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District 1 6A: Brown returns to form as No. 2 Lower Merion cruises past Upper Darby

02/24/2023, 10:45pm EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

ARDMORE — Sam Brown is a coach’s kid. He thinks like a coach’s kid. He plays like a coach’s kid. He acts like a coach’s kid. He’s accountable like a coach’s kid.

So, it’s no surprise that Brown, Lower Merion’s sweet-shooting 6-foot-3 lefty guard who is headed to Penn, had no problem blurting out just how satisfied he had been with his season up until this last week.


Sam Brown (above) had 29 points as Lower Merion cruised in its District 1 6A quarterfinal win. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

“Completely unsatisfied,” he said. “I think I know what I can do, and I had not been doing it.”

Brown did it Friday night.

The version of Brown he was counting on seeing this season has arrived just in time for the postseason.

He finished with a game-high 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting in leading the No. 2-seed Lower Merion Aces to a thoroughly dominant 86-56 victory over a good Upper Darby team, which was the 10th seed, in the PIAA District 1 Class 6A quarterfinals.

Lower Merion (22-4) will now host No. 3 seed Plymouth Whitemarsh in the district semifinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m., while Upper Darby (19-7) will go to the seeding rounds, having already qualified for states.

Brown was coming off a career-best 36 points in the Aces’ 71-42 victory over No. 18-seed Neshaminy on Tuesday and followed that performance with the 29-point eruption against the Royals.

Brown, the son of former Sixers’ head coach and current San Antonio assistant coach Brett Brown, had to do some self-reflection.

“There are absolutely certain pressures you put on yourself as a four-year starter that can affect you,” he said. “Being able to get out of humps and overcoming and letting go of these pressures, I’ve had a lot of talks with people. I put a lot of pressure on myself.

“I had obvious conversations with my dad. With the position my dad is in, You listen. No one is going to be harder on me than I am on myself, and I worked hard to build that. According to my dad, every great player has times in their season that they just had to get over and work through. You go through that every year you’re playing until your done.

“You have to remain confident and keep working hard.”

Sam is going to highly respected Penn. The Sam Brown that showed up Friday night could play for any team in the country. The rotation on his shots were textbook. You could tell when the ball left his fingertips that it was going in. And everything was twine. No rim. He did anything he wanted to do, and Upper Darby could not do anything to stop him.


Brown (above) will face No. 3 seed Plymouth Whitemarsh in Tuesday's semifinals. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

He finished with 29, much of which came in three quarters, like the 36 he dropped against Neshaminy.

“I think Sam was trying to do too much at times this season, that’s why his play was a little choppy at times,” Aces’ legendary coach Gregg Downer said. “He was over dribbling, and as time has gone on, he’s really come into his own and has been tremendous the last two games. Sam has great range. Sam is a player who has done an insane amount of work who’s worked for this moment from the age of eight on.

“His dad deserves a lot of credit for Sam’s development, and good things happen to those who work hard. Sam’s really clicking at the right time. This is the best Sam’s played. These last two games have been stellar. Sam wants to be great and carry this team as far as it can go.

“We’ve actually been waiting for this—and this is coming at the right time.”

Sam carries with him a saying from his shooting coach, Dave Stotter, who’s also an NBA shooting coach.

“He said this thing that stuck with me, ‘Completely detached, completely focused,’ and I think what he meant by that is detached from any of the pressures of the ego that you have, but still be in the moment,” Sam said. “I enjoy what I’m doing. I’ve always been good about on to the next shot, but there was always something nagging in the back of your mind, ‘Maybe I could be doing better.’

“I believe now I’ve given up on that and have stayed true to what I can do. My dad told me to respect that amount of work that I’ve put in and that’s exactly what I’m doing now. I think I’m reaping the benefits of that. It’s a matter of forgetting any pressures I was putting on myself and enjoying my last games as a senior and loving playing with guys I’ve played with for however many years.”

Lower Merion never trailed. The game was tied once, 3-3, and Brown the Aces took over shooting 8-16 in the first quarter and 14 of 27 for the half in leading 45-23 at halftime. Fellow seniors Jordan Poles (17), Justin Meekins (14) and junior John Mobley (10) joined Brown in double figures; Brown’s typical Robin to his Batman, Sam Wright, added nine more.

It’s the fourth time Lower Merion beat Upper Darby this season. The prior three games were competitive. It’s the first time the Royals got a glimpse of the real Sam Brown.

By Quarter
Upper Darby:   14  |   9   |  22  |  11  ||  56
Lower Merion:  24  |  21  |  23  |  18  ||  86

Scoring

Upper Darby: Nadir Myers 24, Yassir Joyner 9, Khysir Slaughter 8, Niymire Brown 4, Niari Hodges 3, Crishaun Cain 3, Lovo Mulbah 3, Alex Brown 2.

Lower Merion: Sam Brown 29, Justin Poles 17, Jordan Meekins 14, John Mobley 10, Sam Wright 9, Owen McCabe 3, Justin Mebane 3, Langston Foster 1.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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