Battle-tested Upper Merion heads to big stage
The Upper Merion boys basketball team has been through more ups and downs than it can count.
The Vikings won just three games in 2014-15, but responded the next year with a 13-win improvement and a district playoff berth. The season was highlighted by a double-digit win over eventual district champion and state semifinalist Plymouth Whitemarsh, but the Vikings season came to an end in the first round of districts with a two-point home loss to Academy Park.
The 2016-17 season got off to a fast start but quickly turned when their star center Matt Faw injured his foot and had to miss six weeks. The Holy Cross commit returned without missing a beat. He led the Vikings to a key win in the regular season finale and two district playoff victories. The latest was one of the biggest in school history — a three-point win at No. 1 seeded Chester to clinch the school’s first state playoff berth since 1993.
“After a few of the losses — some of the losing streaks — our heads were hanging a little bit,” senior forward Ethan Miller said. “But we knew if we made it into the playoffs that no matter what we’d have a chance. We’re good enough despite the seeding that we could make a run and do good things.”
“It’s incredible all that we’ve gone through as a group,” Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer said. “From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs to all the in between. I think my biggest message throughout the whole season this year was when we lost games and didn’t win as many as we expected to win, I just said, ‘Guys listen. Ultimately we want to win as many possible games to put ourselves in a position where we have a home playoff game and the best possible seed, but ultimately all these experiences are going to give us something. That’s been the case since you guys have been here and wore a Vikings jersey.’ We’ve been in tight games where we’ve lost, we’ve been in tight games where we’ve won. I think we’ve kind of experienced the gamut. I don’t know how much more you can throw at these guys and say, ‘Have you experienced this yet?’ Most of the answers would be, ‘yes we have.’”
The next experience for this team filled with seniors is a trip to Temple University’s Liacouras Center. They will face Bishop Shanahan at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the District 1 Class-5A semifinals.
“This will be a new experience, but a good one,” Miller said. “We just have to play it like any other game and come out focused.”
“None of our guys have ever played at a stadium like that with such big stakes,” Quenzer said. “But I’m sure that’s the case for both teams. We all go in with the same advantage and disadvantage there. You try and say, ‘Guys, we’re at a great venue at the Liacouras Center’ and you definitely have respect for who’s played there and the coaches there and all that. Then you kind of have to get over it the moment you walk in — alright we’re here, it’s just another basketball game.”
Quenzer pointed to character as something that helped the team get through all of the ups and downs over the last few seasons. Some of that character stems from four of the team’s 12 seniors being Eagle Scouts. Those players are Miller, CJ Levy, Timmy Biegalski and Anthony Shepperd.
“Scouting helped build my character,” Miller, a team captain, said. “I’ve become more mentally strong through scouts. That’s helped me personally rebound after losses and stay mentally strong and focused.”
“The experience that they’ve gained from that program has bled into this program so much,” Quenzer said. “Through character and having toughness and a good attitude — all of those things that those four guys exhibit.”
Eagle Scout is the highest achievement in the Boy Scouting Program of the Boys Scouts of America. To reach this rank, the four Vikings — who all were a part of Troop 551 out of King of Prussia — had to make a big commitment.
“It’s really difficult,” Miller said. “We’ve been doing it our whole lives up until we were 18. Even in elementary school we started in Cub Scouts. Boy Scouts started the beginning of middle school. It was a big commitment. A lot of trips and learning a lot of stuff — service projects and that type of stuff.”
Upper Merion, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, knows it will need another great effort to beat No. 4 Bishop Shanahan and advance to the championship.
“(Shannahan is) playing some really good basketball right now,” Quenzer said. “They’re well-coached, shoot the three-ball well, good transition team and a very good defensive team — a lot more than I think people give them credit for. First (we have to) recognize how good they are and all these things they do well is important, but the goal is to play our game and try to impose our will and play as well as we did with the same intensity that we did the other night (against Chester) and understand that it’s going to take everything to beat the talent Bishop Shanahan has.”
The winner of Wednesday’s game will face the winner of No. 3 Penncrest and No. 2 Great Valley in the final Saturday at 2 p.m. at Villanova.
The two losers will face each other Saturday for state seeding.
TOP PHOTO: Upper Merion’s Ethan Miller goes for a layup at practice. (Gene Walsh/Digital First Media)
