Firing Squad
Red-hot from 3, Methacton torches Lincoln to make PIAA quarters
WARMINSTER » Methacton has five sharpshooters on its roster capable of getting hot from deep on any given night.
In a PIAA Class 6A secondround game against District 12 No. 3 seed Lincoln on Wednesday night, the Warriors showed what happens when their shooters all catch fire at the same time.
For the second straight game, senior Erik Timko opened the scoring with a three swishing through the net. Unlike its opening round win against Harrisburg, Methacton did not let the flame go out.
The Warriors hit seven threes in the first eight minutes to build a 20-point first-quarter lead and knocked down 14 from deep in the game as they rolled to an 83-55 win and into the PIAA quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
Senior guard Brett Eberly made seven 3s on the way to a 27-point night, and Timko hit four as he
finished with 22 points.
Methacton (28-2) will face District 12 two seed Roman Catholic, a 62-51 winner over Pennridge, for a chance at the school’s first-ever state semifinal trip. The date of that game will be at minimum two weeks from now after the PIAA postponed the basketball championships on Thursday due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“This is definitely an example of how we can play,” Eberly said. “If we play together, we can all get open shots.”
“We’re just playing as a team,” he added. “It’s all about team chemistry and how you know what your players are going to do and what we’re going to do with the ball and the execution of our game plan basically. There’s nothing to us. We’re just playing as a team right now.”
Timko knocked down all four of his 3-point shots in the first quarter. Eberly, senior Owen Kropp (11 points), and sophomore Brett Byrne (8 points) all added 3s in the period as Methacton led 29-9 after a quarter of play.
Senior forward Jeff Woodward, who put together another dominant effort on the glass and manning the paint defensively, scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half as the Warriors led 53-27 at the break.
“We knew they were really aggressive on the front end of their press, and they got us a couple times during the course of the game,” Methacton coach Jeff Derstine said. “But I think we kind of established it early on. We were really aggressive. We had our eyes down the floor.
“Even that first play, I think it was Eberly who hit Timko on the long pass ahead and hit the three right away. Byrne hit one. So we had talked about trying to stretch the defense and attack the press vertically. And I thought we did a really good job of that early and kind of built a lead early and kept them at length most of the game.”
As the Warriors’ offensive clinic continued into the second half, a Lincoln fan yelled out, “They’re beating you with the fundamentals.”
Derstine noted that even when the Lincoln defense was able to recover, the Warriors’ use of the jumpstop and ability to reverse the ball helped them continue to get good shots.
With the Warriors’ lead past 30 late in the game, the fundamental play remained. In the middle of the fourth, Timko drove into the lane and used a jump-stop before finding Eberly behind him in the corner for a three.
“That’s something that we really harp on a lot, we really emphasize a lot, because from a decision-making standpoint you give yourself a chance,” Derstine said of the jump-stops. “If what you think is there ends up not being there, if you jump you’ve got one option. Try to save the day. Make a creative pass.
“But when you jumpstop, you give yourself a couple seconds as long as the guys are filling on the perimeter and finding the open spot. If we’re patient and decisive, eventually the openings are going to be there and you have to knock the shots down.”
The Warriors’ season has been building toward a rematch with Roman since a 59-52 loss to the Cahillites on Dec. 14 — one of just two defeats this season.
Methacton challenged itself in the non-conference with games early against Roman and Pa. Independent Schools runner-up Malvern Prep and a marquee matchup with District 3 champion Wilson in the regular-season finale.
Their next game – whenever it comes – will tell if those regular-season tests paid off.
“We wanted to get back to (the quarterfinals), and obviously we wanted to play Roman again for a second time to get into the semifinals for states,” Eberly said.
“I’m really, really looking forward to that,” Woodward said. “That’s why you play those high-level games ... If you want to be playing deep into March, you’re going to be playing some elite-level teams and Roman is certainly an elite team.”