City of Basketball Love

Eugene Rapay (@erapay5)
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Not many high schools have the luxury of having a lot of size in their starting lineup. Fortunately for Upper Merion head coach Jason Quenzer, he gets to have three different players stand in at 6-foot-6 or taller.

Juniors Chris Carita (6-6), Ethan Miller (6-6), and Matt Faw (6-7) comprise the imposing Viking trio up front.

It was certainly a problem for visiting Avon Grove (3-13) on Monday night, whose tallest player was only 6-foot-4.

Faw led the charge for the Vikings (12-6), with Miller right behind in a one-sided 70-45 win over the Red Devils.

“We came out and tried to take care of what we needed to take care of,” Quenzer said. “With an obvious size advantage your main game plan is to get the ball inside and work off there.”

Upper Merion made that point clear right from the beginning, feeding their bigs early on in the game. Faw promptly introduced himself to Avon Grove, as he heated up on both ends of the floor.

Of the many things he was able to do for the Vikings -- scoring, rebounding, and blocking, nothing topped his emphatic posterizing dunk that sent the Upper Merion gymnasium in a frenzy.

It was the exclamation point to finish off a strong first quarter performance, where he already had 10 points and five rebounds. By that time, the Vikings already had an 18-8 lead going into the second.

“Before the game I told myself that I was going to attack the basket and my shot was falling early, so that helped,” Faw said. “But I don’t know how I felt [about the dunk], it was just a good pass.”

The 6-foot-7 forward has yet to receive any offers, but his play has attracted the attention of various Patriot League schools. He says American, Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Colgate have each expressed interest.

“It’s his breakout season, it’s fun to watch,” Quenzer said. “Last year, still being a little young, I think he saw the potential in himself to say that ‘I can be one of the better players in the league.’ I’m happy for him. It’s a whole team effort this year, we just all feed off of what Matt is doing and that is why we are so successful.”

His 27 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks helped pave the way to victory. However, he wasn’t the only one to enjoy a solid performance.

Miller also chipped in 20 points and five rebounds in the win. Once they got it going, it was difficult for the smaller Avon Grove to keep up.

The Red Devils found themselves quickly falling behind, while Upper Merion took a 32-18 lead going into halftime.

“I gave [Faw] a lot of good looks, he gave me some good looks,” Miller said. “It was a mutual good game for the both of us.”

Avon Grove was paced by James Petrison’s 16 points, the lone scoring effort to eclipse double figures.

With the final non-league game out of the way for Upper Merion, the Vikings now look ahead to two games against league opponents to close out the regular season.

They’re looking forward to the District 1 AAAA playoffs, but have Springfield (0-12 SOL) and Upper Moreland (5-7 SOL) to worry about.

Should they win out, it’ll put them in prime position to host a district playoff game, something that they have been waiting to do for years.

“My assistant coach graduated in the 90s and that was the last time we were in District 4A playoffs having a home game,” Quenzer said. “It’s been a long time. We’re ready to try to get that, but we need these next two in order to be comfortable and sleep knowing we’ll be able to have a home game.”

While both remaining opponents have losing records in league play, nothing is guaranteed in high school basketball.

The last time Upper Merion and Springfield met, it took the Vikings three overtimes to finally put them away. Meanwhile, Upper Moreland is fresh off of an upset of Cheltenham.

“We respect each of these games,” Quenzer said. “We know that we have to take them seriously, but we’re hungry and we want to go out and get them.”