Lower Merion and Upper Darby advance to quarter finals
earning a spot in the state play offs, plus top scorers of the second round, and
quarter final match ups.
By
Gregory Goettner
(8)
Lower Merion 56 – (24) Cheltenham 50
After last night’s one sided
victory of Pennsbury over Council Rock North, I was hoping that I would see a
close competitive game and that’s exactly what I got.
Cheltenham, the 24th
seed in the District upset Glen Mills to get into this game. Would the Panthers
have another upset up their sleeve? It seemed like they did, Cheltenham cut an
eleven point deficit to take the lead with 3 minutes left in the game. At the
end of the third quarter Cheltenham was down 39-28, and looked like all hope was
over.
The Panthers opened the fourth
quarter by pounding the ball into senior Anthony Young and junior
Austin Johnson but it wasn’t until an Anthony Fisher three pointer
that Cheltenham would take their first lead since the first quarter 43-42 with 3
minutes remaining. Lower Merion called a quick time out and responded with a
Carl Johnson three pointer at the top of the key to take the lead 45-43.
Johnson would then hit a base line shot to take a 47-44 lead with 1:50
remaining. The clock would strike twelve for Cinderella as Lower Merion made a
key defensive stop and got the ball back and converted 9 of 12 free throws in
the final 1:30 hold on to a 56-50 victory.
Lower Merion was led
by sophomore Greg Robbins; Robbins scored 20 points for the Aces (6-8
from the free throw line). Senior Eric Barefield scored 11 points (6-9
from the free throw line) and junior Carl Johnson chipped in 12 points,
including 10 second half points.
Cheltenham gave Lower Merion
all they could handle, but just couldn’t pull it out. Leading Cheltenham was
senior Andrew Young 21 points, junior Austin Johnson 18 points,
and senior Anthony Fisher 9 points (all three pointers).
(1) Upper Darby 65 – (16)
Norristown 58
Senior Upper Darby Clinton
Cole exploded for 27 points to help the Royals defeat Norristown 65-58.
Upper Darby will meet up with division rival Lower Merion for a third time this
season in the quarterfinals.
Quarter finals match ups
- February 23, 2007 – all games at 7:30
(1)
Upper Darby vs. (8) Lower Merion @ West Chester East High School
(4)
Pennsbury vs. (5) Plymouth Whitemarsh @ William Tennent High School
(2)
Chester vs. (7) Ridley @ Norristown High School
(3)
Souderton vs. (6) West Chester Henderson @ Wissahickon High School
Second Round Lead Scorers
Zack Ashworth (Central Bucks
West) – 38 points
Anthony Minor (Plymouth
Whitemarsh) – 28 points
Clinton Cole (Upper Darby) – 27
points
Jim Connolly (Souderton) – 25
points
Ron Benson (Souderton) – 23
points
Ryan McCormick (WC Henderson) –
22 points
Shamar Harris (Ridley) – 21
points
Andrew Young (Cheltenham) – 21
points
Greg Robbins (Lower Merion) –
20 points
District one bracket:
http://www.district-one.net/brackets/boysbasketballAAAA.htm
If you have any questions or comments e-mail Greg at
greg@metrohoops.com
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