Conestoga comes out flat in district quarterfinals; finds Aces too hot to handle

Lower Merion – After defeating Lower Merion twice this season (66-55 on Dec. 18 and 63-57 on Feb. 2), Conestoga had reason to feel confident against the Aces in the PIAA Class AAAA District One quarterfinals Friday night.
But falling behind 16-0 midway through the first period in Lower Merion’s Bryant Gymnasium isn’t the recipe for victory.
“We just didn’t come out ready to play,” said Conestoga head coach Mike Troy, whose Pioneers never got closer than seven points in a 68-45 defeat to LM. “We didn’t pay attention to the due details early, we didn’t come out with energy, and [both of these are] my responsibility. And credit Lower Merion for doing a very good job.”

In Conestoga’s first two games, the Pioneers got off to an early lead, but Friday night the Aces turned the tables.
Lower Merion junior guard Noah Fennell, who knocked down three treys during the 16-0 run, said, “The first two games against Conestoga we got off to a really slow start; tonight, we came out of the gates with a lot of intensity. We studied a lot of film of those first two [losses to Conestoga], and we found we weren’t getting to the midline [defensively] in time. Conestoga runs a really good offense, and we have to have all five of our guys working together to stop it, and we did tonight.”
Conestoga came back to cut the Aces’ lead to single digits in the second period, as senior guard Darryl Campbell (23 points) hit several shots from the outside, but the Pioneers could not get any closer than seven points the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Lower Merion shot 27-for-43 from the field.
“Once we got Lower Merion’s lead down to single digits, we didn’t have good defensive possessions,” said Troy. “Our defense picked up in the second half, but then we didn’t get good offensive possessions. Our [offensive] philosophy is to move the ball and the open guy gets the shot – on Tuesday night [the win against Downingtown West] we did a very good job of this, but we didn’t move the ball in the second half tonight.”
LM head coach Gregg Downer said, “Conestoga is a very gritty ball team, and they have guys who can make threes. We had more energy tonight early than we did in the first two games [against the Pioneers], and while our performances since the McCaskey game [on Dec. 29] have been choppy, and we haven’t had a real clean 32 minutes in any game yet, this game was as we’ve come to a clean performance. When you do a 16-0 routine on a team the caliber of Conestoga, that’s as close as clicking on all cylinders as you’re going to come.
“We had a lot of energy tonight, it’s like reaching a pinnacle to make it to the final four [in Districts] at Temple. There were a lot of people who thought we couldn’t get to Temple.
“It’s almost like the stars were aligned for us [in the first three rounds of Districts], to be an 11th seed and have three games at home.”
Four Aces scored in double figures against Conestoga Friday night – Fennell had 18 points, 6-8 senior center Jeremy Horn tallied 17 points (and grabbed nine rebounds), senior guard KJ Helton scored 15 and 6-4 junior guard Terrell Jones had 11.
Downer said, “Noah was fabulous, he’s a dynamic shooter; Horn’s really emerged as a player [lately], finishing around the rim [well]; and Terrell Jones is one of the better players around that you don’t hear much about.”