Baron’s record night pushes Pope John Paul II past Upper Merion
ROYERSFORD >> Pope John Paul II boys basketball assistant Paul Taglialatela thought J.P. Baron’s 36-point night Thursday against Upper Merion was significant.
He was on the court the last time a Golden Panther approached that mark.
A check of the record books in the locker room after the game confirmed Taglialatela’s suspicions. Baron’s masterful performance in the 67-59 division win was indeed a school record, breaking the program’s single-game mark of 33 set by Taglialatela’s former teammate James Bleming in 2013.
Baron’s record-setting night and a 21-point outing from fellow senior Jaden Workman were needed for the Golden Panthers, the reigning PAC champions, to break a two-game skid and jump to first in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division.
“It was definitely a big win,” Baron said. “We brought a lot of energy. I felt like we played really well. We competed. We didn’t give up on each other, and that was the main factor. We stayed together.”
.@PJPII_Hoops senior J.P. Baron, left, scored a school-record 34 points and classmate Jaden Workman added 21 in PJP’s win over Upper Merion on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/diB9xdNTNT
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) January 7, 2022
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) January 7, 2022
After Pope John Paul II (5-2, 2-1 PAC, 2-0 Frontier) led 30-27 at halftime, and extended its lead to as many as 10 points in the third, Upper Merion (4-4, 2-2, 2-1) chipped the Golden Panthers’ advantage down to one, 50-49, with five minutes to play when Qwynne Seals drilled a corner three.
Vikings’ junior Zayd Etheridge, who had 15 of his 25 points in the second half, used an and-one to bring Upper Merion within a point, 55-54, again with 2:38 left, but that’s as close as it came.
Workman drove to the bucket to put PJP up three. Baron followed with a tough finish to make it a five-point lead before grabbing a rebound after an Upper Merion miss and knocking down a pair of free throws to make it 61-54 PJP with 1:26 to go.
“It’s definitely leadership and confidence,” Baron said of the strong finish. “We have a lot of confidence in ourselves and our teammates, and that led us to a big win.”
“Big boy over here gets buckets,” Baron added, motioning to Workman.
Baron, who came in as the PAC’s leading scorer at 17.7 points per game, had 12 of his team’s 16 points in the first quarter. He finished with 10 in the fourth, when he went 8-for-12 from the free throw line.
“J.P. has definitely taken his game to another level,” Workman said. “He’s knocking down a lot of shots, playing very well. Playing good on both sides of the ball as well.”
“He’s a bucket,” said Upper Merion senior Kalil Lawson, who scored 15 points in the Vikings’ loss.
Upper Merion entered the 2021-22 campaign with a ‘Big 3’ of seniors Lawson and Ty Jones (eight points Thursday) and junior Madison Tatom all returning with plenty of varsity experience.
Jones had six in the second quarter to keep things close (30-27) at halftime, while Lawson had eight after the break as the Vikings attempted to erase a 44-34 deficit with two and a half to play in the third quarter.
Tatom, sporting a boot on his foot on Thursday, has played just two games this season after spraining his ankle twice. In his absence, Lawson said players like Etheridge have taken turns rising to the occasion.
“We’re big on role players,” Lawson said. “All our guys know they can come in and make a play, especially when we need it. They’re all ready to step up to the plate, and Zay stepped up real big for us tonight, keeping us in the game.”
The Golden Panthers’ ‘Big 3’ of Baron (17.7 ppg), Workman (12.1 ppg) and classmate Kevin Green (9.5 ppg), who was in foul trouble throughout Thursday’s contest, have been stalwarts for three seasons now.
Others like Trey Rogers and Dylan Russ are finding where they fit into the mix in their first true taste of the varsity level. Rogers went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to finish with six points, and Russ scored five in Thursday’s win.
“I’ve been really happy about the way some of these new guys have come in and locked into their role and know that we do have three guys back that are going to score a lot and create a lot,” PJP coach Brendan Stanton said. “But they do a lot of the dirty work, setting screens, cutting without the ball, second cuts and things like that, which open up for everybody else as well.”
The shorthanded Vikings started off their division slate with wins over Pottstown (68-44) and Pottsgrove (57-39) before back-to-back league losses to Methacton (73-48) and Pope John Paul II this week.
Tatom said he hopes to return before the end of the month, mentioning the Norristown game. Until then, Lawson, Jones, Etheridge and the rest of the Vikings will hope to keep Upper Merion in the division and league races.
“For sure, we’re beat up, but that’s the one thing about the Frontier,” Lawson said. “When we play Pope John Paul and some of these other schools, we’ll see them again and it will be at our house. So it’ll be fun. This game was fun.”
The Golden Panthers took an early lead in the Frontier with Thursday’s win over the Vikings, shaking off a 67-55 loss to Malvern Prep over the holiday break and a 51-43 PAC Crossover defeat to Boyertown on Tuesday.
Another big test awaits Monday against Phoenixville, last year’s second place finisher in the division.
“We won this game because of a lot of energy,” Baron said. “If we keep it up, stay together, we can win games.”
“We were hitting shots, playing good defense, rebounding the ball,” Workman said. “That’s pretty much all we have to do.”
NOTES >> The two teams combined for 59 free throws. PJP went 20-for-26 from the line, while the Vikings went 22-for-33. … Five total players fouled out of the contest — two for UM and three for PJP.
Thursday’s Game
Pope John Paul II 67, Upper Merion 59
UPPER MERION: Jones 0 8-10 8, Lawson 5 4-5 15, Seals 1 0-0 3, Etheridge 9 6-11 25, Brooks 0 2-2 2, Nyguen 1 1-3 3, Riley 1 1-2 3, 17 22-33 59.
POPE JOHN PAUL II: Green 0 0-0 0, Rogers 1 4-4 6, Workman 9 2-4 21, Sykes 0 2-2 2, O’Brien 0 0-0 0, Baron 12 11-15 36, Russ 2 1-2 5, Totals 24 20-26 67.
Upper Merion 11 16 15 17-59
Pope John Paul II 16 14 16 21-67
3-point goals: UM – Lawson, Seals, Etheridge; PJP – Workman, Baron 2.
