City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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EAGLEVILLE — The Garnet Valley boys basketball team had been knocking on the door for the past two seasons.

This year the Jaguars are not bothering knocking. Instead, they’re blowing that door down.

Garnet Valley, caring very little about that No. 14 ranking next to its name, rolled to its second consecutive double-digit upset by knocking off No. 6 Methacton 64-53 on Friday night in the District 1 Class 6A quarterfinals.

All that is to say the Jaguars are now headed to the semifinals after two consecutive quarterfinal defeats. They will visit No. 2 West Chester Henderson in the semifinals Tuesday night.

“It’s really just Coach (Mike) Brown,” senior point guard Quinn O’Hara said. “I was sitting in class today, and I was looking at it. 2011, 2012 — 1-20, 1-18. Ever since Coach Brown took over, the stats speak for themselves. He gets us ready. He’s a great coach, and that’s why Garnet Valley keeps doing this.”

Brown took over in 2013 and has had them winning since then. Garnet Valley just finished off its ninth consecutive winning season. 

Still, the quarterfinals had been a recent hurdle.

“It’s awesome,” junior forward Jake Sniras said. “It’s a first for us. We know we can make it. It’s just that everyone else doesn’t know it. It’s great to prove everyone wrong.”

Although the final score might look like just another night at the office for the upstart Jaguars, it was anything but a smooth ride to get there. Garnet Valley trailed 28-23 at halftime and by seven points after Methacton’s Alex Hermann (13 points) opened the third quarter with a pair of free throws.

GV answered with a 13-2 run in which Brady Krautzel, Jack Krautzel and Sniras (13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals) all got in on the act. The Jaguars opened up the lead to 44-38 with 2:12 to go in the frame. 

“We all just believe in each other and believe in getting the best shot,” O’Hara said. “I think that’s what won us the game. We got a lot of great shots. This team, we believe in each other like no other.”

Methacton answered with five consecutive points from Hermann, including a thundering dunk, and trailed just 45-43 entering the fourth quarter. 

“Not many teams have valuable ball left to play, which we absolutely do,” Methacton head coach Pat Lockard said. “The biggest thing we can do is play good basketball going into the state playoffs, build good momentum. The guys are a little hurt right now because we had a home game to make the district semifinals. Obviously, only four teams get to say they are doing that. I think we let an opportunity slip by tonight. We will look at this, review it and flush it.”

The Warriors appeared to have momentum entering the fourth, but as it turned out the Jaguars were just getting started. O’Hara opened the final frame with a 3-pointer off a dish from Sniras, one of five on the night for the senior point guard.

“Right now, no one is looking at the scoreboard and caring about their points,” O’Hara said. “It’s how many points does Garnet Valley have. That was a big shift from the beginning of the season to the end of the season.”

Sniras then found Jack Krautzel for a layup and Garnet Valley was up 50-43 with 6:06 to go. Sal Iemmello hit a pair of free throws, but another dish from Sniras this time to freshman Grayson Golek put the Jaguars back up 52-45. Methacton never got the deficit under seven points again. 

“It’s awesome, final four who we got?” Sniras said. “Henderson or (Central Bucks) East? Henderson beat us. It would be a good revenge game. It’s great to see the fans leave a minute before the game ends, it’s great.”

Free throws played a huge part down the stretch as Garnet Valley shot 12-of-14 from the line in the fourth quarter, while the Warriors were 4-of-10 and 9-of-17 for the game.

“That’s one thing Coach Brown always tells us, get on the line, get on the line,” O’Hara said. “Last game I think I was 3-of-6, 3-of-7. I got to the gym and shot foul shots, foul shots, foul shots. Districts, the game is going to come down to foul shots. That was really my focus. I was just happy to knock (down) the ones I knocked down.”

O’Hara finished the game with a team-high 22 points, but was hardly alone. Junior Brady Krautzel added 16, while Sniras had 13 points.

“We just kept looking at each other, saying five minutes left, four minutes left. We can do this,” O’Hara said. “Against Spring-Ford we did it. We are gaining experience as we go through the bracket. We grew up playing together. Me and Jack Krautzel want to go out as champions.”

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By Quarter

Garnet Valley: 14 | 9 | 22 | 19 || 64

Methacton 13 | 15 | 15 | 10 || 53

Scoring

Garnet Valley: Golek 2; B. Krautzel 16; O’Hara 22; J. Krautzel 6; Sniras 13; Borak 5.

Methacton: Daddazio 6; Iemmello 12; Matos 19; Hermann 13; Rodriguez 3.

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District 1 6A Boys

Quarterfinals (Fri., Feb. 23)
1) Lower Merion 66, 24) Springfield (Delco.) 51
4) Chester 67, 5) Coatesville 64
2) West Chester Henderson 68, 7) CB East 63
14) Garnet Valley 64, 6) Methacton 53

Playbacks (Fri., Feb. 23)
8) Bensalem 69, 16) Conestoga 51
13) Plymouth Whitemarsh 69, 12) Cheltenham 45
15) Downingtown West 53, 10) Perkiomen Valley 48
3) Spring-Ford 51, 11) Central Bucks West 43

Semifinals (Tue., Feb. 27)
1) Lower Merion vs. 4) Chester
2) West Chester Henderson vs. 14) Garnet Valley

Third-place playbacks (Tue., Feb. 27)
5) Coatesville vs. 24) Springfield (Delco.)
6) Methacton vs. 7) CB East

Playbacks (Tue., Feb. 27)
8) Bensalem vs. 13) Plymouth Whitemarsh
3) Spring-Ford 51 vs. 15) Downingtown West