Week of Sunday, March 31, 2013 MAIN LINE TIMES / D5 www.mainlinemedianews.com/main_line_times Lower Merion High School PIAA Class AAAA State Champions By Bruce Adams [email protected]Lower Merion’s 63-47 victory Saturday, March 23 against Chester for the PIAA Class AAAA boys’ basketball state title (the Aces’ seventh), left a lot of lasting images: - Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer, just two days DIWHU EHFRPLQJ D ¿UVWWLPH IDWKHU VSHQGLQJ D FRXSOH RI PLQ- utes before the game with the Dawg Pound fan section, holding XS RQH RI KLV FRORUFRGHG VLGHOLQH VLJQV ZKLOH WKH $FHV IDQV cheered. - Syracuse-bound BJ Johnson, held in check by Chester the ODVW IHZ JDPHV H[SORGLQJ IRU SRLQWV DQG UHERXQGV - Senior guard Raheem Hall, directing Lower Merion’s of- IHQVH DJDLQVW WKH IHURFLRXV &KHVWHU GHIHQVLYH SUHVVXUH DQG VFRULQJ SRLQWV DV ZHOO - Senior Yohanny Dalembert asserting himself under the ERDUGV JUDEELQJ VHYHQ UHERXQGV VFRULQJ SRLQWV EORFNLQJ two shots and making three steals. $OO RI WKH $FHV VKRZLQJ UHPDUNDEOH FRPSRVXUH DIWHU WDNLQJ D KDOIWLPH OHDG VORZO\ DGGLQJ WR WKHLU PDUJLQ LQ WKH VHF- RQG KDOI SOD\LQJ WKHLU JDPH ZLWK SRLVH DQG H[HFXWLRQ ,W DOO DGGHG XS WR D UHPDUNDEOH YLFWRU\ DJDLQVW D &KHVWHU VTXDG going for its third straight state title. The Aces had not beaten WKH &OLSSHUV VLQFH MXVW RQH \HDU DIWHU WKHLU ODVW VWDWH WLWOH LQ DQG ORVW WR WKHP WKUHH WLPHV LQ WKH ODVW WZR VHDVRQV LQ WKH 'LVWULFW 2QH ¿QDO WZLFH DQG LQ ODVW \HDU¶V VWDWH ¿QDO 2Q 6DWXUGD\ QLJKW DIWHU IDOOLQJ EHKLQG HDUO\ WKH $FHV FDXJKW XS DQG SDVVHG &KHVWHU LQ WKH VHFRQG TXDUWHU ZKHQ WKH\ RXWVFRUHG WKH &OLSSHUV WR WDNH D KDOIWLPH OHDG WR WKH VXUSULVH DQG GHOLJKW RI PDQ\ RI WKH IDQV LQ WKH *LDQW Aces trump Chester to claim seventh state title Lower Merion’s Yohanny Dalembert, B.J. Johnson and Raheem Hall hold up the PIAA Class AAAA state championship trophy after beating defending champions Chester 63-47 Saturday evening at Giant Center in Hershey. All three came through like champions in the title game - Dalembert grabbed seven rebounds and scored 10 points, Johnson exploded for 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Hall scored 12 points while directing Lower Merion’s offense against the ferocious Chester defensive pressure. By Eddie Levin For mainlinemedianews.com *UHJJ 'RZQHU KDV FRPSLOHG many memorable moments throughout his 23 years as head coach of the Lower Merion boys basketball team. %XW ZKHQ WKH WLPH FRPHV WR VWHS EDFN DQG UHÀHFW RQ KLV DFFRPSOLVK- ments, this year will be etched in KLV PHPRU\ IRUHYHU SDUWLFXODUO\ WKH ZHHN OHDGLQJ XS WR WKH 3,$$ Class AAAA state title game March 23, which the Aces won, 63-47. 2Q 0DUFK /RZHU 0HULRQ GHIHDWHG SUHYLRXVO\ XQEHDWHQ 1HZ Castle Area in the PIAA Class $$$$ VWDWH VHPL¿QDO 7ZR GD\V ODWHU DW DP RQ 0DUFK 'RZQHU DQG ZLIH &RO- leen welcomed the birth of their daughter, Bryn Riley Downer. State title caps memorable week for Gregg Downer At left, Lower Merion senior guard Raheem Hall lgoes up for a layup against Chester during the Aces’ 63- 47 win in in the PIAA Class AAAA title game at Hershey’s Giant Center. At right, Lower Merion’s Yohanny Dalembert rams home a dunk in the fourth quarter of the state title game. Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer gives Raheem Hall a hug as Yohanny Dalembert looks on after the Aces defeated Chester, 63-47, Saturday for the PIAA Class AAAA state championship. All photos by Pete Bannan/ Main Line Media News Please see Aces trump on D6 Please see Downer on D6 A hearty “Congratulations” to the 2013 Lower Merion High School Men’s Basketball Team!
