With new stars, Methacton comes back to beat CB South in District 1-6A first round

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE >> Saturday wasn’t the first time Methacton’s Mike Merola was out on the floor late in a District 1 playoff game.

Over the past two seasons, district playoff runs and postseason routs have become routine, leading to Merola coming off the bench late in games as part of the run-out-the-clock operation.

Merola was once again finishing off a Warriors’ win on Saturday. This time No. 16 Methacton, the 2020 District 1 Class 6A champions, defeating No. 17 Central Bucks South, 46-38, and Merola on the floor for all four quarters of the first round victory. The win set up a rematch of last year’s District 1 title game on Tuesday at top seed Cheltenham.

His mask drooped down with sweat to display an ear-to-ear grin, it was clear that Merola and the rest of the group that had taken a backseat to some of the stars of past seasons were appreciative of their time to shine.

“I feel so good for the guys to get that opportunity to compete and get that win as well,” Methacton first-year head coach Pat Lockard said. “It just feels great. We talked about preseason one of our goals was to make the district playoffs and get that win, which we’ve done so far. I told our guys I want to get greedy and get a second win too if we can at this point.”

Juniors Cole Hargrove and Brett Byrne, the two with most the on-court postseason experience, led the way for Methacton Warriors (11-6) with Hargrove powering his way to a 23-point, 21-rebound performance and Byrne chipping in 11 points. Sophomore Tyler Meinel scored 14 and junior Michael Farley 11 for the Titans (9-7).

With their team trailing by 13 in the first half, Byrne and Hargrove powered the Warriors to a 9-0 run to end the first half down only 22-18 after a Byrne floater to beat the buzzer.

The two juniors scored Methacton’s first 24 points until senior Ryan Baldwin, who finished with eight, put Methacton ahead 26-24 with three and a half to play in the third quarter.

Methacton’s lead grew to as large as eight when Baldwin scored another basket inside to put the Warriors up 34-26 with seven minutes left in the game. The Warriors didn’t cruise to the finish, but a few defensive stops and free throws by Hargrove and Merola finished off the hard-fought comeback win.

“At the end of the second quarter we didn’t have that much energy,” Baldwin said. “Both of them started getting buckets. And Cole snagging those boards, even after a miss and still going up and finishing strong just gives everyone enough energy to propel everyone on the defensive end to lock them up and continue or run and lengthening it as much as possible.”

“We just needed to play with more intensity and play the way we want to play, just keep on fighting back in games,” Hargrove added.

Methacton 30, CB South 26 after three. … Cole Hargrove with the two-handed slam off a great find from Steve Penjuke. pic.twitter.com/L7SL94NObN

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 6, 2021

One of Methacton’s stars of seasons past was big man Jeff Woodward, a first team all-state selection now at Colgate University. Hargrove’s outing Saturday was Woodward-like as he was extremely impactful on both ends of the court.

In Woodward’s absence, Hargrove said he’s been surprised at the physicality down low as teams focus in on him, but like the other Warriors, he’s embracing his expanded role this season.

Methacton’s coaches have tried to get the ‘monster’ out of Hargrove like he showed Saturday more consistently this season. The 6-foot-7 junior forward chose the right time to do so to deliver the Warriors another postseason win. Seemingly every CB South shot down the stretch ended up with Hargrove swatting it away or pulling down the rebound.

“Me and Brett we just need to be leaders on the court and we need to conduct our offense,” Hargrove said. “It’s been fun.”

Central Bucks South, which returned to the district postseason after a one-year absence, fell to Methacton two seasons ago in a 77-52 loss in the District 1 second round.

An almost completely different Titans squad had the Warriors on the ropes early Saturday, jumping out to a 22-9 lead with 3:21 to go in the second quarter. Senior Owen Petrich and Farley both threw down dunks that had CB South fired up.

The Titans led 22-18 at halftime and scored the first bucket out of the break but netted just two points the rest of the third quarter, trailing 30-26 entering the third.

After falling behind by eight, Farley knocked down a three and Petrich pulled up for a jumper to make it a 34-31 lead with a little under five to play.

Junior Jay Macalindong made a three and Meinel knocked down a free throw to pull within two, 40-38, and a steal gave the Titans a chance to tie, but they couldn’t find a bucket the rest of the game.

“We felt really good,” CB South 17-year coach Jason Campbell said. “It reminded me of a week ago when we played CB East and we had that same energy, fire and we were making a lot of our shots. The effort like that was good for all four quarters. Give a lot of credit to Methacton. They battled their way back into the game and made for shots than us.

“But I told my guys, if you lose a game it’s better to know that you left everything out there. You got shots that you wanted. … I can go on this bus knowing that these guys did everything possible to win and it just wasn’t enough, but that’s OK.”

The Titans graduate three seniors in Petrich, Evan D’Orazio, and Nate Macalindong. Campbell called D’Orazio one of the finest captains he has coached in 17 years.

Along with inexperience, the group dealt with injuries and others opting out this season and still found a way back to the district postseason.

“The remaining guys rallied and had each other’s backs,” Campbell said. “We won together, lost together. … The next man stepped up. Whether it was Joe Rooney or Nate Macalindong or Jesse Rotunno, Brayan Delara, they were the next guys up and we won games because of that. Tonight we left it all out there, but Methacton was the better team.”

Methacton travels to Cheltenham on Tuesday as an underdog for the first time in two seasons. The Warriors haven’t lost in the postseason since a state quarterfinal loss to Pennridge two years ago after having their state playoff run halted by COVID-19 in the PIAA quarterfinals in 2020.

This year’s group had a tough act following the best two seasons in program history, but they are hoping they can keep things rolling with a win Tuesday that would clinch a third straight District 1 quarterfinal appearance.

“We always learned from them because they were great leaders, great teachers,” Baldwin said. “They always gave their best effort and that kind of inspired us to work with them. We were on that team last year that went really far in the playoffs. We want to experience that again in a season that’s not going to end.”