City of Basketball Love

Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)
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Methacton boys basketball’s Christian Matos and Mason Conrad have been playing basketball together since elementary school.

This year the duo has made the jump to varsity, and it's starting to click for both of them. 

Methacton’s underclassmen proved to be the difference in its 85-55 win over Norristown in its Pioneer Athletic Conference opener. The duo combined for 38 points (19 each), 21 of which came in the first half. Fellow sophomore Wes Robinson also chipped in 11 points off the bench. 

“The chemistry has always been there, and at every level, every year we always get better and better,” Matos said. 

“I think all three sophomores that are in our rotation between Christian, Mason and Wes, we know their talent,” Methacton head coach Pat Lockard said. “Now they're getting an opportunity to kind of show that at the varsity level when they can do that.”

After a tough loss against Executive Charter over the weekend in which Matos said the team played too much “hero ball,” the sophomores helped Methacton get back to sharing the ball.

Lockard called Matos a “talented scorer,” and he wasted no time showing that Tuesday. He scored the first bucket of the game, and Methacton scored nine straight points to open the game. Conrad also got in on the action, drilling a 3-pointer from the left wing, eventually forcing a Norristown timeout. 

The sophomores dominated the opening frame, outscoring Norristown 14-13 on their own as Methacton jumped out to a 13-point lead. 

Matos didn’t play much on JV last season due to an injury but developed enough during the spring and summer with Methacton and in AAU with East Coast Power alongside Conrad. Lockard saw their potential in the offseason and is happy with how they’ve developed so far.

“We saw flashes of potential, but like when the lights shine on, you're out there on the floor and you're in the middle of the game, sometimes they don't always reach their potential,” Lockard said. “But I think those guys are really seeing what they can do out there. And I think each game is only building that much more confidence.”

Matos said he had nerves before his first varsity appearance, a season-opening loss against Lower Merion. But as soon as the ball tipped off he locked in, and that’s been the case through six games.

Conrad is more of a distributor while Matos has scored more. Conrad said he’d only knocked down one 3-pointer this season but drained two in the first quarter. 

“I shot it pretty well today with those two 3s, which was big for me after how I started the year,” Conrad said.

Methacton had too much offense for Norristown to handle, leading by double digits for most of the game. Off of missed shots, multiple Methacton players leaked out on the other end in transition for easy layups. The Warriors got whatever they wanted offensively, leading to a 48-27 lead at halftime.

“We’re a really dangerous transition team with our versatility,” Lockard said. “Whoever gets the first outlet pass. we want them to go and just be able to attack and see that we have a great opportunity to score the basketball.”

Norristown couldn’t keep up with Methacton’s pace while its best player, Myon Kirlew, was held quiet in the first two quarters. Kirlew hit just two shots and had six points at the break. The senior got into a rhythm in the second half, finishing with a team-high 19 points, but no other Norristown player finished in double figures. 

The closest the Eagles got was a 17-point deficit at the start of the third quarter, but they never threatened the Warriors lead. 

Methacton senior point guard Sal Iemmello and forward Alex Hermann contributed in different ways. Iemmello only scored two points but dished out a game-high nine assists, while Hermann was a monster on the boards with 15 rebounds to go along with his 15 points.

Lockard said Mecthacton is going to need Hermann to be big down low since they’re an undersized team this year without big presences like in the past when it had Jeff Woodward (Colgate) and Cole Hargrove (Drexel). 

For Lockard, it’s all about consistency going forward. He knows his team is talented because of players like Matos, Conrad and Hermann, but it comes down to playing within the offense and not straying too far away from Methacton’s principles. The Warriors are always hunting for a PAC championship and are hungry after getting knocked out in the quarterfinals last year. But Lockard wants his team to have stability. 

“When we're engaged and connected out there, we're really good and really talented,” Lockard said. “But we have lapses out there that we want to be a really good team in the area in this conference, we can't have those lapses.” 

By Quarter

Methacton:  26 | 22 | 21 | 16 || 85 

Norristown: 13 |  14 | 17 | 21 || 55

Scoring

Methacton: Conrad 19, Matos 19, Hermann 15, Robinson 11, Daddazio 8, Rodriguez 4, Greenberg 3, Iemmello 2, Preston 2, Jackson 2

Norristown: Kirlew 19, Giddens 9, Byrd 8, Daniels 6, Bond 6, Tuggle 5, Barr, 2