City of Basketball Love

By Matt Allibone (@bad2theallibone)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s annual “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2024-25 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer knows some might use the R-word when talking about his team this season.

He just won’t be one of them.

“I won’t say rebuild,” said the legendary head coach, who is entering his 35th season leading the Aces. ‘We have a lot of new guys, but we expect them to step up and play to our standards.”

But Downer is still realistic. He knows it won’t be easy to replicate last season’s success – when Lower Merion went 28-2 and captured its third District One title in the past four years. He quickly pointed out it’s taken a lot of good luck with avoiding injuries for the Aces to sustain their current run.

Lower Merion also graduated four starters and nearly 85% of its scoring from last season. And the Aces don’t have a player taller than 6-foot-3 on this year’s roster.

While Downer stressed that Lower Merion never changes its goals, he acknowledged the Aces might go through some growing pains early on this season. The Aces won the Central League and reached the second round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs before losing to Archbishop Wood last season.

“Winning the league is incredibly difficult to do,” he said. “We want to be top six in the league, make districts, and get into the state playoffs. Those are always the goals. You try to get into those tournaments, take it one game at a time and make a run at winning some games.”

Of course, the Aces weren’t expected to be such a dominant team last season. They graduated a strong senior class and brought back just one starter (John Mobley) but used a balanced lineup and incredible shooting (40% from 3) to come four points away from an undefeated regular season. All-Central League players Owen McCabe (PSU-Behrend) and Adam Herrenkohl are among the graduates from last season’s team.

Can Lower Merion surprise people again in 2024-25? It might take a different approach this time around.

“Shooting 40% (from 3) was a school record and historically good. You can’t duplicate that,” Downer said. “Our guys can still make those shots, but we’ve got to find ways to win when the 3s aren’t going in. We’re going to need to play feisty defense and to always win the hustle game.”

It all starts with senior Carson Kasmer. The 5-foot-9 point guard averaged eight points per game last season and was a clutch performer in the postseason. A four-year varsity player, Kasmer can score at all three levels and is being recruited by several high-academic NCAA Division III programs.

Fellow senior guard Gus Wright is the Aces other returning varsity player. The brother of former Lower Merion star and 2023 graduate Sam Wright, the 5-foot-10 Gus is another four-year varsity player who averaged about four points coming off the bench last season.

Downer is then counting on several seniors who’ve been waiting their turns to solidify themselves as varsity contributors. Six-foot-2 Tate Perkins is “an extremely athletic Swiss Army knife.” And 5-foot-8 Lamont Grier is expected to be a top perimeter defender.

But perhaps no player has improved more from last season than Sam’i Singletary. The 6-foot-2 wing was a standout scorer for Lower Merion throughout its offseason tournaments and has been getting attention from Division III colleges.

“On any particular night he can pop you for 20 (points),” Downer said about Singletary. “He dropped some weight and got in good shape this offseason. He can make a 3 or muscle you inside.”

Sophomore Kyle Parrish is another guard who is expected to earn rotation minutes after making the varsity roster as a freshman a year ago.

But the Aces biggest question mark is down low, where they are undersized and inexperienced. Senior Rashyne Patterson (6-3) is Lower Merion’s most developed post player. Sophomore Will Yard, also 6-3, will also be in the mix for playing time.

“Our fear is that we’re going to get hurt on the backboards, so we’ll need to rebound by committee,” Downer said. “Rashyne has waited his turn to get on the floor. He’s had some really good moments and he’s willing to do the dirty work and get rebounds.”

The Central League could be loaded this season. Conestoga brings back four starters from a 13-10 squad and Garnet Valley should remain a contender after losing to Lower Merion, 57-49, in last year’s district title game. Downer expects Penncrest to take another step forward after going 14-11 last year. And sweet-shooting Matt Gardler and Marple Newtown will always be a tough out.

Lower Merion also opens the season with what Downer called a “gauntlet.” The Aces face Upper Dublin, Coatesville, Conestoga and Garnet Valley before Christmas.

Starting 9-0 like last season will be a difficult task, but Downer hopes his players learn enough from the tough stretch to be playing their best basketball in March.

“We have to grow up quickly,” he said. “We can’t let our inexperience be a factor for too long.”