Lilley, Lower Merion too much for Abington in District 1-6A quarterfinals

LOWER MERION >>Demetrius Lilley and Lower Merion made it apparent very quickly the Abington boys basketball team was not going to pull off a third straight upset in the District 1-6A tournament.

The No. 23 seed Galloping Ghosts had few answers for slowing down Lilley in the first quarter, the 6-foot-9 senior racking up 10 points inside before connecting on a three to give the No. 2 Aces a 22-8 lead at end of the quarterfinal contest’s opening eight minutes.

“We came out knowing that we had to play hard,” Lilley said. “Knowing Abington was a great team so we had to come out, no slacking. Just come out and play our best.”

Lower Merion just kept rolling, taking a 30-point advantage into halftime and cruised to a 60-28 victory Friday night at Kobe Bryant Gymnasium.

“It just was rough,” Ghosts senior Derrius Lucas said. “Seeing our guys, even me, probably not as aggressive as I could of been but our shots weren’t really falling as much early. Just hard to get going.”

Last season, Lilley totaled 31 points as Lower Merion topped Abington to claim its first district championship since 1996. In Friday’s rematch, the Penn State commit had 13 in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 21 points to help move the Aces (22-3) two victories away from a repeat.

“He’s a big kid,” said Lucas of Lilley. “All you can really do is get a body on him, try to get him out early, hope that he misses. Boxing him out is not going to be easy either, he’s a big body. Just got to give it your all, hope for the best.”

Jaylon Shippen hit a trio of 3-pointers for nine points while Sam Brown added eight points for Lower Merion hosts No. 3 Cheltenham – a 52-40 winner over No. 22 Plymouth Whitemarsh – in the semifinals 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“I feel like we’re playing a really good game right now,” Lilley said. “I feel like we can really go far with this.”

Lucas scored 11 points to pace Abington (16-9), who had a Cinderella run for its first district title since 2019 stopped but still continues its postseason in playbacks, visiting PW Tuesday. The Ghosts clinched a spot in the state tournament by outlasting No. 10 Conestoga in double overtime then knocking off No. 7 West Chester East in overtime.

“I’m just proud of our team – we were 23 out of 24 seed and nobody really thought we were going to beat any of the teams that we beat,” Lucas said. “So after we beat them we just got to look, say ‘Hey we did what y’all said we couldn’t.’ So we tried to come out here for a third time, do it. Obviously it didn’t work out but we’re not going to hang our heads yet.”

Lower Merion was up 9-1 after a Lilley steal lead to two in transition from Sam Brown. A Jeremiah Lee basket had Abington within six before a burst of six consecutive points from Lilley that included a breakaway slam made it 15-3 Aces.

“My team found me under the basket and handed me the ball so I really appreciate them for that,” Lilley said. “That’s how our style of play just (is), if you see me open hand me the ball.”

A Lee 3-pointer cut the margin to 15-6 but that was the last time Abington was within single digits. The Aces collected seven of the last nine points of the first quarter – Lilley chasing down a ball in the right corner then draining a trey for a 22-8 edge.

With Lilley manning the middle of Lower Merion’s zone defense, Abington ended up settling for outside shots that were not falling and registered just four points in the second quarter.

“We knew we had to play great defense this game,” Lilley said. “We knew we had to get down and guard so that’s all we did in practice was defense and practicing our defensive rebounding so defense was a big part of this game today.”

Four straight points from Brown was followed by back-to-back Lilley baskets, pushing the Aces’ lead to 30-8. Lucas scored after an offensive rebound to snap the 11-0 run only for Shippen to hit consecutive threes to put the hosts up 26.

“Coach going into halftime, he was telling us we were 1-for-11 from three,” Lucas said. “I shot one myself, didn’t fall, wasn’t really shooting them that much more. I tried to get to the paint – it was difficult playing against that box-and-one.

“They tried to keep me out of the paint, trying to make me take those tough shots so I tried not to take the tough shots because I knew what we really needed. We needed to try to get inside, get a few points here and there so we could start that chipping away from that 30-point lead they had.”

After a basket inside by the Ghosts’ Liam Rardin, Lower Merion scored the half’s last six points – Sam Wright draining a three for a 42-12 lead at intermission.

The closest Abington could get in the second half was 26 after Lucas opened the fourth quarter with four straight points to make it 48-22.

Lower Merion 60, Abington 28
Abington 8 4 5 11 – 28
Lower Merion 22 20 6 12 – 60
Abington: Derrius Lucas 5 0-0 11; Jeremiah Lee 3 0-0 7; Paul Glants 1 1-2 4; Connor Fields 0 0 2-4 2; Liam Rardin1 0-0 2; Fhenyx Scutt 1 0-0 2; Totals 11 3-6 28.
Lower Merion: Demetrius Lilley 10 0-0 21; Jaylon Shippen 3 0-0 9; Sam Brown 3 2-3 8; Sam Wright 2 1-2 6; Jordan Meekens 2 0-0 5; Justin Poles 2 0-0 4; Teddy Pendergrass 1 1-2 3; Henry Bard 1 0-0 2; Peter Gribbin 1 0-0 2; Totals 25 4-7 60.
3-pointers: A-Glants, Lee, Lucas; LM-Shippen 3, Lilley, Meekens, Wright.