Upper Merion wins Norristown Summer League
The Upper Merion boys basketball team competed in the Norristown Summer League for the third time this year.
In the first year, it did not win a single game. Last year, it grabbed a few wins. This time, it won it all.
“We expect to win games rather than expect to lose games, which was kind of it back then,” coach Jason Quenzer said. “You go out and try to win a ball game, but we weren’t there yet. I feel like at this point, barring injury, we have a pretty nice team.”
The Vikings went 9-2 in the 10-team league and beat Souderton in the championship game by almost 20 points.
Expectations will be high for Upper Merion heading into the 2016-17 season — its first in the Pioneer Athletic Conference. The Vikings finished third in the Suburban One League American Conference last year, earned a trip to the District 1 tournament and return most of their roster.
“In the locker room one of the things we said after losing that district playoff game was, ‘Hey here’s the silver lining — the majority of us are going to be back,’” Quenzer said. “We have to go out and earn little wins along the way and the summer league was the first thing on the wall that we wanted to get. As a team we all knew it was a first step in where we wanted to go.
“Everybody that we played in the summer league played like we were the people to get. We have the target on our back for the first time ever. That’s going to be a little different for us, but the message was that we always have to work our hardest because we know we’re going to get everything from every team that we play.”
The team plans to play in a fall league and face more competition before the season starts in a few short months.
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Rising senior Matt Faw has picked up his first Division 1 offers in the last couple of weeks. The 6-foot-7 forward received offers from the College of Holy Cross, American University and Navy.
“It’s awesome,” Quenzer said. “He’s finally starting to see his hard work pay off. It’s awesome for him and his family and the program. We’re really proud of him.”
Faw averaged just under 19 points per game as a junior last season.
