UPPER DUBLIN – Ryan Mulroy provided the Upper Dublin boys basketball team a bit of stability after visiting Wissahickon recorded the first seven points in the SOL Liberty Division rivals’ matchup Friday night.
“We’re school rivals, it’s just the talk all day at school, going down 7-0 was not what we wanted,” Mulroy said. “And I just knew maybe I need to step up and just start playing, just going to the basket.”
The junior guard scored inside to have the Cardinals down 11-7 before five straight points by the Trojans increased the margin to nine. UD, however, was within five at the end of the opening eight minutes with Mulroy continuing the momentum with a 3-point play nine seconds into the second quarter.
“I just felt like I was just able to get to the basket, get to the line,” Mulroy said. “My shot felt really good from the outside tonight.
A Mulroy 3-pointer gave Upper Dublin the lead at 20-18 and the hosts never gave it back, the Cardinals capping a strong second frame with an 8-0 run to take a 34-25 advantage into halftime.
“Mulroy absolutely put the team on his back in the beginning,” Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks said. “He was huge really all game but really that first half he exploded and then in the third quarter I think he had a nice run too.”
Mulroy finished the first half with 19 points then added five more in the third for a game-high 24, UD outscoring Wissahickon 18-4 in the quarter as it pulled away to claim a 65-47 victory to stay undefeated.
“I think we were, I don’t want to say timid but I think they were the more aggressive team to start,” Brooks said. “And they made some tough shots too and sometimes when you miss shots and the other team makes shots it just feels like things are worse than they actually are.
“But I was really proud of how our guys, we didn’t sulk, we kept playing, we picked up our aggressiveness and we made a run and then never looked back.”
Brady Fogle added 17 points – 12 in the second half – for the Cardinals (4-0, 2-0 division) while Noah Cohen collected all eight of his points during a 13-0 run that sent Upper Dublin into the fourth with a 52-29 lead.
“The emotion comes down a little bit so sometimes you can be a little too relaxed coming out of halftime,” Brooks said. “But fortunately – and we actually, we made some mistakes in the beginning of the third quarter but fortunately we finished pretty strong.”
Dom Vacchiano paced Wissahickon (1-3) with 21 points, 13 coming in the first half.
“We got to handle adversity better,” Trojans coach Kyle Wilson said. “We’re solid there when the game’s even, we’re solid when we’re up a little bit. As soon as we fell behind, man, trying to battle back in, we unraveled a bit there and it’s uncharacteristic but we’re a young team and I’m hoping that it’s something that we can learn from and continue to grow and get better at.
“We’re better than what we looked out there. We got to be consistent for four quarters and that’s not what we did.”
Upper Dublin has a pair of SOL Liberty games on the road next week, visiting Abington Tuesday and is then at Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday.
“It’s a huge test,” Brooks said. “We relish the opportunity – we love the challenge of it. Those of the two teams that everyone is saying the top of the league and we want to put ourselves in that category so it’s great opportunity for us next week.”
Wissahickon is at Quakertown Tuesday then hosts Abington Friday.
Consecutive Vacchiano baskets gave Wiss its largest lead of Friday at 16-7 in the first quarter. A Mulroy free throw with five seconds left made it 16-9 with Chris Kohlbrenner intercepting a pass along the sideline then finding Kobe Bazemore for a buzzer-beating layup.
Mulroy’s 3-point play at 7:51 in the second quarter had UD down 16-14. A Josh Palutis transition basket had the Trojans up four but Kohlbrenner knocked down a three and Mulroy followed with another triple to put the Cardinals in the lead. Two Fogle free throws at 5:56 made it 22-18.
Wissahickon got within a point twice, the last time at 26-25 after a Vacchiano basket but a two from Mulroy then Idris Rines converting a pair at the foul line had UD up five with 1:53 left in the half.
Mulroy added another bucket before a Kohlbrenner baseline floater in the final seconds increased the
“To be honest, I don’t need to be the guy that scores all the time, I’ll be the guy that just passes, makes the right plays, rebounds, plays defense,” Mulroy said. “But it just felt so good going in the second half with that momentum, just, you know what, we’re good but we’re going to keep playing. And just got to keep shooting, playing our game.”
Mulroy found Brandon Altman for a corner three to open the third quarter’s scoring. A Palutis bucket had the Trojans down 39-29 but UD collected the last 13 points of the period.
Cohen’s three made it 44-29 and after a Mulroy free throw at 2:04 Cohen connected on a jumper to put the Cardinals up 18. A Mulroy basket and a Cohen trey increased the margin to 52-29.
“When you’re tired, you’re more willing to chirp at the other guy instead of focusing on what we do and you get into stuff that is counterproductive to winning the game,” Wilson said. “As (Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen) Hurts always says you got to keep the main thing the main thing and focus on winning, that’s what it is. And I think the surroundings, the crowd, I think we got a little too caught up in that emotion, we got to settle down and play smarter in those situations.”
Wissahickon whittled its deficit down to 15 in fourth, two Caj Jones free throws at 5:20 making it 54-39 but Upper Dublin responded with seven straight points, the last six by Fogle for a 61-39 lead at 3:47.
Upper Dublin 65, Wissahickon 47
Wissahickon 16 9 4 18 – 47
Upper Dublin 11 23 18 13 – 65
Wissahickon: Dom Vacchiano 8 3-4 21; Josh Palutis 3 2-2 8; Nico Vacchiano 3 0-0 7; Caj Jones 0 4-6 4; Brayden Ryan 1 1-2 4; Gabe Lassiter 1 1-2 3; Michael Malton 0 0-2 0; Totals 16 11-18 47.
Upper Dublin: Ryan Mulroy 9 4-7 24; Brady Fogle 3 10-11 17; Noah Cohen 3 0-0 8; Chris Kohlbrenner 2 0-0 5; Kobe Bazemore 2 0-0 4; Idris Rines 0 4-6 4; Brandon Altman 1 0-0 3; Totals 20 18-24 65.
3-pointers: W-D. Vacchiano 2, Ryan, N. Vacchiano; UD-Cohen 2, Mulroy 2, Altman, Fogle, Kohlbrenner.
