DiNolfi lifts Norristown to road win over Upper Merion

UPPER MERION >> John DiNolfi decided enough was enough.

“They got us two years ago,” the Norristown senior said of rival Upper Merion, his old stomping grounds. “And then we couldn’t have a season last year (due to the pandemic). I used to go here — middle school. All my friends go there. And I’ve been hearing about them beating us for two years. So this one felt good.”

Norristown’s big man came through in a big way, scoring a game-high 17 points, including 13 in the second half, to lift the Eagles to a 46-38 victory over the Vikings Saturday night in a Pioneer Athletic Conference non-division game.

“The inside was working for us,” DiNolfi said happily. “We try to finish strong – we emphasize that a lot. And defensively, I feel like we played really good tonight.”

The win raised the Eagles’ overall record to 11-5 — they were ranked 23rd in the District 1-6A standings coming in. Upper Merion, 12th in District 1-5A coming in, is now 6-7 on the season.

“This is really good for us,” DiNolfi said. “This was big for us in the PAC and in districts – we needed this one.”

A layin by DiNolfi put the Eagles in front, 34-32, early in the fourth and after a baseline drive by Ty Jones (11 points) at the other end, DiNolfi battled inside again for a bucket and a 36-34 Norristown edge.

The Eagles led from there.

Zaki Gomez, who was held to five points, hit a deep three to give the Eagles a boost and a 40-36 advantage with 2 minutes, 30 seconds to play.

Said DiNolfi: “Zaki was feeling off tonight so we had to pick him up. He hit a really big shot for us there in the fourth quarter. That really changed the game for us.”

Righteous Mitchell (nine points) came up with a key defensive rebound, and later hit two crucial free throws to extend the lead to 42-36 with 1:41 left. Mitchell’s scoop shot through traffic made it a 44-38 Norristown lead with 41 seconds to go.

DiNolfi corralled a defensive board with 30 ticks left, hit a pair of clinching free throws with 12 seconds to go, and secured one final defensive rebound as the final seconds drained from the clock.

“It feels amazing,” he said.

A three by Ethan Nguyen (12 points) opened the scoring for Upper Merion.

Norristown’s first points of the night came on a breakaway layup by Mitchell. D.J. Johnson (10 points) then came up with a steal and layed it in to put the Eagles up for the first time.

After a jumper by Upper Merion’s Madison Tatom, DiNolfi’s layup had Norristown up 6-5 after one.

The Eagles kept getting to the line in the second quarter, with Johnson and Mitchell each going 3-for-4. A drive to the hoop by Alex DiMichele helped to put Norristown up 16-9 at the half.

Johnson and Mitchell each had five points for the Eagles in the opening half. Norristown would go on from there.

“The game started off really slow,” DiNolfi said. “And we knew they were gonna start trapping and try to pick things up. So we just had to stay calm and poised.”

Norristown 46, Upper Merion 38
Norristown 6 10 14 16 – 46
Upper Merion 5 4 16 13 – 38
Norristown: Zaki Gomez 2 0-0 5, D.J. Johnson 2 6-8 10, Myon Kirlew 1 1-2 3, John DiNolfi 6 5-6 17, Righteous Mitchell 2 5-6 9, Alex DiMichele 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 17-22 46.
Upper Merion: Ty Jones 4 2-3 11, Kalil Lawson 1 5-8 7, Zayd Etheridge 0 0-1 0, Madison Tatom 3 0-0 7, Ethan Nguyen 4 2-2 12, Chris Perry 0 1-2 1. Totals 12 10-16 38.
3-pointers: N-Gomez; UM-Jones, Tatom, Nguyen 2.