Diguglielmo, Boyertown hold off Upper Merion
UPPER MERION >> Tre Diguglielmo did everything for Boyertown Wednesday night.
The senior forward scored a career-high 29 points, including a pair of key free throws, grabbed nine rebounds and made two crucial defensive plays down the stretch as the Bears held off Upper Merion, 61-56, at Upper Merion Area High School.
“The greatest thing I can say about Tre is he’s playing off of everybody else,” Boyertown coach Mike Ludwig said. “He makes the right plays. Some nights he scores 29, some nights he makes the passes so other guys can score. It depends on what the defense is doing. That’s a nice kind of player to have on your team – he sees where the game is and does what needs to be done.”
Diguglielmo did most of his offensive damage in the first half – sinking nine of his 12 field goals for 20 of his 29 points. The rest of the Bears (7-3) totaled eight points before halftime.
With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Diguglielmo scored to extend a five-point lead to seven. In the final 5.6 seconds, he hit a pair of free throws to turn a three-point, one-possession game into a five-point victory.
“I was just feeling it tonight,” he said. “My teammates found me so I had to execute.”
Defensively, Diguglielmo blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound with a four-point lead, 56-52, and three minutes remaining. In the final seconds, he grabbed the defensive rebound before hitting the clinching free throws.
“I think I’m versatile,” he said. “I guard almost all five positions on the court. I take pride in my defense. I don’t like getting scored on. When that shot went up at the end I saw it was long. I had to grab that rebound to secure the win.”
Upper Merion (8-4) kept it a close game despite missing five key contributors and Diguglielmo’s big night.
The Vikings trailed, 52-38, early in the fourth quarter before scoring seven straight points. Kareem Abdussamad had seven points in the final frame and Madison Tatom added six to get their side within a single possession at the end.
“I love how they started the game with a lot of confidence,” Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer said. “Throughout the game they were battling. I loved their effort. You cannot be angry with that at all.”
Collin Bowman led Upper Merion with 19 points and the sharp-shooting lefty got the ball with the game on the line. Down three, 59-56, Bowman used a screen to create a little space between himself and defender David Leh. Leh stayed close, contested the shot and Bowman’s off-balance attempt hit the back of the rim. Diguglielmo grabbed the rebound and sealed the game at the other end.
The Pioneer Athletic Conference foes traded runs throughout the first half.
Upper Merion got out to a 9-2 lead after Bowman scored the team’s first six points and assisted on a Tatom three-pointer.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen (Bowman) go get it himself,” Quenzer said. “Usually a lot of guys are creating for him. It’s not like he can’t do what he did tonight, we just play a different style and a lot of good teams end up face-guarding him. Earlier in the season it got him flustered. Now he embraces it and finds different opportunities and ways to get the ball out, which is cool. I loved it.”
Boyertown responded with a 9-2 run of their own to tie the game at 11. Diguglielmo scored nine points in the first quarter and the teams were tied at 13 after eight minutes.
Diguglielmo added 11 more points in the second quarter as the Bears got off to an 11-3 start for a 24-16 advantage. Bowman hit back-to-back three-pointers during a 10-2 Upper Merion run to tie the game at 26 before Boyertown went to halftime with a 28-26 lead.
The Bears had a balanced offensive attack in the third quarter. Aarick Salata hit three identical jumpers for six points while Diguglielmo and Christian Renninger each added five. Diguglielmo and Renninger hit back-to-back threes to extend a four-point lead to 10, 44-34, and highlight a 13-4 run to end the quarter and send Boyertown to the fourth ahead, 49-38.
Both teams are in the hunt for District 1 playoff spots.
Boyertown entered Wednesday as the No. 24 seed in Class-6A, where the top 20 teams qualify for the playoffs. The Bears jumped up to No. 15 by the end of the night.
“Everybody’s in that boat right now,” Ludwig said. “Everybody is playing a lot of games in a short period of time. You’re going to have nights that it’s a struggle because it’s a grind. We’re out of here and we’re headed to Methacton (Thursday). Next game up.”
Upper Merion was No. 7 and with the loss dropped to No. 8 in Class-5A, where the top 10 teams make the playoffs. The Vikings expect to have most of their players who missed Wednesday’s game – Ty Jones, Zayd Etheridge, Kalil Lawson and Frank Herman – back when they return to the floor. Lukas Kim is not expected back for at least the final three games of the regular season.
Boyertown 61, Upper Merion 56
Boyertown 13 15 21 12 – 61
Upper Merion 13 13 12 18 – 56
BT: Marinello 1 0-0 2, Salata 3 2-4 8, Hummel 1 0-0 3, Diguglielmo 12 2-2 29, Leh 2 0-1 4, Kapp 1 0-0 2, Renninger 3 0-0 7, Kiefer 2 1-2 5, Schaefer 0 1-2 1. Total 25 6-11 61.
UM: Nguyen 1 0-0 2, Perry 0 0-0 0, Tatom 7 2-3 17, Bowman 5 6-7 19, Smith 1 1-3 4, Eyer 0 0-0 0, Abdussamad 6 1-2 14, Boyle 0 0-0 0. Total 20 10-15 56.
Three-point goals: BT: Hummel, Digudlielmo 3, Renninger. UM: Tatom, Bowman 3, Smith, Abdussamad.
