Aces trump Cards

By Dennis C. Way
dway@21st-centurymedia.com
LOWER MERION >> The Aces of Lower Merion just had too much for Upper Dublin Tuesday night in Round Two of the PIAA District One Class AAAA boys basketball playoffs.
The 11th-seeded home team put four players in double figures, got 14 points and eight rebounds from Terrell Jones and cruised past the 27th-seeded Cardinals, 64-48, earning a berth in the upcoming PIAA Class AAAA playoffs.
There, Lower Merion will host Conestoga, after the Pioneers upset No. 3 Downingtown West, 57-51, in another quarterfinal tilt.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals, who played without the services of Ryan Stover and Isaiah Heinrich, will now play off for one of the two remaining berths available to second-round district losers.
The Aces controlled the first half, with Dion Harris and Jeremy Horn feasting inside and KJ Helton and Steve Payne providing long-range points.
The Cardinals, while not slowed down by Lower Merion’s full-court pressure, still had trouble inside, offensively, with Stover and Heinrich not available.
“We were trying to speed up the game early with a full-court man-to-man,” said Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer. “Upper Dublin was getting some early looks at the rim, and our defense was OK, not great.”
The Aces, who got 14 points from Terrell Jones and 11 from Noah Fennell, pushed their lead past 20 early in the second half, and while that lead was ultimately trimmed to 10 in the game’s latter stages, the Aces were never in peril.
“I thought it was a good game, to start with,” said Upper Dublin head coach Josh Adelman. “But they made a good run, and we started to play one-on-many, and you just can’t do that against a team that good.
“They built that lead, and they’re tough to come back on.”
Trailing 16-9 after one quarter, the Cardinals were blitzed the in the second period, being outscored, 18-7, and trailed, 34-16, at halftime.
The Aces spread the wealth, as Jones and Dion Harris each had four points, while six different Lower Merion players got into the scoring column.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals couldn’t get untracked, with the exception of Jimmy Gallagher, who would finish with a game-high 16 points.
As for Stover and Heinrich, Adelman said they did not play due to “a coach’s decision.
“And it’s a different game with those two guys,” the coach added.
As for Lower Merion, it refused to slow down its attack. And even though the home team managed just eight third-quarter points, its defense was solid enough to carry a 15-point edge into the final quarter.
The final quarter was essentially a foul-shooting exhibition, as the Aces went 11-for-16 from the stripe to keep the Cardinals at bay.
Fennell and Jones feasted from the line in the fourth, with Fennell making 6-of-8 and Jones going 4-for-7.
DRIBBLES AND DRABS
Lower Merion’s Harris would finish with nine points – all in the first half – and seven rebounds. … Along with Gallagher’s 16 points, John Barrett had 11, including six on a pair of three-pointers hoisted from somewhere near Ardmore.