Boys Basketball: Lower Merion clinches 6th consecutive state tourney berth

Ardmore – Qualifying for the PIAA Class AAAA state tournament is becoming an annual habit for Lower Merion, who clinched their sixth consecutive state tourney berth – and their 10th in the last 12 years – with a 64-48 win against No. 27 seed Upper Dublin Tuesday.

The Aces won the second-round District One playoff game fairly handily, and by the middle of the fourth quarter, Lower Merion fans were chanting, “We want ‘Stoga” once they found out the Pioneers upset third seed Downingtown West and would play the 11th-seeded Aces in the third round of Districts. Leading the way for the Lower Merion attack was 6-4 junior guard Terrell Jones, who paced the Aces with 13 points and dished out numerous assists to LM teammates under the basket.

“Some of my shots weren’t falling tonight,” said Jones, who hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat Penn Wood in overtime 68-66 in the first round of Districts Feb. 12. “When that happens, I look to go to the rim, or look for the open man.”

The Lower Merion junior guard, who also grabbed eight rebounds, added, “We were looking to slow down [6-1 senior guard John Barrett] tonight – we wanted to take away his 3’s, They have a lot of guys who can score – No. 3 (senior guard Ben Abel), No. 12 (6-foot-5 Will Derr) and No. 21 (6-3 senior forward Jimmy Gallagher).” Early in the game, Upper Dublin was penetrating the Aces’ defense, and the visitors hung tough in the Bryant Gymnasium until early in the second quarter.

Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer said, “We were trying to speed it up early in the game, with a full court man-to-man, and Upper Dublin was getting some early looks at the rim. Our defense [overall] was OK, not great.”
Early in the second quarter, Lower Merion began a 16-4 run to pull away. The Aces controlled the second quarter, with 6-foot-6 junior forward Dion Harris and 6-foot-8 senior Jeremy Horn scoring inside and KJ Helton providing long-range points. Late in the second quarter, Lower Merion senior guard Zach Magill nailed a three-pointer from the right corner; then seconds later made a nice interception of an Upper Dublin pass headed out of bounds, flipped the ball to an LM teammate and saw freshman guard Steve Payne score inside to make it 32-16.

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