Downer still leading the charge with Lower Merion in 34th year
It was 1996 when a young Gregg Downer was in only his sixth season as coach of the Lower Merion basketball team and he won a state title with a super guard named Kobe Bryant. Twenty-eight years later, Downer is still Lower Merion’s coach.
“I’m not a golfer, but I think I’m on about the 17th hole with coaching,” Downer said.
In golf terms, Downer’s career has been better than par. The first 16 holes have been scintillating, and Downer and the Aces are now ready to take a swing at another state championship.
Downer has guided Lower Merion, a suburban Philadelphia team, to a 25-1 record this season and a second District 1 title in three seasons. The Aces begin the PIAA Class 6A playoffs Saturday.
The man who has 693 career wins in 34 seasons and won two more state titles after Bryant just might have done his most remarkable coaching job this season. At least that’s what the word is out of eastern Pennsylvania.
This Lower Merion team doesn’t have any big-time players. Heck, only one player has received some interest from a college — at the NCAA Division III level. But these Aces are kings of District 1 and are one of the most surprising teams in all of Pennsylvania high school basketball this year.
“It’s kind of been stunning what this team has done,” Downer said. “Quite often, some of my better teams would have one or maybe even two Division I players and maybe three Division III players. But the accumulations of the parts is greater than just one part for this team.”
Not all that many Pennsylvania high school coaches have won 700 games, but the 61-year-old Downer will reach the mark — if he comes back next season.
“The running joke when I met Kobe in eighth grade was that I knew I would be doing this for four more years,” Downer said with a chuckle. “Heck, I was in my early 30s at the time. I don’t know if I thought I would still be doing this now. But what keeps me going is impacting teenagers, having great friendships with assistant coaches and a supportive administration.
“I’ve been lucky to surround myself with a lot of great assistant coaches and great, hungry players. The other thing about public school coaching that not many people realize is I’m 34 years into a one-year contract. We get one- year contracts. In today’s climate, it can take just the wrong small group of people who don’t like you and might have a private agenda, and you’re gone. I wouldn’t say I’m a dinosaur, but it’s very unusual for somebody in today’s climate to last this long.”
Downer is a health and physical education teacher at Lower Merion. As for Bryant, he went straight from Lower Merion to the NBA, and Downer stayed close with Bryant all the years after Lower Merion. Bryant’s death a few years ago was crushing to Downer — and Lower Merion’s school in general.
“We still have a relationship with Kobe’s sisters. We have kept in touch with them,” Downer said. “I have not been able to keep in touch with his parents. Joe and Pam were very good parents in my estimation. Joe actually coached with me a few years. The last time I saw them was at Kobe’s service.
“The pain is so great at so many different levels, especially the parental pain for them. They have to dictate what relationships are going to keep going. But I’m not suggesting they don’t want a relationship with Lower Merion basketball.”
Lower Merion’s gym is named “Kobe Bryant Gymnasium.”
As for this year’s PIAA playoffs, Downer likes his team but knows there are plenty other strong ones in Class 6A. If Lower Merion wins its first-round game, the Aces will likely face Archbishop Wood, a perennially strong Philadelphia Catholic League team. Downer does not hold back his feelings about the Philadelphia Catholic and Public League teams in the PIAA playoffs.
“I’ve lost three of the last four years to Roman Catholic [of Philadelphia],” Downer said. “We have a 25-1 record and won arguably the toughest district in the state. What is our reward? Maybe playing Archbishop Wood.
“The PIAA has their head in the sand about this, and the solution is so easy. I’m not out to take anything away from any teams. But if you’re a private school or similar and you take kids from all areas, you should play in a different bracket.”
Philly power
Catholic and charter school teams from the Philadelphia Catholic and Public leagues have been dominant in the PIAA basketball championships for a number of years — and look for more of the same this year.
This says a lot about the strength of the Philly teams. MaxPreps.com ranks teams in the state, regardless of classification. The top three are all from the Philly Catholic or Public League — Roman Catholic (25-2 in Class 6A), Imhotep Charter (24-3 in Class 5A) and Neumann-Goretti (22-3 in Class 4A). No. 4 is Lower Merion.
Since the PIAA changed from four to six classifications in the 2016-17 season, teams from the Philadelphia Catholic and Public League have won 16 of 36 state titles. (There were no championships in 2020 because of COVID-19.)
Imhotep has won two Class 5A titles in a row, while Neumann- Goretti and Roman Catholic lost in last year’s title games. Neumann-Goretti lost to Lincoln Park, and there is a definite chance those two could meet again in the title game. But Neumann-Goretti did beat Lincoln Park 82-67 in a game earlier this season.
Top players
Imhotep and Archbishop Wood both boast players who are ranked among the top 25 seniors in the country. Jalil Bethea, a 6-foot-4 guard at Archbishop Wood, is ranked the No. 7 senior in the country by Rivals.com and has signed with Miami. Imhotep Charter’s Ahmad Nowell, a 6foot-2 guard who has signed with UConn, is ranked the No. 36 senior in the country.
Neumann- Goretti would’ve had one of the top 25 players in the country, but guard Robert Wright transferred for his senior year to Montverde Academy (Fla.). Wright is ranked the No. 24 senior in the country and has signed with Baylor.
The highest-rated junior in the state tournament is from the WPIAL. Rivals came out with its new junior rankings this week, and Lincoln Park’s Meleek Thomas is the No. 7 player in the Class of 2025.
Defending champs
All six state champs from last year are in this year’s playoffs again. Besides Lincoln Park and Imhotep Charter, the others are Imani Christian of the WPIAL (Class 1A), Lancaster Mennonite (Class 2A), West Catholic (Class 3A) and Reading (Class 6A).
Imani Christian beat Berlin Brothersvalley in last year’s title game. Berlin Brothersvalley is 24-2 this season and features 6-foot-2 senior guard Pace Prosser, one of the leading scorers in the state playoffs at 25.1 points per game. Prosser, who has signed with Gannon, has scored 2,141 points and is part of a team that loves 3-pointers. Prosser has made 89 3-pointers this season, and senior Craig Jarvis 88. The team averages 10.8 3pointers per game.
Check this out
• Two WPIAL players who have scored more than 2,000 career points arein the playoffs — and they’re practically right next to each other on the all-time list.
Lincoln Park senior guard Brandin Cummings, a Pitt recruit, has 2,073 points, 30th in WPIAL history. Ellwood City senior Joseph Roth is 32nd with 2,049 points. In between them is 2009 Beaver Falls graduate Todd Thomas with 2,063.
• Baldwin played in a WPIAL final Saturday for the first time since 1985. Now, Baldwin will try to win a PIAA playoff game for the first time since 1985.
This is only the sixth time Baldwin has made the state playoffs, and the Highlanders’ record is 3-5. The 1985 team won two PIAA games before losing in the Class 4A quarterfinals at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House to an Altoona team that had two future NBA players — Doug West and Mike Iuzzolino. That Altoona team was undefeated at 27-0 before losing in the state semifinals to a Brashear team that featured future Duquesne player Darrell “Rocky” White, future Heisman Trophy finalist Major Harris and future Pitt player Darelle Porter.