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NESHAMINY 49, UPPER MORELAND 42
Mike Murray and Matt Drapkin combined for 29 second-half points, allowing the Redskins to erase a five-point halftime deficit and seize control of a tightly contested non-league contest.
“It was a back and forth game from the start – within 1-3 points basically the whole game until the fourth when we went up and pulled it out with free throws towards the end,” Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle said. “It was a good game.
“Both teams matched up perfectly as far as guards-guards, bigs-bigs. Both teams have a ton of experience back. I know they had a nice season last year. It was definitely a battle.”
Murray had a huge game under the basket, leading the Redskins with 23 points and nine rebounds. He scored 17 of those after the intermission. Drapkin, the Redskins’ point guard, had 12 of his 14 points in the second half and was 6-of-7 at the foul line.
“Mike Murray and Matt Drapkin kind of took over the second half where basically we were feeding them the ball and they made very really good plays and made free throws at the end,” Tingle said.
The Redskins outscored the Golden Bears 32-20 in the second half.
“The whole year we’ve been playing really good defense, so holding an experienced team to 42 points was really good for us,” Tingle said. “We’ve been basically holding teams under 40 on average, and that’s really big for us.
“The nice thing is – one night it might be one guy (with a big game), the next night it might be someone else. This team doesn’t really care who gets the credit, so it’s really fun to coach.”
The Redskins’ coach pointed to the team’s defense and unselfish approach as keys to its 5-0 start.
“Honestly, that’s the reason we are where we are – we’re playing defense and sharing the ball,” Tingle said. “Today it was Mike and Matt. The first game was Tom Mullin. It’s just all over the place, it’s great.
“If you can play defense and share the ball, usually decent things happen. It’s a good start right now.”
Also for the Redskins, Jake McGinty pulled down a team high 10 rebounds. Tom Mullin had four assists and, according to Tingle, was a key on defenseå.
For the Golden Bears, Jahaire Johnson led the way with 15 points, and it was the senior scoring 12 first-half points and propelling UM to a 22-17 lead. Matt Tiernan also finished in double figures with 10 points while Byron Hopkins had six.
Neshaminy (5-0, 4-0 SOL) will travel to Bensalem on Tuesday, and Upper Moreland (1-2, 1-1) will host New Hope-Solebury on Tuesday.
Game Summary Brought To You By
Neshaminy 9-8-18-14 49 Upper Moreland 8-14-10-10 42
Neshaminy (49) – Jimmy MacDonald 0 2-4 2; Jake McGinty 2 0-0 4; Matt Drapkin 4 6-7 14; Mike Murray 9 5-9 23; Hammed Fofana 1 0-0 3; Sean Curley 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 17 13-20 49.
Upper Moreland (42) – Jahaire Johnson 7 0-0 15; Byron Hopkins 2 1-2 6; Jourdan Gregg 2 1-1 5; McKie Walker 1 0-0 2; Jake Tiernan 2 0-2 4; Matt Tiernan 4 2-5 10; TOTALS 18 4-10 42.
3-point goals: Neshaminy – Hammed Fofana, Sean Curley, UM – Byron Hopkins, Jahaire Johnson.