PIAA Boys Basketball Preview: Methacton, Pope John Paul set to represent PAC at states

A year after an eye-popping five Pioneer Athletic Conference boys basketball teams advanced to the PIAA tournament, only two of the league’s squads will play in the Pennsylvania state playoffs this season.

However, that doesn’t mean the PAC won’t be well-represented as the top two teams in the league throughout the 2019-20 season and two district title winners are the final two squads remaining.

District 1-4A champion Pope John Paul II (19-6), the Frontier Division winner and PAC runner-up, will open PIAA Class 4A tournament play against District 12 fourth seed John Bartram (10-14) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Coatesville Area High School.

District 1-6A winner Methacton (26-2), Liberty Division winner and three-time PAC champ, will start its PIAA Class 6A run a day later, taking on District 3 sixth seed Harrisburg (15-10) at 7:30 p.m. at Norristown Area High School on Saturday.

Here are a look at the two games:

Pope John Paul II vs. John Bartram

The Golden Panthers claimed the school’s first District 1 championship on Feb. 22 when they defeated Lower Moreland, in the title game of the three-team Class 4A tournament.

Pope John Paul II, which already has the most wins in school history, hasn’t played in the PIAA tournament since the 2012-13 squad advanced to the second round of states. The Golden Panthers wait has been extra long as they will have 13 days between Friday night’s game and the district championship win.

Senior Drew McKeon (13 points per game) and junior Justin Green (12.8) are PJP’s top two scorers. McKeon does most of his damage outside, knocking down 63 threes this season. Green is a 6-foot-5 do-it-all forward who plays tough inside on both ends, grabs rebounds and can even step outside to hit the three, hitting 31 shots from beyond the arc this season.

While McKeon and Green lead the scoring, PJP has three or four others who can go off for double digits on a given night. The pair are joined in the starting lineup by junior Luke McCarthy (9.6 ppg) and sophomore Kevin Green (8.2 ppg), two more knockdown shooters (68 combined threes), and senior Dave Smrek (3.8 pgg), who does a lot of little things for this group.

Sophomore Jaden Workman (8.3 ppg) plays the sixth-man role as a boost of offense coming off the bench, while classmate JP Baron has seen his role expand late in the season. Senior Evan Yasneski and junior Liam Haffey round out the Golden Panthers’ rotation.

PJP is somewhat familiar with their first-round opponent after defeating Bartram 60-58 in the first game of the 2018-19 season.

Don’t let Bartram’s record fool you. The Braves played in the Class ‘A’ division of the Public League this season where they squared off against some of the league’s 6A and 5A schools as well as recent state powers like Imhotep Charter and Math, Civics & Sciences.

The Braves advanced to the Public League quarterfinals, where they fell to eventual Public League champ Simon Gratz 57-52, and dropped a 72-58 contest to Archbishop Carroll in the District 12 third/fourth place game.

Senior D’Maio Massey, a 6-foot-5 wing, was a first team All-Public League ‘A’ Division selection and is the team’s leading scorer at about 17 points per game, according to MaxPreps. After Massey, the Braves seem to have a number of individuals who can chip in on the scoring effort, including senior guard Tyreek Nichols (5-11), junior guard Joshua Horn (6-2) and sophomore guard Joseph Kambo (6-0).

Bartram has much more depth in the frontcourt than PJP. Two players from the group of Massey,  senior forward Marquez Mighty-McGee (6-6), junior forward Ty-Shaan Taylor (6-4) and freshman Tiekoro Sidibe (6-8) usually share the floor at the same time.

Methacton vs. Harrisburg

After rolling to a third straight Pioneer Athletic Conference title, the Warriors were equally dominant in their run to the District 1-6A title, winning each game by 23-or-more points, including a 73-48 championship win over Cheltenham.

Colgate-bound senior Jeff Woodward (13.8 ppg), a 6-foot-10 forward, and senior Erik Timko (20 ppg), a 6-foot-3 sharpshooter, seem to have saved their best play for the postseason. The duo was dominant in the team’s district semifinal win against Chester and championship victory over Cheltenham at Temple, combining for 92 points in the two games.

Senior Brett Eberly (8.1 ppg) is a true point guard able to swing the ball around floor, and Owen Kropp (10.3 ppg) does just about everything well on the basketball court. The pair also give Methacton two more outside threats, knocking down 49 and 38 3-point shots this season, respectively.

Sophomores Brett Byrne and Cole Hargrove, a 6-foot-5 wing, have emerged late in the season to give the Warriors depth and two more accurate 3-point shooters. Junior forward Ryan Baldwin (6-6) has also given Methacton some good minutes off the bench to spell Woodward or even share the floor with the senior big man at times.

Methacton has plenty of experience on the state playoff stage as its four seniors were all a big part of the team’s run to the PIAA quarterfinals last season, but Harrisburg is no stranger to this stage either. The Cougars advanced to the second round of the PIAA tournament last season after winning a District 3 title.

After losing some pieces from last year’s impressive squad, Harrisburg has found a way back to the state tournament as the sixth seed out of District 3. The Cougars lost to Reading, 50-47, in the District 3 quarterfinals before defeating Governor Mifflin in the district playback game to lock up their state bid and falling to Central Dauphin in a game for state seeding.

Senior Davon Lee, a 6-foot-2 guard, was a back-to-back first team Mid-Penn Conference Colonial Division selection this year. Lee, who holds college interest, plans on prepping next year. Junior John McNeil, another 6-foot athletic guard, was the quarterback for Harrisburg’s state playoff football team.

Senior Nicari Williams is a scrappy 6-foot-3 forward, but the Cougars lack much team height. Harrisburg will likely have to push the pace against the Warriors to combat the size disparity, but the Warriors have shown this year they can handle pressure, and they may be even more lethal when their shooters get up-and-down the floor.