Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Cold start dooms Conestoga in districts
Lower Merion stacked the deck with a 16-0 run to open the game
LOWER MERION >> The Conestoga boys basketball team’s dream of going to Temple University for the District 1 Class AAAA semifinals were halted Friday night by the red hot shooting of a fired up Lower Merion squad that Conestoga had defeated twice during the regular season.
The Aces jetted out to a commanding 16-0 lead at the start of the game fueled by the torrid shooting of Noah Fennell, who sank four three-pointers in the period on four attempts and led Lower Merion with 18 points for the game. Conestoga could never recover and the Aces march to Temple courtesy of a convincing 68-45 win. Lower Merion will face Plymouth Whitemarsh while Conestoga will travel to Central Bucks West for a seeding game on Tuesday night.
“I will take full responsibility for the start of the game,” Conestoga coach Mike Troy said. “It is my job to get the kids ready to play the game and I did not do that. We came out flat and that is on me.”
The Aces (19-7) shot seven for 11 from the field in the first period and a torrid 27 for 43 from the game. Besides Fennell’s red hot start, the Aces also put Jeremy Horn, K.J. Helton and Terrell Jones into double figures. Horn , the 6-foot-9, senior center scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds and seemed to be in the right place at the right time all night under the boards. Horn took
some feeds from Helton, who pierced the Conestoga (19-8) defense all night, driving the lane and either scoring or hittingHorn underneath for some easy inside lay-ups.
“To be going to Temple with these guys is amazing,” Horn said. “To come from where I was as a sophomore to now, contributing and going to the semifinals is a great feeling. I felt good out there tonight.”
Conestoga played the Aces even in the second and their periods after trailing 21-10 after the first frame. The Pioneers got their footing and senior point guard Daryl Caldwell led all scorers with 23 points, including four three pointers, but no other Pioneer had more than eight points. The Pioneers shot just 14 for 41 from the field and could get nothing inside on the Aces zone defense.
“We came out hungry because they had defeated us twice during the season,” Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer said. “And getting out to that fast start was huge because after that it was a pretty even game but we had that cushion. And Noah was fantastic for us and he is one of the best shooters I have had here at Lower Merion. He was just one for eight in the first round game against Upper Dublin but tonight he showed how good a shooter he is. And we needed that from him.”
After three periods, Lower Merion still led 4435 and the Pioneers still had a fighting chance. but Helton put the Aces up early on a nice driving lay-up and foul to make it 47-35. Then, the Pioneers came down the floor and turned the ball over, one of 10 Conestoga turnovers on the night.
“It is just a great feeling to be going to Temple,” Fennell said. “And to start the game the way we did was big for us because we made them chase us. And Conestoga is a real good team and I think they are going to make a good run ins rates. We looked at hours and hours of film this week and the coaches had us well prepared and my teammates were finding me in good spots and the shots were falling tonight.”
Down 50-35 with 5:53 left, the Pioneers tried to come back, but a four for 12 shooting period is no way to make up that kind of a deficit on a good team like Lower Merion. Five straight times down the floor Conestoga came away with no points and the Aces kept finding Horn underneath for easy baskets and after Jones, who had 11 points for the Aces scored, from in tight, it was a 54-38 game with under three minutes to play and both Downer and Troy emptied their benches and the roar from the Lower Merion faithful filled Kobe Bryant Gymnasium.
“Tonight we did not execute like we wanted to, and I did not have the kids ready to play at the start of the game.” Troy said.