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Week of Sunday, March 31, 2013 MAIN LINE TIMES / D5www.mainlinemedianews.com/main_line_times
Lower Merion High SchoolPIAA Class AAAA State Champions
Lower Merion’s 63-47 victory Saturday, March 23 against Chester for the PIAA Class AAAA boys’ basketball state title (the Aces’ seventh), left a lot of lasting images:
- Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer, just two days -
utes before the game with the Dawg Pound fan section, holding
cheered.- Syracuse-bound BJ Johnson, held in check by Chester the
- Senior Yohanny Dalembert asserting himself under the
two shots and making three steals.
-
going for its third straight state title. The Aces had not beaten
Aces trump Chester to claim seventh state titleLower Merion’s Yohanny Dalembert, B.J. Johnson and Raheem Hall hold up the PIAA Class AAAA state championship trophy after beating defending champions Chester 63-47 Saturday evening at Giant Center in Hershey. All three came through like champions in the title game - Dalembert grabbed seven rebounds and scored 10 points, Johnson exploded for 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Hall scored 12 points while directing Lower Merion’s offense against the ferocious Chester defensive pressure.
By Eddie LevinFor mainlinemedianews.com
many memorable moments throughout his 23 years as head coach of the Lower Merion boys basketball team.
-ments, this year will be etched in
Class AAAA state title game March 23, which the Aces won, 63-47.
Castle Area in the PIAA Class
-leen welcomed the birth of their daughter, Bryn Riley Downer.
State title caps memorable week for Gregg Downer
At left, Lower Merion senior guard Raheem Hall lgoes up for a layup against Chester during the Aces’ 63-47 win in in the PIAA Class AAAA title game at Hershey’s Giant Center. At right, Lower Merion’s Yohanny Dalembert rams home a dunk in the fourth quarter of the state title game.
Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer gives Raheem Hall a hug as Yohanny Dalembert looks on after the Aces defeated Chester, 63-47, Saturday for the PIAA Class AAAA state championship.
All photos by Pete Bannan/Main Line Media News
Please see Aces trump on D6
Please see Downer on D6
A hearty“Congratulations”
to the 2013Lower MerionHigh School
Men’s BasketballTeam!
Center. Many teams, coming out
of the locker room at half-time, would wilt under the pressure of holding an eight-point lead against Chester. Not these Aces, who slowly added to their lead in the sec-ond half.
Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer said, “We knew composure was going to be important tonight - be-lieving we could win. We had a great pre-game meet-ing, where [just about every-one] came out of that locker room thinking we would beat Chester.”
The Aces also used a well-executed game plan to defeat Chester.
Downer said, “After play-ing [Chester] at Villanova
we thought we couldn’t run on them, that they were too physical defensively, so our [offensive] plan to was to spread them out and create as much space as possible, and shorten the game a little bit, which I think we were suc-cessful with.”
The Aces fell behind 6-0
quarter after Chester’s Ron-dae Jefferson hit a jumper. The Aces promptly called a timeout to regroup.
