WORCESTER – Late in the fourth quarter, the Methacton boys basketball was searching for something that seemingly eluded it for most of Tuesday night – a defensive stop.
The Warriors and Central Bucks East spent their District 1-6A fifth-place playback trade 3-pointers and scoring bursts. An 11-3 run to finish the third quarter had host Methacton up 63-51. But the Patriots answered with 10 straight points to open the fourth – the start of a 19-4 surge that gave East a 70-67 edge after a Jake Cummiskey three.
Methacton inched ahead 71-70 on a pair of Sal Iemmello free throws with 2:39 remaining. A Dhruv Mukund’s triple had East back in the lead only for Alex Hermann’s 3-point play off a pass from Wes Robinson to put the Warriors up 74-73.
“We just had to get that one stop,” Iemmello said. “Hit the free throws and just separate ourselves from them and take the lead.
The Warriors ended up making those necessary defensive plays, the first from Manny Rodriguez in the final minute to force a jump ball inside after an inbounds. The arrow gave the ball to the Warriors. Two Christian Matos free throws made it 76-73 with 35.3 seconds.
East missed on a long three to tie then a putback try, Iemmello corralling the rebound and hitting two at the line with 18.1 seconds left.
Herrmann dove on the floor to procure a steal on the next East possession and two more Matos free throws capped an 80-73 victory for the sixth-seeded Warriors.
“It’s a little ironic, an 80-73 shootout that the defense steps up when it needs to,” Methacton coach Pat Lockard said. “At the same time, we told them, hey, just get up, contest them and if they make a shot, they make a shot but if you’re not jumping for the block shot you can go rebound the basketball. I think our guys did that in the moment we needed to do that.”
Matos finished with a game-high 25 points, making three of the Warriors’ 11 3-pointers – including hitting from beyond mid-court to beat the first quarter buzzer.
“He has a lot of confidence, even as a sophomore, a lot more than I did last year,” said Iemmello of Matos. “And he knows how to put the ball in the basket and that’s all that matters in the game.”
Iemmello, a junior, scored 14 of his 19 points in the opening half while Hermann and Rodriguez both added 11 points as Methacton (18-8) advances to face No. 5 Coatesville in the fifth place game 7 p.m. Friday. Coatesville topped No. 24 Springfield-Delco 50-43.
Winner faces District 12’s third-place team Archbishop Wood in the first round of states with the loser taking on the District 11 runner-up.
“After our tough loss (to Garnet Valley in the district quarterfinals), we knew that this is still a game that we have to compete and still try to win,” Iemmello said. “So we were just going to go out there and just do what we do best and get out there, push the ball in transition, that’s where we’re very dangerous, we get the ball out, we hit threes and then we got rolling.”
Tyler Dandrea led No. 7 Central Bucks East with 23 points, the senior guard collecting 16 of those in the second quarter. Cummiskey and Mukund each had 14 points with Miles Demby finishing with 11 points.
Dandrea and Mukund both had three 3-pointers as the Patriots (19-8) connected 10 times from beyond the arc.
East hosts Springfield for seventh place 7 p.m. Friday. Winner meets District 3’s runner-up while District 1’s eighth-place side takes on the District 12 runner-up.
Back-to-back Matos 3-pointers – including his beyond half-court heave off a sideline inbounds with 1.7 seconds – had Methacton up 20-13 after the first quarter.
A Matos jumper and a Rodriguez trey extended the Warriors’ lead to 25-13. Dandrea’s jumper ended the 11-0 run but a Lucas Leckerman 3-point play in transition and a Matos bucket gave Methacton its largest lead of the night at 30-15.
The Patriots, however, scored the next eight, a Cummiskey basket cutting the deficit to 30-23. Dandrea’s 3-point play after a baseline jumper made it 32-26 at 3:23 with two Dandrea free throws had East down four with 2:41 left in the half.
A Mukund foul shot at 2:27 put the Patriots within 32-29 before Iemmello scored on a drive. Dandrea, however, knocked down consecutive 3-pointers for a 35-34 East lead.
“These are two good teams that are playing out there,” Lockard said. “Watching on film with their shooting ability that scared me to death out there with Cummiskey being able to have the strength he has, to be able to get in the paint. It’s kind of like all right, do we hop on him, give the shooter or do I give a 6-3, strong, athletic kid an opportunity to score around the basket.”
Rodriguez answered with a three, Cummiskey’s bucket even things at 37 but Iemmello drained a trey to have Methacton leading 40-37 at halftime.
“The growth we’ve seen from his sophomore year to his junior year, the confidence he has in his game to be able to score the ball, shoot the ball and grab some big rebounds for us too,” said Lockard of Iemmello. “I think he’s our second-leading rebounder too on the season, everything he does is everything we need for him to do, and we’re always so thankful to have him on our side.”
A Bryce Lolas 3-pointer to open the third tied the game at 40 but an Iemmello free throw at 6:49 then a Leckerman basket had the Warriors up 43-40.
Back-to-back threes from Matos and Rodriguez had the Methacton’s lead at 49-42 before a Lolas 4-point play at 4:01. A Cummiskey bucket had East within three again at 51-48 but Rodriguez’s basket and Matos scoring in transition extended the Warriors’ advantage to 55-48.
A Hermann corner 3-pointer made it 58-49 Methacton. After Caleb Lyzinski’s bucket had East within seven, Mason Conrad converted a 3-point play at 1:36 while Matos’ layin on a drive gave the hosts a 63-51 lead heading to the fourth.
“He is such a talented player I think sometimes he relies on his outside shot, which is pretty good but he can take it to the basket with the best of anybody,” said Lockard of Matos.
East opened the final quarter with consecutive triples from Cummiskey and Dandrea then Demby scoring and drawing a foul at 6:44 to cut the margin to 63-59. Another Demby basket made it 63-61 before Hermann hit two free throws at 5:52.
But the Patriots continued their charge, ripping off the next six points – Demby’s one-handed slam in transition putting East ahead 67-65.
A Robinson’s basket even the contest at 67 before Cummiskey canned a trey to give the Patriots back the lead.
Matos scored on the drive and was fouled at 3:29 but could not complete the and-one. Two Iemmello free throws at 2:39 gave Methacton a one-point lead before Mukund drained a three for the Patriots’ final points of the night.
With Methacton down 73-71, Robinson found a cutting Hermann, who converted on a layup and was fouled – his free throw putting the Warriors up for good with 1:48 left. Methacton proceeded to hit all six of their free throws in the final minute to finish 16-of-19 from the line.
Methacton 80, Central Bucks East 73
Central Bucks East 13 24 14 22 – 73
Methacton 20 20 23 17 – 80
Central Bucks East: Tyler Dandrea 5 3 4-4 23; Jake Cummiskey 4 2 0-0 14; Dhruv Mukund 2 3 1-2 14; Miles Demby 4 1 0-1 11; Bryce Lolas 0 2 1-1 7; Caleb Lyzinski 1 0 2-4 4; Totals 16 11 8-12 73.
Methacton: Christian Matos 6 3 4-5 25; Sal Iemmello 3 2 7-8 19; Alex Hermann 1 2 3-3 11; Manny Rodriguez 1 3 0-0 11; Lucas Leckerman 2 0 1-1 5; Mason Conrad 1 0 1-1 3; Anthony Daddazio 1 0 0-1 2; Wes Robinson 1 0 0-0 2; Jordan Savage 1 0 0-0 2; Totals 17 10 16-19 80.
