Owen McCue (@owen.mccue)
__
COLLEGEVILLE — Jason Green sat in the stands for the Pioneer Athletic Conference playoff games just a few years ago.
While brothers Justin and Kevin helped Pope John Paul II, Jason sat in the packed stands, envisioning himself hitting big shots for the Golden Panthers one day.
After just missing out on the league postseason a season ago, Green and his teammates got their coveted PAC playoff moment Tuesday night against Methacton. Green finished with a team-high 18 points and made the game-winning defensive play in a 58-53 win over the Warriors that sent the Golden Panthers to Thursday’s semifinal round against No. 1 Pottsgrove.
PJP's Jason Green scored 18 points in Tuesday's win. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been watching these types of games, and that’s kind of been my main basketball dream is just playing in a game like this in this type of atmosphere,” Green said. “It’s kind of what I worked for, and it definitely felt good playing in a big game with all my teammates. We’ve been putting in the work all the way since summer, and I knew we were going to be ready for this game.”
Methacton and PJP played a pair of tight games during the regular season — a 54-49 win over PJP on Dec. 14 and a 35-34 Methacton victory on Jan. 21 that was won on a Wes Robinson buzzer beater.
Green beat the buzzer at the end of the first half to cap a 5-0 run and cut an 11-point Methacton lead down to 33-27 at halftime. He scored his team’s first seven points of the first half to knot the score.
“I thought it just took a few quarters to settle in, and I kind of understood I know my talents and know what shots I can make,” Green said. “So I just had confidence, my teammates gave me confidence, gave me good passes in the second half, so I got going, which helped us.”
A slam by junior guard Ayden Wise and an offensive rebound by senior Bradey Bass in the closing moments of the third put PJP ahead 45-40 after three. Wise had nine of his 13 points in the second half, including a pair of dunks. Junior Jack Kessler also had 13 points for PJP.
“It felt great for me, but especially as a team because that definitely brought a little energy boost going into the second half,” Wise said.
Ayden Wise had two big second-half dunks. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
Methacton junior Wes Robinson led the Warriors with 15 points, and senior Sal Iemmello and Jack Bradford both added 14. Bradford hit three 3-point shots in the fourth to keep the Warriors tight.
Iemmello tied the game with less than two and a half minutes left before Green put the Golden Panthers back on top shortly after. The Warriors had chance to tie in the final seconds, but Green channelled Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean swooped in on an inbounds pass to force a tie-up. A pair of free throws by Kessler finished off the win.
“I kind of just read,” Green said. “I saw the screen going over the top and the person throwing it out was looking toward the corner, and I knew their shooter was going to come down there. I kind of just, almost like a cornerback, I kind of read the ball, saw it out of the corner of my eyes and pursued it as hard as I can and came down with a jump ball.”
Pope John Paul II 58, Methacton 53
Methacton 17 | 16 | 7 | 13 || 53
Pope John Paul II 13 | 14 | 18 | 13 || 58
Methacton: Wes Robinson 15, Sal Iemmello 14, Jack Bradford 14, Jahmir Carter 4, John Leet 2, Henry Goldstein 2, Jack Lineen 2.
Pope John Paul II: Jason Green 18, Ayden Wise 13, Jack Kessler 13, Bradey Bass 7, Wes Robinson 5, Jude Schuberth 2.
~~~
Baratta hits 1,000 as Phoenixville downs Upper Merion
On a night when she hit a coveted scoring milestone, Kayden Baratta was happy to let her teammates shoulder a good chunk of the offensive load.
Baratta surpassed 1,000 career points on a 3-point shot in the first quarter of No. 5 Phoenixville’s PAC Final 6 contest against No. 4 Upper Merion. Her next triple didn’t come until the 1:25 mark when she was putting the final touches on a 56-43 Phantoms win.
Senior Emine Ulcay led the way with 20 points and Baratta chipped in another 10 to hold off the Vikings and junior Kennedy Coles (21 points) and reach Thursday’s semifinal round against No. 1 Perkiomen Valley.
Phoenixville junior Kayden Baratta reached 1,000 points on Tuesday. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
“Emine played fantastic for us tonight in the paint and was huge for us in scoring when I was being face guarded,” Baratta said. “My teammates are so able to pick up where I leave off, and that’s what makes our team so great.”
Upper Merion led 25-23 at halftime behind 18 points from Coles. However, leading scorer Devon Maiden (11 points) went to the bench moments into the third period when she picked up her fourth foul. An 8-0 run during the quarter put Phoenixville in front as the Phantoms led 36-31 heading into the fourth.
Senior Nevaeh Latimore-Beasley had a pair of buckets in the period.
“I think we came out with different energy,” Latimore Beasley said. “We knew what we had to do. We did come out a little scared in the first half, but in the second half, we came out with intensity that we needed too, picked back up the game, we even had some people off the bench come off and play pretty good and we just picked up the intensity.”
Emine Ulcay scored eight of her 20 points in the fourth quarter. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
Upper Merion junior Levayda Fuqua opened up the fourth quarter with a triple and close the Vikings’ deficit to two. That’s when Ulcay really got going, helping her team respond with an 11-0 run. She had eight of her points in the final period.
The Vikings got as close as seven late before the Phantoms shut the door. Baratta’s second three of the game pushed the Phoenixville advantage up to 14 with less than a minute and a half to play.
Baratta joins Ashley MacLelland (2001) as the only other girl to reach the 1,000-point milestone in school history, and she became the Phantoms’ first 1,000-point scorer since Christian Kelly in 2015.
“It’s super exciting,” Baratta said. “I couldn’t have done it without my team and the trust they have in me to take big shots and shoot the ball as much as I do. To get this in a win, it means a lot for our team to know we’re not done yet. We’re still here.”
Phoenixville 56, Upper Merion 43
Phoenixville 15 | 8 | 13 | 20 | 56
Upper Merion 11 | 14 | 6 | 12 | 43
Phoenixville: Emine Ulcay 20, Kayden Baratta 10, Taylor Schneider 9, Charlie Campbell 6, Nevaeh Latimore-Beasley 6, Jessica Meyers 3, Allyson Turner 2.
Upper Merion: Kennedy Coles 21, Devon Maiden 11, Levayda Fuqua 5, Elisa Dougherty 2, Dakota Jackson 2. Piper Edge 2.
~~~
PAC Final Six Playoffs
First Round
Tues., Feb. 4 @ Perkiomen Valley
GIRLS: Phoenixville 56, Upper Merion 43
BOYS: Pope John Paul II
Wed., Feb. 5 @ Spring-Ford
GIRLS: 3) Spring-Ford vs. 6) Methacton, 5 p.m.
BOYS: 3) Phoenixville vs. 6) Owen J. Roberts, 7 p.m.
Semifinals
Thurs., Feb. 6 @ Perkiomen Valley
GIRLS: 1) Perkiomen Valley vs. 5) Phoenixville, 5 p.m.
BOYS: 1) Pottsgrove vs. 4) Pope John Paul II, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 8 @ Spring-Ford
GIRLS: 2) Pope John Paul II vs. Spring-Ford/Methacton, 1 p.m.
BOYS: 2) Spring-Ford vs. Phoenixville/Owen J. Roberts, 3 p.m.
Championship
Tues., Feb. 11 @ Perkiomen Valley
Girls at 5 p.m.
Boys at 7 p.m.
Tag(s): Home High School Boys HS Pac-10 (B) Pope John Paul II PAC-10 Liberty (B) Methacton PAC (G) PAC Frontier (G) Phoenixville Upper Merion PAC Liberty (G)