Just 14 seconds later, BJ Johnson broke the scoring ice with a three-pointer, and 40 seconds later Justin McFad-den nailed a trey to tie the score at 6-6.
Coming from behind was nothing new to the battle-toughened Aces. Going into
come from behind in the -
risburg (63-62 win) and the
Castle (a 67-63 victory).-
risburg were tough teams, and we really had to battle in both games,” Downer said. “Those victories really helped us, really got us bat-tle-toughened [for Saturday’s
big-time play [at the end]
not be talking here now. But big-time players make big-time plays.”
The Aces took the lead in the second quarter, and kept reaching for more.
a lead on Chester, we just wanted to keep shutting them down. We know a lot of their offense runs through Rondae [Jefferson], we tried to get it out of his hands as much as possible and box him out. We were playing [Chester] so many different ways [de-
fensively], they were do-ing things [on offense] they weren’t used to.
“We went through so much preparation for this [game],
nothing we faced [could faze us] tonight.”
Dalembert said, “”We knew [Chester was] a team just like us - they’re a very good team - but we focused on not turning the ball over,
keeping our key players out of foul trouble, and following the game plan.”
-land hit a three-pointer late in the second quarter to put the Aces ahead, 21-20. Lower Merion ran off the next seven points to take a 28-20 half-time lead, and didn’t lose the lead the rest of the night.
night with eight points and four rebounds, said, “We just followed the game plan.”
By the end of the third quarter, the Aces had a 43-36 lead, and in the fourth quarter, the desperate Clippers kept putting up shot after shot, to no avail. The Clippers actual-ly made more turnovers than the Aces (14 for Chester, 13 for Lower Merion).
Lower Merion also had the advantage from three-point territory, hitting 5-for-8 from behind the arc while Chester
Lower Merion hit nearly half of its shots (21-for-43) while Chester was 19-for-60.
sounded, the Lower Merion squad ran over to its spirited fan section, which packed an entire corner of the Giant Center (the night’a atten-dance was 7,507), to share in the joy of winning a state title.
McFadden, who had nine rebounds for the Aces, said, “I was just so happy, I just wanted to get over to my mom and to all the fans who were rooting for us the past two years.”
It capped a great week for Downer, who became a fa-
two days before.“The last few days have
been amazing, 72 of the best hours of my life,” Downer said with a smile. “I have a beautiful young daughter at home now, and my third gold medal, [won by] a group of incredible kids.”
-urday, the Clippers were try-ing for their third consecu-tive Class AAAA state title (which would have been a
had defeated 78 consecutive Pennsylvania opponents and had won 29 straight playoff games.
- Eddie Levin contributed to this article.
D6 / MAIN LINE TIMES www.mainlinemedianews.com/main_line_times Week of Sunday, March 31, 2013
Date Opponent Result
Dec. 7 Neumann-Goretti L, 64-70
Dec. 18 Penncrest W, 70-42
Dec. 22 Marple Newtown W, 74-34Dec. 27 St. Frances (Md.) W, 73-62Dec. 29 St. Joseph’s Prep W, 67-55Jan. 3 Upper Darby W, 57-40Jan. 4 St. Raymond’s (NY) W, 71-44Jan. 8 Radnor W, 63-20Jan. 10 Garnet Valley W, 55-37
Feb. 15 Conestoga (District One playoffs) W, 59-42Feb. 19 Penncrest (District One playoffs) W, 75-42
March 9 Carlisle (state playoofs) W, 77-36March 13 Martin Luther King (state playoffs) W, 63-50
Lower Merion’s road to the state title
Lower Merion’s rosterName Year Height PositionJaQuan Johnson Jr 5-11 GBJ Johnson Sr 6-7 G
Yohanny Dalembert Sr 6-8 FJustin McFadden Jr 6-4 F/G
Corey Sherman So 6-0 GJule Brown So 6-5 FRasool Smith Sr 5-11 GDoug Cotler Sr 6-5 ̀ FSteve Pendleton So 5-10 GEmery Shiffraw Sr 5-11 GGreg Levy Sr 5-11 GBryan Shapiro Sr 6-0 GMatt Wasson Sr 6-2 G/F
Coaches and staff: Gregg Downer (head coach), Blake Stabert, Kevin Grugan, Guy Stewart, Will Carter, Marc Tannebaum,, Dave Stotter, Jeremy Treatman, Todd Barnes, Michael Lachs, Doug Young, Don Walsh, Dan Capkin
Aces trump Chester for state titleAces trump, from D5
Then, on March 23, Down-er captured his third gold medal when Lower Merion stunned two-time defending state champion Chester 63-47 in front of 7,507 spirited fans at the Giant Center in
“It has been the best 72 hours of my life,” Downer said outside the locker room on Saturday night follow-ing the contest. “To have my
line is really unbelievable. ... I have a beautiful young daughter at home now, and my third gold medal, [won by] a group of incredible kids.”
