Dominant start, free throws lift Upper Merion boys basketball over Pope John Paul II

UPPER PROVIDENCE >> One could say Upper Merion has started its road circuit pleasantly.

A game behind second-place Pope John Paul II — ranked No. 1 among District 1 Class 4A schools — the Vikings entered with a chance to gain some ground in the PAC Frontier. Riding the high of a Pioneer Athletic Conference crossover win against 6A Owen J. Roberts two days prior, Upper Merion still hasn’t come down from it.

In fact, the Vikings were never down once. By kicking the doors in with a 19-point first quarter and fending off a comeback from the Golden Panthers, Upper Merion went wire-to-wire in a 64-53 PAC Frontier win at PJP Thursday.

“It’s a team effort, all of us playing together. Staying strong towards the end, got everybody their buckets,” junior guard Colin Hirshorn said. “Everyone played together. It was a great team win.”

FINAL — Upper Merion 64, Pope John Paul II 53

Vikings gain some ground in the PAC Frontier on the road. pic.twitter.com/DDhEsoCFis

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) January 13, 2023

Eleven of Hirshorn’s game-high 16 points came in the first half. Madison Tatom scored 14 for the Vikings (6-7, 3-2) and Devon Nelson added 12, going 8-for-10 at the line.

Foul trouble muddied Pope John Paul II’s efforts as Upper Merion collectively shot 23-of-31 in free throws.

“I was not happy with how we executed the game plan the first quarter. We sort of let them do exactly the stuff we thought they wanted to do and we didn’t play good defense,” Golden Panthers coach Brendan Stanton said. “We gave up 19 in the first quarter which is way more than we expect from our guys.”

But then came the stops. Then the runs on the offensive end of the floor and the transition points.

Driving downhill, punching and kicking at a deficit that was as wide as 11 points, Pope John Paul II (6-7, 3-2) clapped back with a 6-0 run and eventually closed the gap to a single point, trailing 28-27 at halftime.

Dom DeMito, a 5-foot-11 guard averaging 14.5 ppg, dialed in with eight of his 15 points in the second quarter as he attacked on the inside. Trey Rogers (10 points) and Chase Mondillo (seven points) drained 3-pointers to further lop away at the deficit as the Golden Panthers clawed back into contention.

“Upper Merion’s defensive scheme, they’re small like us, which makes our guys a little more confident driving down there than we did against Norristown or against teams that have bigger guys,” Stanton said, noting Tuesday’s loss to the Eagles. “We were able to open up gaps easier and our guys were able to make good decisions.

Q1, 3:37 — PJP attacks on the inside now.

Dom DeMito dumps it off to Bradey Bass for the bucket.

Upper Merion 9, PJP 4 pic.twitter.com/YQeGTqD3ok

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) January 13, 2023

“Upper Merion didn’t always help off of Trey or Dom or some of our shooters, so we had some guys step up and take what the defense gave them and make plays in the paint tonight.”

Aided by a five-point run coming out of the break, the Vikings found their solution on the defensive end. Upper Merion held Pope John Paul II to four points in the third quarter and regained its breathing room behind its shooters.

That, and the Vikings made the Golden Panthers pay at the line. Of its 23 free throws, 17 of them came in the second half.

“First quarter we’re up, went on a stall, we’re at 19 for like three minutes it felt like, then they played the style of ball we expected them to play,” Vikings coach Jason Quenzer said on Pope John Paul II. “Once they got into some foul trouble, we were trying to exploit that a little bit. When they made some substitutions, we liked certain matchups and got after that a little bit.”

Upper Merion had to get in gear quickly at the start of the season, having little to no offseason work between the construction of its new gym and the early start of the PIAA season.

But in the heart of conference play, the Vikings look like a PAC Frontier contender. Upper Merion finished with the same divisional record (8-2) as the Golden Panthers last year and the latter claimed the Frontier title due to power points.

By gaining some footing in the standings, the Vikings — ranked No. 14 in District 1-5A — are currently par for the course in January.

“We’re on the road right now. I love it. It’s a lot of energy, a lot of hype,” Hirshorn said. “We just gotta keep it going.”

It might be an understatement to say the week has been troublesome for Pope John Paul II. The Golden Panthers haven’t held a lead once in its past two home games and have now dipped below .500 overall.

The good news for Pope John Paul II? Five divisional games remain on tap for the young group to try and right the ship.

“A lot of basketball left to be played,” Stanton said. “We didn’t come into the year with a lot of experience so I’d rather be taking these punches now then and have some time to figure it out than be taking these punches at the beginning of February or the end of this month.”

Upper Merion 64, Pope John Paul II 53