District 1 Class 6A Boys Basketball: Brown, Lower Merion deliver another roundhouse to Upper Darby
LOWER MERION — Upper Darby’s modus operandi in preparing to face Lower Merion for the fourth time was to force Aces star Sam Brown to drive to the basket. The Royals couldn’t allow the senior guard roam free on the perimeter.
Suffice to say the plan failed in Friday’s District 1 Class 6A tournament quarterfinal. Brown and the No. 2 Aces had a field day en route to an 88-56 victory over the 10th-seeded Royals.
Lower Merion hosts No. 3 Plymouth Whitemarsh in Tuesday’s semifinal. Upper Darby, which has already clinched a PIAA tournament berth for the first time since 2018, will travel to North Penn in the playback round and will compete for fifth place.
“They outplayed us and they worked harder than us in every aspect of the game. And once we got down, we just stopped playing basketball together,” Royals coach Bob Miller said. “(Brown) hit his first five (3-pointers), I think. Obviously, the game plan is to make him go to the basket instead of just standing there shooting 3s. We don’t know what it is. Our guys did not close out. How many does he have to make until you force him to put the ball on the floor? And all the other guys knocked down shots, knocked down that corner 3. As soon as they go four corners, that’s the best thing they do.”
Brown scored 29 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. The Penn commit and senior wing Jordan Meekins combined to hit five treys in the first quarter as the Aces (21-4) rushed out to a 24-14 lead after eight minutes. Nadir Myers, who poured in a team-high 24 points, swished a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 26-17 in the second quarter, which was the final time the Royals pulled within single digits of the sharp-shooting Aces.
Lower Merion has won all four meetings against Upper Darby this season. Their previous showdown was a 61-52 final in the semifinal round of the Central League tournament. This time the Aces had every intention of burying the Royals early in Friday’s contest.
“Before the game we went into the war room and we were saying, our main thing was to knock them out,” said junior guard John Mobley, who chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal. “And we were watching this boxing clip of this guy giving the other guy a big right hook, knocking his whole mouthpiece out. That’s where we kind of got our energy in the beginning.”
Lower Merion shot 56.3 percent (31 of 55) from the floor and scored at least 20 points in every quarter. The Aces were 12 of 24 from 3-point range. Upper Darby shot 39.2 percent (20 of 51) from the field and made only 4 of 17 attempts from long distance.
Meekins finished with 15 points and Justin Poles had 13 for the Aces. Yassir Joyner scored nine points and Khysir Slaughter chipped in with eight for the Royals.
Miller hopes the Royals can regroup and build some momentum before states. Their season has been an incredible accomplishment to this point. Over the next couple of days, that message will resonate with the Royals. But Friday wasn’t the time for reassurances.
“Right after a game like this when you get beat up that bad, I wait to talk about things like that,” Miller said. “We’re going to be one of the top eight seeds. It’s been a great season, 19-7. The problem is four of the losses are to one team.”
