Boys basketball: Lower Merion knocks off Roman Catholic in second round of States

If the road to the PIAA Class AAAA boys’ basketball state title really does run through Lower Merion, then powerful Roman Catholic found quite a roadblock in the Aces’ defense Wednesday night.

Shutting down District 12 champion Roman Catholic almost from the start and grabbing a 14-4 lead late in the first quarter, Lower Merion defeated the Cahillites, 64-52, Wednesday in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA boys’ basketball state tournament at Archbishop Ryan High School.

Roman Catholic featured a Division I-bound backcourt in 6-foot-1 Shep Garner (headed to Penn State) and 6-foot-2 Rashaan London (bound for Drexel). Roman, ranked as one of the top teams in Southeast Pennsylvania, had some designs on winning the state title this season.

But against the defending PIAA Class AAAA state champions, Roman looked nervous in the early going, missing numerous inside shots (they shot 19-for-55 from the field for the game) and committing turnover after turnover.

Lower Merion senior guard JaQuan Johnson, who scored 20 points (18 in the second half), said, “The coaches really had us prepared, we looked a lot of film [of Roman] and knew the game of every guy on that team. We knew they liked to run, but we came into the game feeling like they were going to play at our speed.’

LM head coach Gregg Downer, whose squad since Sunday had looked at film of eight Roman games, said, “We didn’t want to play too fast, and for most of the first half we kept up a good pace [for us].’

Aces’ 6-foot-6 junior forward Jule Brown, who grabbed five rebounds in the first half (eight in all), scored the game’s first points off a rebound, then Steve Pendleton hit a trey to give Lower Merion a 5-2 lead. The Aces slowly built momentum, as Justin McFadden followed a Cahillite turnover with a basket to give Lower Merion a 12-4 lead with 1:35 left in the first quarter. Roman called a timeout but to no avail, as the Cahillites missed their next shot and Jule Brown scored to give the Aces a 14-4 lead near the end of the first quarter.

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The Lower Merion High School boys' basketball squad knocked off powerful Roman Catholic, 64-52, Wednesday evening in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA state tournament at Archbishop Ryan High School. Aces, JaQuan Johnson had 20 points (18 of them in the second half). Photo Pete Bannan (Pete Bannan)