Lower Merion senior cap-
tain BJ Johnson said, “We would not be here without him. I could not imagine wel-coming my child and then
a lot. I am happier for him than for me.”
Dubbed the ‘Sweetest place on earth’ or ‘Choco-
quickly becoming one of Downer’s favorite places to visit. In 1996, Downer won
-tured his second state crown in 2006 at the Giant Center. On Saturday night, Downer captured his third gold medal.
Downer mused, “I guess this is becoming one of my favorite arenas.”
State championship caps Downer’s memorable weekDowner, from D5
Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer keeps his bench from getting too excited in the second half of the PIAA state championship game at Hershey.
Justin McFadden dribbles around a Chester defender in the PIAA Class AAAA state championship game Saturday evening at Giant Center in Hershey.
Yohanny Dalembert (No. 40) and this Lower Merion teammates climb the boards to the Dawg Pound after the Aces won the PIAA Class AAAA state championship game at Hershey Saturday.
All photos by Pete Bannan/Main Line Media News
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When BJ Johnson scored 22 points and pulled down 11 re-bounds in Lower Merion’s 63-47 PIAA Class AAAA state title win against Chester, it was sweet redemption.
In the previous three meetings against Chester, Clippers standout Rondae Jefferson seemed to have Johnson’s number.
career, it was BJ’s turn to take center stage. Johnson shot
The Syracuse-bound senior said, “Beating Chester means a lot - everyone was bashing us and saying we were scared of Chester. We just wanted to prove everybody wrong. We got tired of losing to Chester, we had three silver medals [for los-
our last game, we wanted to change that to gold.”Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer thought BJ’s re-
demption was well-deserved.“It couldn’t have happened to a harder-working player,”
Downer said. “BJ had really struggled against Chester the last three times. He has worked so hard in the last 12 months to gain this redemption. For him to come through like this when it really counted the most was great, for one of the best play-ers to ever play at Lower Merion.
the best defenders around. It’s not an easy challenge for any
working and kept working - as did the whole ball club - and we found a way to break through tonight.
“BJ gets maligned a little bit - people say, ‘Is he good enough to go to Syracuse, is he good enough to go to Syra-cuse.’ He’s one of the hardest-working players, one of the nicest guys I’ve ever coached and we’re going to miss him greatly.”
running over to the Dawg Pound.”
poise against Chester Saturday: “The last three times we played Chester, we were worried about not making mistakes. We came up to Hershey a day early, hung out, and we were more relaxed against Chester this time.”
the tempo, which is what we wanted to do. When we came
Johnson wasn’t the only Lower Merion senior who came through like a champion Saturday night against Chester. Senior guard Raheem Hall was one of the Aces’ main cogs, scoring 12 points and helping the Aces’ defense limit Chester
halftime lead.“Once we got ahead, we felt like, ‘We’re not letting this
lead go,’ and we just kept pushing, kept pushing, kept getting stops,” said Hall. “We know a lot of their offense runs through
as possible and box him out, because he’s a great offensive rebounder. He was forcing stuff, and the of the team {Ches-
sounded, Hall replied, “I can’t even explain it. .... It was such
the greatest feeling in my life so far, to win that gold medal.
