Mercury Area Boys Basketball: Upper Merion squeaks past Methacton; Upper Perk with convincing win over Oley

Owen J. Roberts 56, Pope John Paul 37 >> Bobby Walker and Shyheed May headed the offense for the Wildcats as they rode a big first-half lead to victory over the Golden Panthers in a non-divisional Pioneer Athletic Conference matchup.

Walker had a game-high 15 points — one more than May’s 14 — as OJR opened a 31-16 halftime advantage. Justin Bailey chipped in with another 10 for OJR, a total matched by PJP’s Aidan McCarthy and Rick Bearden.

Upper Merion 48, Methacton 43 >> Even with hot shooting from 3-point range, the Warriors were unable to handle the Vikings in their non-divisional PAC pairing.

David Duda got all his 18 points off long-distance buckets. Patrick O’Neil had three 3s as part of his 13-point effort, but UM had the upper hand in a 26-22 second half.

Great Valley 47, Pottsgrove 38 >> Alex Capitano scored a game-high 25 points as the Patriots kept the Falcons at bay in order to win a non-league contest.

Upper Perkiomen 64, Oley Valley 45 >> Ryan Kendra scored a game-high 20 points while freshman Sean Boyle added 14 points with four 3-pointers as the Indians claimed their second win of the season with a victory over the Lynx.

UP was in control throughout, leading 18-2 after one, 34-13 at the half and 52-23 after three.

Perkiomen School 45, Lawrenceville 39 >> A defensive battle between two evenly matched, athletic teams saw the Panthers able to make just enough plays late to pull out the victory.

Tied at 36 with 4 minutes to go, Perkiomen went on a 7-0 run before Lawrenceville hit a 3-pointer to pull within four with 18 seconds left. Perkiomen would add two more free throws for the final margin. Perkiomen’s scoring was very balanced, Chandler Brooks leading the way with 12 while Nick Guadarrama and Reggie James each chipped in 10 apiece.

Daniel Boone 63, Brandywine Heights 56 >> Ian Rathgeb hit for 21 points to spark Boone’s victory over the Bullets in their non-divisional Berks Conference outing.

Boone pushed the lead to eight with 45 seconds, and after Brandywine narrowed it to four with :30 to go, Rathgeb hit a one-and-one, with 2 minutes to go, to stretch the lead to five.

Ryan Okuniewski (17 points) had eight assists for the Blazers, with Rathgeb and Stroble each clearing eight rebounds to lead Boone.