. He definitely helps bringing the ball up and getting steals and all that kind of stuff. Everyone brings their own thing that’s important to the team.”
Kohlbrenner scored five points off the bench with two rebounds and two assists while Pensabene added one point and one rebound. Zamborsky grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals are in third place in the Suburban One League Liberty Division standings with a 5-2 league record. They’re two games behind 7-0 Plymouth Whitemarsh and one game behind 6-1 Abington.
They’ve got four SOL crossover games against Upper Moreland, Cheltenham, New Hope Solebury and Lower Moreland over the next two weeks before getting back to SOL Liberty competition on Jan. 24.
CLOSING IN ON 1,000
Plymouth Whitemarsh senior Abby Sharpe and Souderton senior Casey Harter are nearing the 1,000-point milestone in their high school careers. Sharpe is 15 points away while Harter needs 37. PW travels to Lower Moreland Tuesday before hosting Springfield-Montco Thursday. Souderton travels to Pennsbury Tuesday and Neshaminy Friday before hosting Council Rock North next Tuesday.