-night. We blocked out outside advice, were in our own little
Downer said, “Raheem has meant so much to this program. He has been undervalued and he is a winner through and through.”
was another Lower Merion who came up big against Chester in the state championship game, grabbing seven rebounds,
middle.Dalembert, the younger brother of former Sixer Samuel
- they’re a very good team - but we focused on not turning the
out of foul trouble, and following the game plan.”
Another Lower Merion senior, forward Baird Howland, who added eight points and four rebounds for the Aces in the
... Winning it tonight was the culmination of a lot of years
happy for all my teammates and coaches.”
ran over to its spirited fan section, which packed an entire corner of the Giant Center, to share in the joy of winning a state title.
Lower Merion junior Justin McFadden, who had nine re-bounds for the Aces Saturday night, said, “I was just so hap-py, I just wanted to get over to my mom and to all the fans who were rooting for us the past two years.
on the court we were playing for each other. We just knew -
niors who put in so much work and really helped us through this last game.”
Junior guard JaQuan Johnson, whose father is former Ches-ter basketball star Hassan Muhammad, added six points, three steals, two assists plus some excellent defense to the Aces’ efforts Saturday night.
Two Lower Merion sophomores, guard Corey Sherman and forward Jule Brown, also saw court time in the 63-47 championship game victory.
- Eddie Levin and Matt Smith contributed to this article.
BJ Johnson, Aces enjoy sweet redemption of state title
PETE BANNAN/Main Line Media News
Above, as time expired, BJ Johnson ran for the Dawg Pound at the PIAA Class AAAA state championship game March 23 at Hershey. Below, Lower Merion senior guard Rasool Smith proclaims his joy with Aces Nation after the Aces’ 63-47 win against Chester at the Giant Center.
PETE BANNAN/Main Line Media News
Fans in the Dawg Pound, even a security guard at bottom right, form an Ace of Spades during the PIAA Class AAAA state championship game Saturday evening at Giant Center in Hershey.
The Lower Merion High School boys’ basketball team’s state championship parade and community celebration will be held Sunday, April 14, begin-ning at 1 p.m. from the Ander-son Avenue parking lot in Sub-urban Square.
The procession will wind through Suburban Square, heading east on Coulter, left onto Llanfair and right onto Montgomery Avenue before arriving at Lower Merion High School.
The parade will conclude with a ceremony, rally and video highlights presentation
in the Bryant Gymnasium. A barbeque and other activi-ties will be held following the ceremony, including contests to win team prizes and an op-portunity to take photographs with members of the team and championship trophy. A vari-ety of commemorative items will be available for purchase, including T-shirts and posters.
Fans are encouraged to ar-rive early and set up along the parade route - Montgomery Avenue between Anderson Avenue and Owen Road will be closed during the proces-sion.
Aces’ championship parade scheduled for April 14
On March 24, the day af-ter Lower Merion captured the PIAA Class AAAA state boys’ basketball title, Kobe Bryant tweeted: “Congrats to my LMHS Aces!! STATE CHAMPS AGAIN!! Greg Downer, one of the 2 coach-es I learned the most from. Luv u coach D.”
Later that day Kobe tweeted: “To honor my LM state champs, anyone who tweets me a pic rockin the LM jersey today gets a fol-
-lowers. Bryant only follows
-ing Russell Simmons, Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake.
Kobe tweets champion Aces
CongratulationsLower Merion Men’sBasketball on the2013 PIAA AAAAChampionship!
CongratulationsLower Merion Men’sBasketball on the2013 PIAA AAAAChampionship!
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D8 / MAIN LINE TIMES www.mainlinemedianews.com/main_line_times Week of Sunday, March 31, 2013
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The Lower Merion boys’ basketball team members, proudly wearing their state champion medals and holding their state championship trophy, pose for a group photo minutes after beating defending Chester, 63-47, for the PIAA Class AAAA state championship Saturday, March 23 at Giant Center in Hershey.
State champion Aces display their hardware
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