Phoenixville holds off Upper Merion
UPPER MERION >> Upper Merion entered the fourth quarter trailing Phoenixville by 10 points Tuesday night. The Vikings trimmed their deficit to one with 50 seconds left, but that’s as close as they’d get.
The Phantoms made the defensive stops when they needed to and hit enough free throws to hold on for a 50-45 Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division win at Upper Merion Area High School.
Trailing 47-45, Upper Merion had the ball with less than 30 seconds left. Dom Breece drove to the basket, but Colton Brown stood in his way.
Brown altered the shot, grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 18.8 seconds left. Brown sunk both free throws to make it a two-possession game and end Upper Merion’s rally.
“I just saw (Breece) coming down and a shot went up,” Brown said. “I tried to find a man, box him out, just tried to help close the game out. I was cold all night, but I was able to bounce back with free throws.”
“Although Colton didn’t really score the ball too much tonight,” Phoenixville coach Eric Burnett said, “he had at least eight or nine rebounds based on our stats, then those two huge foul shots down the stretch. Colton is one of our senior leaders and the most experienced player we have. He stepped up down the stretch, took his time on the foul shots and ultimately iced it.”
The Vikings trailed by 10, 46-36, with less than five minutes to go. Sophomore guard Lukas Kim hit a pair of tough jumpers to cut the deficit to six and freshman guard Ty Jones finished an acrobatic layup to make it a four-point game, 46-42.
“Tons,” Upper Merion coach Jason Quenze said of his confidence in his young guards. “It’s funny because Lukas is real young off the court … but this year he’s been way different — just calm. Ty — you can’t phase Ty. As a freshman you get put in pressure situations like that — I’m crumbling. He’s got a good mindset. I trust them a lot. They’re fun to coach and to watch. They handle pressure well for young guys, which is always a must.”
With 50 seconds left, Chris Clark stepped into a straight-on three-pointer to cut it to a one-point game, but they couldn’t get over the hump.
Steven Hamilton got off to a fast start for Phoenixville. He scored eight of his 12 points in the first quarter.
“Steven had a rough start to the season with the first two games,” Burnett said. “Coaches have taken our time to really talk to Steven about some of the shots he’s been getting. We know he’s a really talented player and he can score. A lot of it is just confidence with him and seeing that first basket go in and trying to get more layups as opposed to settling for threes and he did that tonight.”
The Phantoms led for much of the first half. Upper Merion’s Matt Choi tied the game for the first time since it was 0-0 at 18-18. He later gave the Vikings their first lead, 23-22.
Phoenixville’s Dylan Clark made a basket in the final minute of the first half to send the Phantoms to the break with a 24-23 lead.
Clark dominated the glass all game and finished with 11 points.
Phoenixville didn’t miss a shot in the third quarter, going 7-for-7 from the field. KJ Quinn led the way with five of his game-high 14 points in the frame and Clark had four.
“All layups,” Brown said of the third quarter. “We were just getting good, quality shots. That’s how we started runs.”
Nick Shepperd led Upper Merion with 11 points and Kim had 10.
Phoenixville 50,
Upper Merion 45
Phoenixville 13 11 15 11 — 50
Upper Merion 9 14 6 16 — 45
P: Ortiz 1 0-1 2, Palcko 1 0-0 3, Allain 1 0-0 2, Hamilton 6 0-0 12, Brown 0 3-5 3, Quinn 5 2-2 14, Peck 1 0-0 2, Kopko 0 1-2 1, Clark 5 1-3 11. Total 20 7-13 50.
UM: Jones 1 0-0 2, Choi 2 0-0 4, Cha Clark 2 0-0 5, Chr Clark 3 0-0 7, Kim 4 0-2 10, Breece 3 0-0 6, Shepperd 4 1-2 11. Total 19 1-14 45.
Three-pointers: P: Palcko, Quinn 2. UM: Cha Clark, Chr Clark, Kim 2, Shepperd 2.
