Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Lower Merion hands Cheltenham 1st loss, returns to District 1-6A final
Demetrius Lilley asserted himself early while Lower Merion answered every Cheltenham push in the second half with timely baskets as the Aces earned a chance to defend their District 1-6A title.
Lilley scored 10 points in the second quarter to help host Lower Merion take a 25-20 lead into halftime of Tuesday night’s district boys basketball semifinal. The second-seeded Aces stretched their advantage to 13 in the third before the No. 3 Panthers rallied to pull within four late in the quarter.
But the guard trio of Sam Brown, Jaylen Shippen and Sam Wright provided pivotal points to keep the Aces ahead as they handed Cheltenham its first loss and advanced to the final with a 61-54 victory at Kobe Bryant Gymnasium.
“We just kept our composure,” Lilley said. “We didn’t get too high, we didn’t get too low. We just kept our composure right in the middle so we just kept calm.”
Lilley, Lower Merion’s 6-foot-9 senior Penn State commit, controlled the boards and totaled a teamhigh 20 points. Brown scored 17 of his 19 in the second half while Wright and Shippen added 11 and nine points, respectively, for the Aces (23-3), who face No. 12 Norristown — which knocked off top seed Methacton 51-36 —in the district championship 5 p.m. Saturday at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.
“We knew they were a great team, we knew that we had to guard, we knew we had to make smart plays,” Lilley said. “We knew that they were (27)-0 so we came out with great intensity, great defense, great offense, great plays, everything, ball movement. We knew everything had to be in tip-top shape for us to win that game.”
Justin Savage had 10 of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter while Rasheem Dearry finished with 14 points for Cheltenham (27-1), which was handed its first loss since