BOYS BASKETBALL: Upper Dublin’s defense leads way in win over Archbishop Ryan

UPPER DUBLIN — After the first quarter Monday night, Upper Dublin trailed Archbishop Ryan, 20-11, and lost the turnover battle, 6-1. Over the next three quarters and the four-minute overtime, the Cardinals outscored the Raiders, 46-27, and won the turnover battle, 15-4.

Upper Dublin held Archbishop Ryan to six points in the fourth quarter and shutout the Philadelphia Catholic League side in overtime to pick up a 57-47 win at Upper Dublin High School.

“You’ve got to want it more,” Upper Dublin senior guard Kobe Bazemore said about the defense. “It’s all about heart. Fifty-fifty balls and rebounds are what I was preaching.”

The Cardinals trailed by as many as 13 points in the first quarter. They trimmed their deficit to nine, 20-11, at the end of the opening frame and seven, 32-25, at halftime. Justin Ragsdale scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter to get UD within 41-40 heading to the fourth.

“Just attacking and being aggressive,” Ragsdale, who made four baskets and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the third quarter, said. “We were watching film, seeing they were aggressive. I had to match that. I just wanted to match that with my skill and getting around him. He was in foul trouble so I just wanted to keep going at him.”

Ragsdale, who grabbed 13 rebounds, was matched up with Archbishop Ryan forward Malik Hughes for most of the night. Hughes, who led the Raiders with 16 points, scored all six of his side’s points in the fourth quarter. He made a baseline jumper and had a couple strong finishes at the rim to put Ryan in front 43-40, 45-43 and 47-45, respectively.

“(Ragsdale) went toe-to-toe with a guy who’s probably going to be an All-Catholic League guy this year,” Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks said. “He deserves a lot of credit.”

Upper Dublin’s Noah Cohen hit three free throws to tie the game, 43-43. The Cardinals had trailed since 7-5 in the first quarter. Ragsdale hit two free throws to tie the game at 45 and put back an offensive rebound to make it 47-47 with 2:30 left.

The teams traded misses before Upper Dublin held the ball for the final 1:12. A three-point attempt at the buzzer was off to send the game to overtime.

Horace Jackson IV finished a reverse layup on the first possession of OT to give Upper Dublin its first lead since 5-4 and the Cardinals led the rest of the way. Jackson IV went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in the extra session and Cohen was 6-for-6 to close out the game while the defense continued to get stops.

Brooks credited Bazemore’s experience at point guard for turning around the Cardinals offense after the slow start.

“I thought it was one of the best games (Bazemore has) ever played for us,” Brooks said. “He was fantastic tonight. He’s been a real leader for us these last two games where we needed somebody to be that emotional toughness, let’s go, fire it up guy. We lost that guy from last year’s team. That’s a huge role. He has really stepped up and I thought his point guard play, hitting guys, playing with pace, being the organizer and his on-ball defense was fantastic, as it always is.”

“Ever since sophomore year I’ve been starting,” Bazemore said. “I just stay composed, especially in the clutch. No turnovers, that’s what decides games.”

Upper Dublin returns to Suburban One League Liberty Division play this week, but has another PCL test next Monday when it hosts La Salle College High School.

“This is why we make this schedule,” Brooks said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have success and these teams are willing to play us. Sometimes they don’t want to. They get nine non-league games. They’re not going to waste them. They have to get ready for their league. We’re honored that they want to play teams like us. We lost to Bonner last year (in states). A PCL team. If we test ourselves, we should hopefully give ourselves a chance when we see these teams down the road.”

Upper Dublin 57, Archbishop Ryan 47 (OT)

Archbishop Ryan 20 12 9 6 0 – 47

Upper Dublin 11 14 15 7 10 – 57

AR: Malik Hughes 7 2-4 16, Matt Johnson 1 2-3 4, Isaiah Gore 1 0-0 2, Kaden Brown 1 0-0 2, Brett Mariani 3 0-0 8, Jack McMullin 5 0-2 14, Gavin Kpan 0 1-2 1. Total 18 5-11 47.

UD: Brandon Altman 1 0-0 2, Kobe Bazemore 2 1-1 6, Justin Ragsdale 7 6-8 22, Horace Jackson IV 3 2-4 8, Noah Cohen 1 9-9 12, Jake Scherzer 0 0-0 0, Luke Caron 3 1-2 7. Total 17 19-24 57.

3-point goals: AR: Jack McMullin 4, Brett Mariani 2. UD: Ragsdale 2, Bazemore, Cohen.