Upper Dublin jumps out early, beats rival Wissahickon
UPPER DUBLIN >> Building chemistry on the fly, Upper Dublin brought it together for a rousing 61-42 victory over Wissahickon in a rivalry-charged atmosphere on its home court Tuesday night.
“We just have a bunch of mentally-tough, athletic kids,” said Derek Brooks, in his first season as head coach of the Cardinals. “They wanna compete. So you never have to worry about them being ready to go. They’re self-generated.”
The Cardinals jumped out to an 8-0 lead and were in control for most of the way, raising their Suburban One League Liberty Division record to 2-0 and improving to 3-2 overall.
In front of a packed house, Upper Dublin came out firing.
“That’s always such a huge boost. Our energy was great,” Brooks said. “I thought our game plan was good to start and I thought our guys did a good job of executing it.”
The Cardinals moved the ball around and found several reliable scoring options.
Brady Fogle and Seaton Kukla each scored 12 points for the Cardinals, Mason Pensabene had nine and D.J. Curisier chipped in with eight. Idris Rines, Ryan Mulroy and Chris Kohlbrenner each had six points and Kobe Bazemore added a basket, in about as balanced a scoring attack as you’ll see.
Of equal importance was the Upper Dublin’s defensive focus, which squared in on Wissahickon’s terrific guard play.
“They have some really good guards,” Brooks said. “And they had a good game – we were fortunate that (Jaylon Williams) got in foul trouble early. Because he had a good start to the second half. We wanted to try and limit their penetration.
“I thought we did a good job of limiting them to one shot,” Brooks said, “not giving them extra shots. Against a good team like Wiss that’s well-coached, you just wanna do the best you can to get a good contest.”
Upper Dublin took a 14-point lead into the fourth and held firm.
The Cardinals are also strengthened by their additions from the football team, which captured a District 1-5A crown and reached the state semis.
“This is my first year here – I got the job in June. We have a bunch of football guys and we got to see them a little bit in the summer. They had a deep football run so a lot of them missed the preseason. So we were installing our first plays with them a week ago,” Brooks said. “So it’s gonna be a work in progress of getting everybody on the same page and up to speed.
“But if you would have told me two months ago that we would be in this spot right now, I’d be pretty happy. And we’re just gonna keep getting better fortunately. So we can build off this – especially your first rivalry game against Wiss. You gotta deliver in that one. It was a great crowd and fun to be part of so we’re excited.”
Upper Dublin 61, Wissahickon 42
Wissahickon 7 12 14 9 – 42
Upper Dublin 17 14 16 14 – 61
Wissahickon: William Kirkpatrick 1 2-3 4, Jaylon Williams 3 2-4 10, Brayden Ryan 2 0-0 4, Andrew Slackman 1 2-2 4, Domenic Vacchiano 1 0-0 3, Earl Stout 8 1-4 17. Totals 16 7-13 42.
Upper Dublin: Mason Pensabene 3 2-2 9, Brady Fogle 3 4-4 12, D.J. Curisier 4 0-0 8, Ryan Mulroy 3 0-4 6, Seaton Kukla 4 3-3 12, Kobe Bazemore 0 2-2 2, Idris Rines 2 2-2 6, Chris Kohlbrenner 3 0-0 6. Totals 22 13-17 61.
3-pointers: W-Williams 2, Vacchiano; UD-Pensabene, Fogle 2, Kukla.
