Top seed Methacton survives Cinderella Garnet Valley for OT win in District 1-6A quarterfinal

WORCESTER TWP. >> The call from the Garnet Valley bench, yelled to the ball handler on the far wing at Methacton’s gym, dropped all pretense. “Shorten the game,” was the directive from coach Mike Brown, no play-call encryption needed.

If it was the objective in the first quarter for the 24th-seeded Jaguars in hostile environs Friday night, it certainly held in the fourth. With the game tied, Garnet Valley’s primary post defender having fouled out, its secondary big carrying four fouls and the post presence of Methacton’s Cole Hargrove looming ever larger, patience needed to be a virtue.

Unfortunately for the Jags, so is having a 6-8 Division I prospect.

Hargrove scored all six of Methacton’s fourth quarter points, then added four more in overtime as the Warriors survived a scare, 46-41, to end the Jags’ District 1 Class 6A title hopes.

The No. 1 seed advances to Tuesday’s semifinal, where the Warriors (23-2) take on No. 12 Norristown, a 50-46 winner over No. 4 Bensalem. Garnet Valley (16-10) has two playback games for states seeding.

In contrast to the rest of its Cinderella postseason run, Garnet Valley didn’t have a massive hole to escape as in its two previous upsets. Instead, Garnet led 11-6 after a torrid first quarter and held a 20-19 edge at halftime. From the time Methacton’s Matt Christian hit a 3-pointer at the midway point of the third quarter to the second possession of OT, the spread was never larger than one possession.

The reason was Garnet valley’s patience on both ends. Disadvantaged in height, they did their best to defend Hargrove, who had just five points through three quarters. Logan McKee and Ryan Faccenda held the middle of a high 3-2 zone, denying post entries, making Hargrove work for whatever he got and then scrambling out to perimeter shooters.

“Logan and Ryan, they do an amazing job with every big man we play,” point guard Max Koehler said. “I don’t know what we’d do without them because they do such a great job. They play much taller than they are. They do a great job.”

“They had a really good zone, and they played aggressive and they had a pretty good game plan,” Hargrove said. “They really pressured us on the perimeter and they made it hard for us to score.”

After a leniently refereed first half yielded just nine total fouls, 10 were whistled in the third quarter, leaving Faccenda and McKee with four each. McKee put Garnet Valley up, 36-34, with a second-chance bucket with 4:29 to play, but he fouled out on the next trip, hacking Hargrove as he banked in a shot.

Hargrove’s basket came on the sixth possession of the quarter, a testament to how the Jags slowed the pace. They were 9-for-15 shooting from the field in the first half, making Methacton extend out, hoping to open cutting lanes through a lanky defense. Jake Sniras not only put Garnet Valley up 34-32 on their first look in the fourth, but they lopped 1:14 off the clock in doing so.

“Game by game, we get more comfortable with it,” Koehler said of the slower pace. “It’s not something as a Garnet Valley team that we’ve been used to the last for the past few years. So certainly some adjusting to be done, but we’ve got a good group of guys and we’re getting better at it.”

Koehler scored nine points, all in the first half, and had a team-high four assists. But he missed two front-ends in the fourth quarter, including when a questionable technical foul on Matthew Blakemore gave Garnet Valley a chance at a six-point possession. It got only two. (In the only knock on their upset candidacy, the Jags were 5-for-12 from the line.)

Hargrove fought through a double team with under a minute to play to tie the game at 38, the first points since Ryan Wootten’s two free throws on the technical at 3:57.

“I have to be a leader,” Hargrove said. “If we’re not scoring, I have to be assertive and help my team.”

Both teams missed chances at the end of regulation. To start overtime, Hargrove scored off a feed from Christian, who scored 13 points. He followed with a reverse lay-in off a Brett Byrne dime to make it 42-38 – one of 13 assists on 18 made baskets – and Hargrove hit two free throws to restore a three-point lead after Sniras, the freshman who scored a game-high 12 points, hit a 3-pointer.

Down McKee and having fought to slow the game for so long, the Jags couldn’t turn it back on in the final minute. That doesn’t dim the sense of accomplishment, though, for a team that scraped into the postseason but now will embark on a states campaign.

“It feels awesome,” Koehler said. “We got in here as the 24 seed and I think we proved to everybody that we’re a lot better than a 24 seed. We beat two very good teams and then we hung in here with the No. 1 seed for four whole quarters. I’m really excited to have more games.”

As for Methacton, Friday’s challenge may have been stiffer than the seeds would indicate. But it may benefit them later in the quest for a second District 1 crown in three years.

“Knowing that we could really fight back and battle in these games, especially against a 24 seed and they’re playing with intensity and a chip on their shoulder, it’s a good look to be able to fight back and win,” Hargrove said.

District 1-6A Quarterfinal

Methacton 46, Garnet Valley 41

Garnet Valley: Van Horn 0-0 2-2 2, McKee 3-4 0-0 7, Koehler 4-8 0-2 9, Wootten 3-11 2-3 9, Krautzel 1-1 0-0 2, Faccenda 0-0 0-0 0, Brennan 0-0 0-2 0; Totals; 16-33 5-12 41.

Methacton: Daddazio 0-1 0-0 0, Blakemore 2-2 0-0 4, Lagana 0-1 0-0 0, Meyer 2-4 0-0 5, Byrne 2-4 0-0 5, Hargrove 6-7 3-5 15, Chilson 1-4 2-2 4, Christian 5-12 0-0 13; Totals: 18-35 5-7 46.

Garnet Valley 11 9 12 6 3 – 41

Methacton 6 13 13 6 8 – 46

3-point field goals: Garnet Valley 4-12 (McKee 1-1, Koehler 1-2, Sniras 1-3, Wootten 1-6), Methacton 5-16 (Christian 3-8, Meyer 1-2, Byrne 1-3, Daddazio 0-1, Chilson 0-2); Fouled out: McKee, Blakmore; Rebounds: Garnet Valley 19 (McKee 6), Methacton 19 (Hargrove 9); Assists: Garnet Valley 9 (Koehler 4), Methacton 13 (Lagana 4); Steals: Garnet Valley 6 (Sniras 3), Methacton 5 (Lagana 2); Blocks: Garnet Valley 1 (McKee), Methacton 1 (Hargrove); Turnovers: Garnet Valley 9, Methacton 9; Total fouls: Garnet Valley 11, Methacton 15; Technical foul: Blakemore.