Lower Merion hands Cheltenham 1st loss, returns to District 1-6A final

LOWER MERION >> Demetrius Lilley asserted himself early while Lower Merion answered every Cheltenham push in the second half with timely baskets as the Aces earned a chance to defend their District 1-6A title.

Lilley scored 10 points in the second quarter to help host Lower Merion take a 25-20 lead into halftime of Tuesday night’s district boys basketball semifinal. The second-seeded Aces stretched their advantage to 13 in the third before the No. 3 Panthers rallied to pull within four late in the quarter.

But the guard trio of Sam Brown, Jaylen Shippen and Sam Wright provided pivotal points to keep the Aces ahead as they handed Cheltenham its first loss and advanced to the final with a 61-54 victory at Kobe Bryant Gymnasium.

“We just kept our composure,” Lilley said. “We didn’t get too high, we didn’t get too low. We just kept our composure right in the middle so we just kept calm.”

Lilley, Lower Merion’s 6-foot-9 senior Penn State commit, controlled the boards and totaled a team-high 20 points. Brown scored 17 of his 19 in the second half while Wright and Shippen added 11 and nine points, respectively, for the Aces (23-3), who face No. 12 Norristown – which knocked off top seed Methacton 51-36 –in the district championship 5 p.m. Saturday at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.

“We knew they were a great team, we knew that we had to guard, we knew we had to make smart plays,” Lilley said. “We knew that they were (27)-0 so we came out with great intensity, great defense, great offense, great plays, everything, ball movement. We knew everything had to be in tip-top shape for us to win that game.”

Justin Savage had 10 of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter while Rasheem Dearry finished with 14 points for Cheltenham (27-1), which was handed its first loss since falling to Lower Merion in last season’s District 1-6A quarterfinals.

“For us, it’s a good thing cause it’s a wakeup call,” Panthers coach Patrick Fleury said. “And then just the passion and the understanding of what we need to do just needs to just revamp, cause the state ‘chip was always the goal, the district ‘chip would have been nice but the state ‘chip was always our goal.”

Cheltenham, which was looking to reach the district final for the second time in three seasons, visits Methacton in the third place game Friday.

“It’s on to the next one just like when one man goes down, next man up,” Savage said. “On to the next one – don’t worry about it just keep fighting. Everybody loses no matter who you are. Shoot, even (Muhammad) Ali got knocked down.”

Back-to-back Brown 3-pointers gave Lower Merion a 35-22 lead in the third before Cheltenham ripped off nine straight points – Brandon Bush scoring in transition and drawing the foul to have the Panthers down just 35-31 with 54.9 seconds left in the quarter.

But Shippen found a cutting Brown for a basket just before the buzzer to make it 37-31 entering the fourth with a Shippen 3-point play off a drive down the lane extending the Aces’ advantage to 40-31 with 7:20 remaining.

Cheltenham cut the margin to six twice, the second time after a Savage basket made it 42-36 before Lilley scored on a putback and was fouled – the senior hitting the and-one for a 45-36 Lower Merion lead at 5:04.

Savage scored two on a drive to get Cheltenham within seven but Wright knocked down a 3-pointer then after the Panthers missed two free throws at 3:48 Brown buried a trey, putting the Aces up 51-38.

“He takes those shots in very good moments so he’s a very clutch player,” said Lilley of Brown. “That’s why I love him.”

 Cheltenham could only get as close as nine until in the game’s final minute – a Kevin Addison-Anderson basket at 15.5 seconds making it 59-54 but those were the Panthers’ final points of the night.

“I think that it was just one of those nights where we missed,” Fleury said. “I could of made better adjustments with them and that would of probably gotten them in better spots. We believe in those kids, those shots that are there we wanted them, we wanted the people who were there to take them. It just didn’t fall tonight.”

With Lilley anchoring the middle of Lower Merion’s defense, the Panthers early on settled for jumpers that were not falling – trailing 8-2 before a five-point burst in the first quarter’s final minute had the visitors trailing 8-7.

“In the first quarter, like most of the first half we was shooting a lot of threes, too many threes,” Savage said. “And they was leaving at least one of us open to keep their center in the middle, in the paint so he could protect the basket. But we need to just attack him and go right at him, get him in foul trouble. If we would of done that early, who knows what would of happened.”

Lilley, however, posted back-to- back baskets to begin the second quarter with a Justin Poles reverse layup off a baseline drive had the Aces leading 14-7.

Lower Merion was still up seven at 18-11 after Wright made 2-of-3 from the line at 4:34 but four straight points from Savage and a Dearry trey pulled the Panthers level at 18.

The Aces responded with their own 7-0 run – the first four from Lilley with Shippen making a free throw with 1:28 left in the half then driving for two more in the final minute to make it 25-18. Two Savage foul shots at 20.0 seconds had Cheltenham down five at intermission.

“We knew they were a great team,” said Lilley of Cheltenham. “Number 0 (Dearry), he’s a great player, Number 5 (Nasir Edens) is a great player, the whole starting lineup was great players but we knew we had to play rough and get a lot of rebounds and play physical with them.”

Lilley began the third scoring inside and drawing a foul at 7:30 then throwing down a two-handed slam off a Henry Bard assist for a 29-20 Aces advantage.

“I think we did OK on him but for real we could of done way better, like by boxing him out,” said Savage of Cheltenham’s defense on Lilley. “Yes he’s strong and he’s big, 6-10, he’s going to get some points, he’s going to get some rebounds but we still got to do better.”

 

A basket from Savage made it 29-22 but consecutive triples from Brown stretched the Lower Merion lead to 13. After a Dearry free throw at 3:27, Savage scored inside while Dearry’s 3-pointer dropped in to pull Cheltenham within 35-28.

After a Savage foul shot at 1:38, Savage made a block then pushed the ball up the court and found Bush for two and the foul, cutting the deficit to 35-31 at 54.9 seconds left in the third.

District 1-6A Semifinals
(2) Lower Merion 61, (3) Cheltenham 54
Cheltenham 7 13 11 23 – 54
Lower Merion 8 17 12 24 – 61
Cheltenham: Justin Savage 8 5- 9 21; Rasheem Dearry 4 4-6 14; Brandon Bush 4 0-1 8; Elias Walker 1 1-4 3; Kevin Addison-Anderson 1 0-0 2; Josiah Hutson 1 0-0 2; Totals 21 10-20 54.
Lower Merion: Demetrius Lilley 9 2-7 20; Sam Brown 5 6-10; 19; Sam Wright 2 5-7 11; Jaylon Shippen 2 5-7 9; Justin Poles 1 0-0 2; Henry Bard 0 0-2 0; Totals 19 18-33 61.
3-pointers: C-Dearry 2; LM-Brown 3, Wright 2.