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District 1 6A: Lilley, Lower Merion hand Cheltenham its first loss in semifinal

03/02/2022, 1:45am EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

Every game this season, Gregg Downer has written the same hyphenated phrase on the whiteboard. Inside-out.

When you have Demetrius Lilley inside, there’s no other option.

“Every game, I put on the board, ‘inside-out, inside-out, inside-out,’” Downer said, “and I tell the kids, I’m going to write that until (Lilley) graduates.”


Demetrius Lilley (above) and Lower Merion could defend their district title for the first time since the 1940s. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The Aces’ difference-maker is indeed their 6-foot-9, 230-pound, Penn State-bound forward, an imposing two-way force whose abilities and production in the post are unrivaled in the district. And when you have such a presence inside, and you’ve been around as long as Downer has, you’re going to take advantage of it as often as you can, for as long as you can.

Lower Merion went to Lilley early, late, and everywhere in between in a District 1 6A semifinal against Cheltenham on Tuesday night. The LM senior put up a monster double-double with 20 points and a season-high 24 rebounds as the Aces downed the Panthers, 61-54, to advance to Saturday’s championship game at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.

For the first time in Downer’s 30-plus years at Lower Merion, the Aces will have a chance to defend a district title. 

“Headed to Temple, it feels amazing, it feels so good,” Lilley said. “We knew they were a great team, we knew that we had to guard, we knew that we had to make smart plays [...] we came out with great intensity, great defense, great offense, great plays, everything.

“We knew everything had to be in tip-top shape for us to win that game.”

Lower Merion’s 2021 District 1 championship win was its first since some kid named Kobe Bryant led the Aces to the 1996 title, just the second in Downer’s terrific tenure on the Main Line. Now they have the chance to repeat for the first time in the school’s modern history, Downer citing assistant coach Doug Young as having turned up a six-time-repeat champion coming out of LM in the 1940s. 

The last team to repeat as the district’s big-school champions was Abington, with Eric Dixon and Lucas Monroe leading the Ghosts to three straight from 2017-19. 

“It feels great,” Downer said. “We’ve had such a hard time getting those district championships, having waited 25 years for the one last year, and to be there on a back-to-back basis is something we’re really excited about.”

Even though Lower Merion won the district last year, falling to Archbishop Wood in the semifinals of an abbreviated state title, the Aces did so in largely empty gyms during the pandemic-shortened 2021 season, capturing the title on their home court with no fans in the building. 

Lilley (14) faced double and triple-teams from Cheltenham all night, but that's nothing new for the Penn State commit. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

It was the exact opposite on Tuesday night, a packed house at the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium featuring two massive student sections, Cheltenham’s behind their bench and Lower Merion’s across from theirs. There were fans crowded on the baseline and in the corners, the PA announcer trying several times to convince those in the stands to find any extra room to squeeze in a few more fans, but there was no more space to be had.

“You never thought we would take big, raucous crowds for granted,” Downer said, “but you knew there was going to be a big crowd in there tonight, there was a lot at stake and that’s what high school basketball is and it was a good night.”

“I saw some pockets of nervousness out of us tonight,” he added. “Some of our kids have never played in front of a crowd like that, and it’s (more fun) with fans there. Hopefully it’ll be a good turnout on Saturday.”

Though Cheltenham went a perfect 22-0 in the regular season and rolled into Lower Merion an unbeaten 27-0, the Suburban One champs were only the No. 3 seed in the District 1 6A playoffs, Lower Merion (23-3) the No. 2 seed by the district’s power ranking formula. That gave the Aces home-court advantage instead of having to travel to Cheltenham, where they upset the Panthers in last year’s quarterfinals.
Considering Lower Merion had already scored high-level out-of-area wins this season against the likes of Reading and Pocono Mt. West, among others, the Aces came in confident that they could be the ones to spoil Cheltenham’s unblemished record.

