SPRINGFIELD – The 11-point lead the Upper Dublin boys basketball team built in the fourth quarter was quickly cut down to just two by La Salle, but the visiting Cardinals regrouped down the stretch to hold off the Explorers 57-50 Tuesday night to earn their first win of the season.
“I feel like we’re a team that always sticks together,” Upper Dublin senior Idris Rines said. “Some teams will fall in that moment, some teams will collapse, will blame others and stuff like that for a comeback but I feel like we all just stick together.”
A Rines’ 3-pointer put Upper Dublin up 45-34 but La Salle’s pressure enabled it to rally, the Explorers ripping off nine straight points to pull within 45-43 after Nick Parisi knocked down a three.
Ryan Mulroy found Justin Ragsdale for a basket inside, pushing UD’s advantage to 47-43. With 1:27 remaining, Rines was fouled trying for an offensive rebound with La Salle given a technical foul following the play. Rines proceeded to connect on four consecutive free throws to put the Cards up eight.
“I wasn’t a good free throw shooter last year, only like 70-some percent,” Rines said. So I made sure, I want to make every free throw this year, I’ll stay in the gym to get extra free throws, extra jump shots.”
Mulroy drove in for two more on the ensuing UD possession to make it 53-43 and from there La Salle could only cut the margin down to seven as the Cardinals improved to 1-1 after dropping their opener to Lower Merion 82-68 last Saturday.
“We just got to handle physicality better,” Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks said. “Rebounding the ball and handling pressure cause when our guys can get into our half-court stuff they do a good job executing but it’s so often we don’t get into it enough because we’re just either going rogue or we’re not handling pressure, we’re on our heels or whatever.
“But all that considered I really like how we handled punching them in the mouth, getting punched back and then regrouping and then say all right we’re fine, OK, getting a basket.”
Rines, one of three starters back from last year’s UD squad that reached the District 1-5A final and finished 24-5, scored a game-high 22 points, hitting four 3-pointers and going a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line.
“I feel like they didn’t close out a lot on me,” Rines said. “So it was just like I felt the opportunity to shoot.”
Mulroy added 11 points, six coming in the second quarter as Upper Dublin outscored La Salle 14-5 to take a 22-16 lead into halftime.
“I think what was good is we settled into the half court and took care of the ball a little bit,” Brooks said. “I do think we did a pretty good job defensively for the most part the whole night just got to rebound a little bit better.”
La Salle’s Nick Parisi scored 11 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth. Joey O’Brien collected nine of his 15 points in the third for the Explorers, who dropped to 0-2.
“We just got to keep fighting hard, just keep putting in the hours, you got to keep executing, that’s all basketball is about is executing,” O’Brien said. “And if we execute we’ll win and we didn’t execute to the best of our ability.”
La Salle twice tied the game in the third but both times the Cardinals drained threes to regain the advantage – Rines hitting for the corners for a 28-25 edge then Noah Cohen connecting to make it 31-28.
An O’Brien basket had the Explorers within 31-30 before Cohen hit another triple to put the Cards up four.
“Teams are going to be physical with him, he’s our shooter but we got to be able to break him free for a couple looks,” said Brooks of Cohen. “And when he gets his looks he can knock ‘em down. Sometimes in these super-physical games that can be to his disadvantage a bit but he’s tough. He’s not going to get down, he’s hunting for his opportunities, he has extreme confidence in himself which we love and it was good for him to get some looks.”
Two Reilly McLaughlin free throws with 53.7 seconds had Upper Dublin leading 36-32 at the end of the third.
After Rines hit a pair at the line at 7:44 in the fourth to make it 38-32, Parisi’s basket had La Salle back within four only for Upper Dublin to respond with a 7-0 burst. McLaughlin scored after intercepting a pass then made another steal that led to a Ragsdale bucket. Rines hit his fourth and final three of the night to give UD a 45-34 lead.
The Explorers, however, forced turnovers with its pressure and rallied back with a 9-0 run. Grayson McKeogh made two free throws at 5:04 with baskets from Parisi then O’Brien cutting the deficit to 45-40. A Parisi triple made it 45-42.
“That’s probably the best thing about our game, we got guys like Max Okebata, Nick Parisi and Hayes (Altomare) who do in the press, Nick Neri,” O’Brien said. “Just everybody does their job and they do it well so that creates turnovers and helps us out.”
But Upper Dublin held off La Salle by scoring the next eight – four straight Rines free throws with 87 seconds later making it 51-43 with a Mulroy basket giving the Cards their second double-digit advantage of the night.
Upper Dublin plays in Souderton’s Jim Church Classic this weekend, the Cardinals taking on Downingtown West 6:30 p.m. Friday. La Salle hosts Fels 5:30 p.m. Monday.
In the opening quarter, La Salle got out to a 9-2 lead before UD scored the next six – Mulroy’s two free throws at 1:31 had the Cardinals down 9-8. An Altomare basket gave the Explores an 11-8 after the first eight minutes.
Two Rines free throws at 4:43 gave Upper Dublin its first lead at 14-12. An O’Brien corner 3-pointer had La Salle up 16-14 but the Cardinals capped the half with an 8-0 run – Rines hitting a three to make it 20-16 before Mulroy’s transition layin had UD up six at the break.
Upper Dublin 57, La Salle 50
Upper Dublin 8 14 14 21 – 57
La Salle 11 5 16 18 – 50
Upper Dublin: Idris Rines 1 4 8-8 22; Ryan Mulroy 4 0 3-4 11; Noah Cohen 0 3 2-4 8; Reilly McLaughlin 1 0 5-6 7; Justin Ragsdale 3 0 1-2 7; Kobe Bazemore 0 0 2-2 2; Totals 9 6 21-26 57.
La Salle: Nick Parisi 4 3 1-2 18; Joey O’Brien 3 2 3-4 15; Grayson McKeogh 3 0 2-2 8; Nick Neri 3 0-0 6; Hayes Altomare 1 0 0-0 2; Prestin Washington 0 1-1 1; Totals 14 5 7-9 50.
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