Seaton Kukla leads Upper Dublin past William Tennent

UPPER DUBLIN >> Seaton Kukla and his teammates knew it was going to be a special night when he hit his second three-pointer.

The trey gave the Upper Dublin senior eight points early on in a Suburban One League crossover matchup against William Tennent. He finished the first quarter with 11 points en route to a 30-point performance in a 73-49 win at Upper Dublin High School Friday night.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit,” Kukla  said. “I haven’t hit more than one three in a game the whole season. I hit the second one and I was like, ‘Alright. I’m feeling good about it.'”

“Once I knew he hit his first two threes, I knew he was getting at least 30 tonight,” UD sophomore Ryan Mulroy said. “He did that in a scrimmage against Neshaminy this year. I think he had 40 against Neshaminy. When he gets hot, he won’t miss and it’s just great. He’s big for us. He’s our team captain and we need him to keep stepping up like that. It’s our job as a team to get him confidence.”

Kukla made 12 baskets in the game – six two-pointers and six from beyond the arc. He added nine rebounds and a pair of assists.

The center hit three three-pointers in the first quarter and five in the first half before adding his sixth in the third quarter.

“I feel a lot more confident,” Kukla said. “I was shooting like 250 threes a day over the summer. I’m feeling more confident every day on my three and with the new coaching staff, they’ve given me the green light to shoot it whenever I’m open. I’m feeling much more confident about letting it fly from three.”

“In the offseason we looked at last year’s stats,” first-year Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks said. “He shot 50 percent from three last year. It was only on one attempt, but we were like, ‘You have to let it rip.’

“He’s been doing a good job finishing inside for us, it’s just the three-point shot hadn’t been falling. Well tonight, he got not only by far his most attempts, but by far his most makes. What he did in the low-post tonight was phenomenal, too. He’s been doing that, especially our last five, six games.”

While Kukla was getting things done on the offensive end, the Cardinals defense was keeping the Panthers in check. Tennent’s lowest total across its first 10 games of the season was 63 points before being held to 49 Friday.

Upper Dublin (8-4, 5-2 SOL Liberty) put an emphasis on defending Tennent’s Kirby Mooney and George Marion. Mooney finished the game with six points and Marion had seven.

“I’d imagine they’re both going to be first team all-league guys,” Brooks said. “They create everything. They score themselves and they’ve got shooters. Those shooters rely on those guys to get them shots. We knew if we could slow them down, do the best job we could on them, the whole ship would slow down for them.”

“Kirby’s a really good player,” Mulroy said. “He’s a good friend of mine, actually. I work out with him in the summer and the fall.I might be playing AAU with him this year. He’s a really good player and I knew I had to step up and guard him. That wasn’t just me, it was everyone, too. It was fun tonight. It was a big win for us. We struggled in the beginning of the year because we were missing our football guys, but tonight was a good win. It’s going to be good for the rest of the year for us.”

Mulroy joined Kukla in double figures with 11 points. DJ Cerisier and Brady Fogle each added nine.

The Cardinals took control of the game in the third quarter. After leading 22-17 after the first quarter and 38-30 at the half, they pushed the advantage over 15 in the third. Kukla scored 11 points in the frame and Mulroy added four to make it a 53-37 game.

“Our second-half defense is what won this game and I’m pretty happy about it,” Brooks said.

Imad Abunima, Sean Devine and Chris D’Ambra led William Tennent (8-3, 5-2 SOL Freedom) with nine points apiece.

Upper Dublin 73, William Tennent 49

William Tennent 17 13 7 12 – 49

Upper Dublin 22 16 15 20 – 73

WT: Evan Devor 2 1-2 6, George Marion 2 1-4 7, Danny Schellor 0 0-0 0, Chris D’Ambra 4 0-0 9, Kirby Mooney 2 2-2 6, Vincent Salpizio 1 0-0 3, Tyler Laurin 0 0-0 0, Imad Abunima 3 0-0 9, Sean Devine 3 0-0 9, Tony Pople 0 0-0 0, Luke Torok 0 0-0 0. Total 17 4-8 49.

UD: DJ Cerisier 4 1-2 9, Ryan Mulroy 5 1-3 11, Mason Pensabene 0 0-0 0, Seaton Kukla 12 0-0 30, Brady Fogle 3 0-0 9, Kobe Bazemore 1 0-0 3, Chris Kohlbrenner 2 1-1 5, Griffin Pensabene 0 1-2 1, Idris Rines 1 0-0 2, Jalen Wells 0 0-0 0, Coleman Zamborsky 0 0-0 0, Anthony Oliveira-Schultz 1 1-2 3. Total 29 5-8 73.

3-pointers: WT: Evan Devor, George Marion 2, Imad Abunima 3, Sean Devine 3, Chris D’Ambra, Vincent Salpizio. UD: Seaton Kukla 6, Brady Fogle 3, Kobe Bazemore.