“We knew that [despite] our three losses, we play like an undefeated team no matter what,” senior guard Jaylen Shippen said. “We felt like we were equal in the matchup; since we felt like we were equal, we came out not like we were the top dogs or the underdogs. We just came out ready for a fight.”

Lilley got things going early on, the Aces going to their star forward on just about every possession out of the gate. Going up against a Panthers squad that didn’t have a starter over 6-4, Lilley grabbed 11 rebounds in the first quarter alone, but he only scored three points, Cheltenham seemingly throwing three or four defenders at every post touch, bothering Lilley just enough to keep him from finishing at his typical high rate.

“Every game I’ve got teams coming at me left and right,” Lilley said. “I’m used to it, have to keep my composure and just relax.”

Lilley scored 10 points in the second quarter, hitting all five of his shots, as LM built its advantage to 25-20 at the break. He already had 13 points and 18 rebounds by that point, a crucial block of production as a normally-sharpshooting LM squad was 1-of-7 from deep in the first two quarters, a couple uncharacteristic airballs included. 

Junior guard Sam Brown, the main ‘outside’ component to Downer’s inside-out plan, connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to give LM its largest lead at 35-22 with 3:45 to play in the third quarter, but Cheltenham didn’t fold. The Panthers scored the next seven and trailed by six entering the fourth, staying around into the final minute to make LM close the game out strong in the wire-to-wire win.

“We just kept our composure,” Lilley said. “We didn’t get too high, we didn’t too low, we just kept our composure right in the middle. We just kept calm, every time somebody made a bad play, it was like let’s calm down, we’re good, we’re still up 10 points.”


Jaylen Shippen (above) had nine points and six assists, including this fourth-quarter layup. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Shippen, who finished with nine points and six assists, picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter, but Downer left the senior on the floor, needing his leadership and play-making abilities. The 6-0 guard rewarded the decision, opening the fourth quarter with a 3-point play to help Lower Merion reestablish momentum and keep Cheltenham generally at arm’s length through the final quarter. 

“I had to keep playing with everything I had,” he said. “Couldn’t worry about the fourth foul, had to keep playing strong. Coach told me to keep going to the basket, so I kept going to the basket, and I was able to get a couple free throws and layups from that.”

Brown, a 6-3 guard with an offer from Penn, scored 19 points and hit three 3-pointers with Quakers head coach Steve Donahue in attendance. Junior guard Sam Wright, who also hit a key fourth-quarter 3-pointer to keep LM safely ahead, added 11 points.

Cheltenham, which will play top-seeded Methacton for the third and fourth seeding designations in the state bracket, got a 21-point, eight-rebound, four-block, three-steal, two-assist effort from senior wing Justin Savage, while classmate Rasheem Dearry added 14 points and five rebounds. 

The Aces’ attempt to repeat will come against No. 12 seed Norristown, which took last season off but now has a chance to win its first district title since 2009. The Eagles (21-7) beat No. 21 Wissahickon at home, then No. 5 Haverford, No. 4 Bensalem and then No. 1 Methacton all on the road to get to Temple.

“I know a little bit, they’re some underdogs, they’re the 12th seed, so I mean, they’re going to come hard, they’re going to come aggressive, they won’t want to lose,” Shippen said. “I know the legacy they have there, they don’t like to lose, and neither do we, so we have to come just as hard.”

By Quarter
Lower Merion:  8   |  17  |  12  |  24  ||  61
Cheltenham:    7   |  13  |  11  |  23  ||  54

Shooting
Lower Merion: 19-50 FG (5-18 3PT), 18-30 FT
Cheltenham: 21-60 FG (2-19 3PT), 10-19 FT

Scoring
Lower Merion: Demetrius Lilley 20, Sam Brown 19, Sam Wright 11, Jaylen Shippen 9, Justin Poles 2

Cheltenham: Justin Savage 21, Rasheem Dearry 14, Brandon Bush 8, Nasir Edens 4, Elias Walker 3, Josiah Hutson 2, Kevin Addison-Anderson 2


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