skip navigation

Back issue doesn't slow down Lower Merion's Demetrius Lilley

12/17/2021, 11:30pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
––

Considering a Friday night matchup with Garnet Valley was Demetrius Lilley’s first full game of the season after suffering a preseason back injury, expectations maybe should have been tempered for the senior forward and Penn State signee. Gregg Downer knew enough to disagree.

“I thought he was going to have a big night tonight,” the longtime Lower Merion head coach said. “It didn’t really materialize that way, but he’s certainly a heck of a weapon.”


Demetrius Lilley (above) had 18 points and 18 rebounds in his first full game of the season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Told Lilley had finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds in the Aces’ 58-45 win, Downer smiled, and reassessed.

“Well,” he said with a laugh, “that’s not too shabby.”

It’s true that Lilley wasn’t at his most dominant, despite the big numbers; part of that was due to the 6-foot-9, 240-pound power forward playing against a game-yet-undersized Jaguars squad that didn’t have a rotation member taller than 6-3. He was only 4-of-10 from the field, missing several shots at point-blank range, though he went 9-of-13 from the foul line and made one of his two 3-pointers. He was perhaps not quite as nimble on his feet as usual, maybe a half-step slower at times than before.

Still, Lilley’s big-time double-double was a great sign for Lower Merion (3-1, 2-0 Central League), which needs its talented big man on the court this season to fulfill some lofty expectations, with a District 1 6A title to defend. 

Lilley had been in the best shape of his life this offseason, with an impressive summer playing with Lower Merion that ended in his commitment to Happy Valley in the fall. But Lilley said it was some combination of lifting weights and a fall he took in a preseason game against Imhotep, and in the span of two weeks he found himself suffering from serious back pain. 

School trainers sent him to the hospital room, where doctors gave him an MRI. The diagnosis was a herniated disc in his back, an injury to the protective tissue between vertebrae. It’s a rare injury for a high school athlete.

“You’re startled when you hear that,” Downer said, “and then the trainers and the doctors thought that if it was treated correctly, he could probably be back by Christmas.”

There’s no quick or easy fix for a herniated disc. Surgery can be required in the worst cases, but most need a combination of rest, physical therapy, and awareness of good posture, according to the Mayo Clinic. For Lilley, it meant lots of physical therapy, stretching, applying heat and taking medicine for the pain. And slowly but surely his body began to respond.

Demetrius Lilley (14) goes up for a shot while Garnet Valley's Logan McKee defends. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

He made his return to the court on Tuesday in a win over Upper Darby, though he only played one quarter, scoring 10 points. Lilley was back in the starting lineup Friday night, and though he didn’t play whistle-to-whistle, his minutes were clearly those of a featured player.

Even though Lilley said the doctors told him he could be dealing with his disc issue his entire life, he’s not worried about it having a major impact on the remainder of his senior season. It’s all about taking the right approach.

“I’m pretty confident,” Lilley said. “Every day I have to do PT first thing; in order to play great out there, I have to do PT, my stretches and everything.”

“He’s not 100% yet,” Downer said. “but we’re certainly anxious to get him healthy, and hopefully the bad back’s a thing of the past.”

In Lilley’s absence, junior guard Sam Brown had stepped up to average more than 25 ppg during Lower Merion’s opening three games, including a 30-point outing in the season opener against Pocono Mt. West.


Sam Brown (above) has been playing the best hoops of his career at the start of his junior season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Brown was terrific again against Garnet Valley (2-2, 1-1), finishing with 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from downtown, his only attempt from inside the arc a fastbreak layup in the final couple minutes. Playing on the ball much more than he did as a freshman and sophomore, the third-year starter also dialed up four assists, including an on-the-move dish to Lilley for a powerhouse slam down the stretch.

“Oh my God, Sam has been on fire,” Lilley said. “That’s my guy. He’s definitely improved — before, he was a shooter, now he can do everything.”

Brown kept Lower Merion in it for the first half, scoring 14 of his team’s first 18 points. A 3-pointer from freshman guard Gus Wright and a couple buckets by Lilley helped the Aces pull away to lead by 11 at the break. The third quarter was more LM, including a Lilley triple and Brown’s fifth from deep, and the gap was 43-27 going into the fourth.

“When I was a freshman, that size of a crowd would kind of phase me a little,” Brown said of the several hundred in attendance at the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium. “At this point, I’m just as locked in as I can be.”

Brown, a 6-3 lefty, just picked up his second Division I offer, from Penn, to go along with one from Albany; he also said he’s been hearing from Atlantic 10 and other Ivy League programs.

“Just a year ago he was probably a one-level scorer, now he’s a three-level scorer, and he’s a lot stronger,” Downer said. “He’s not a skinny kid anymore, he’s a dynamic guard that can do it all. And that certainly wasn’t the case when he was younger.”

Lower Merion continues its Central League play on Tuesday with a trip to Conestoga; Garnet Valley hosts Upper Darby the same night. The two programs will meet again in Garnet Valley on Jan. 29, just three games from the end of the regular season.

By Quarter
Lower Merion:   10  |  17  |  16  |  15  || 58
Garnet Valley:   12  |   4   |  11  |  18  ||  45

Shooting
Lower Merion: 16-42 FG (8-26 3PT), 18-28 FT
Garnet Valley: 17-50 FG (3-17 3PT), 8-10 FT

Scoring
Lower Merion: Brown 21, Lilley 18, Poles 5, Shippen 5, G. Wright 5, S. Wright 3, Pendergrass 1

Garnet Valley: Sniras 11, Koehler 10, McKee 10, Faccenda 9, Wooten 5


D-I Coverage:

HS Coverage:

Small-College News:

Tag(s): Home  Josh Verlin  Boys HS  Central League (B)  Garnet Valley  Lower Merion  High School