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Robinson sends Methacton past Pope John Paul II at the buzzer

01/21/2025, 11:15pm EST
By Dan Arkans

Dan Arkans (@dan arkans) 
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Royersford – The Methacton boys basketball team held just one lead over PAC Liberty rival Pope John Paul II on Tuesday night.

It was the only time it mattered.

Junior forward Wes Robinson hit a circus shot with 0.5 seconds remaining and the Warriors escaped with a 35-34 thriller.


Wes Robinson (left) and Sal Iemmello led the Methacton boys basketball team past Pope John Paul II on Tuesday (Dan Arkans/CoBL).

“To be honest I didn’t see the shot go in,” Robinson said. “I judged by the reaction of my teammates. I shot the ball and fell to the ground. I had no idea, I saw the crowd react and my teammates came over to me. That was the only indicator the ball went in.”

The win not only gives Methacton (13-4, 5-1) the lead in the Liberty, but also has the Warriors as the current No. 1 seed in the upcoming PAC playoffs. One more win over Spring-Ford should secure it.

“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in here,” Iemmello said. “We were slow on intensity. They came out with way more energy than us. I knew we were the better team, I knew we should win. It’s just a matter of time before things started to click, shots started falling and we separated ourselves at the last second, great shot by Wes.” 

The Warriors were certainly not at their best on Tuesday, getting outrebounded 33-19 with a 13-5 edge on the offensive glass. It was most notable in the first half when the Warriors were outrebounded 21-9 and also trailed 23-15 in a sluggish first 16 minutes.

“It’s not fun, especially in a low-scoring game,” Robinson said. “We weren’t playing our best game and thankfully they weren’t playing their best game either. It’s definitely a tough feeling that you are playing bad against a team that’s also playing bad. We kept our composure throughout the whole game and came out with the win.” 

PJP II, despite missing Jason Green due to a sickness, didn’t seem to be missing a beat. The Golden Panthers' lineup was causing Methacton problems behind the play of 6-foot-3 Denny Owens (6 points, 7 rebounds) and 6-4 Jake Robinson (5 points, 9 rebounds).

“We were down a starter, but we held Methacton, one of the best teams in our league for the past decade, to 35 points. You should win most of those games,” PJP coach Earl Wise said. “Unfortunately we were one point short. It’s really simple: We win, we will make the playoffs. At the end of the day you want to get into the dance. That’s our situation.” 

The talk at halftime for Methacton was not only rebounding the ball, but hopefully scoring after an uncharacteristic first half. Iemmello took that talk personally, scoring nine of his game-high 16 points in the third quarter.

The senior guard led the Warriors on a 6-0 run to close the frame and trailed just 31-28 entering the fourth quarter. Despite being outplayed at times, Methacton was right on the doorstep of a payback victory over the Golden Panthers, who beat them 54-49 on Dec. 12th.

“Coming in, the guys were up to the challenge,” Methacton head coach Pat Lockard said. “We just got down early. Trying to instill in them this game is far from over in every break we had. Those guys absolutely believed that. It’s a credit to those guys and the experience they have. We had a freshman in there late. I think the team depth is really important for us.”

Iemmello changed the course of the game when he pulled down an inbounds pass from Jack Lineen and let one loose from near halfcourt. Iemmello was in the zone and Methacton trailed just 33-31 with 6:30 to go.

“I saw the scoreboard, we were down eight, we needed some points,” Iemmello said. “It was a low-scoring game. We needed some points. I’ve got to step up, take some more shots I might not have taken in the first half. They were a little more risky. I’ve got to let them fly in the second half. Towards the end I hit one three, I got a little confident. I went too deep, but luckily it went in.”

While PJP was content on passing the ball around and making the most out its possessions, Iemmello struck again with a bucket and the score was tied at 33 with 4:06 remaining.

PJP’s point guard Ayden Wise did respond with a free throw and the lead was still there for the Golden Panthers at 34-33 with under four minutes to play. Robinson seemed to miss his chance with a shot in the lane with 25 seconds left, but a pair of missed free throws gave the Warriors one more chance.

After being fouled twice, Methacton had the ball inbounds with 4.8 seconds left. Despite the play supposed to be headed to Iemmello, Robinson did the rest.

“It reminded me of an old 80s basketball game,” Wise said. “We just try to keep kids emotionally intact, the next play, the next play. Unfortunately we were 4.8 seconds off of accomplishing that. Any time you throw it up from your knee and it goes in. .. the end of the day you look at what we can control. We missed seven free throws, three in the last 40 seconds. Those are things you can control.” 

“It was fun coaching in that game,” Lockard said. “It was very frustrating for about 31 minutes and 58 seconds. Those last two seconds were super fun.”

By Quarter
Methacton 8-7-13-7-35
Pope John Paul II 13-10-8-3-34

Scoring
Methacton (35): Lineen 3; Carter 6; Iemmello 16; Robinson 5; Leet 3; Goldstein 2.

Pope John Paul II (34): Edwards-Boone 7; Owens 6; Kessler 6; Robinson 5; Wise 4; Schuberth 6.


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Tag(s): Home  High School  Boys HS  Pope John Paul II  PAC-10 Liberty (B)  Methacton  Dan Arkans