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Sports

Aces Coast by Garnet Valley 62-37

Lower Merion raced out to an early 16-point lead.

The three most efficient ways to score in basketball, irrespective of the level, are at the foul-line, from the three-point line, and at the rim. Good teams almost invariably get most of their points from these three locations on the court. It's just smart basketball.

Tuesday evening at Garnet Valley, Lower Merion High School's athletes were paragons of this method. While they were surely short of spectacular in their 62-37 victory over the Jaguars, they were spectacularly efficient in their approach. They worked it inside, drew fouls, took almost without exception only threes that were open, and used the mid-range game sparingly. In contrast, the Jaguars, evidently wanting no part of the teeth of the Ace defense, were content to settle for contested threes and long jumpers (the exception to their timidity being a brief period from the late third to early fourth when they began attacking the net).

"A lot of teams play the zone, so we've been working on getting to the net instead of taking jumpers," explained Ace guard Matt McKenna of their jumper-spurning modus.

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Aces' head coach Gregg Downer elaborated.

"The middle game is sort of a lost art, so we're running an offense that suggests we want to get to the foul line and get the ball to the rim," Downer said, adding that's it's an approach that, while effective, is imperfect.

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"It can lead to a lot of crowded shots. We missed a lot of layups tonight."

There was the rub. While the Aces did an excellent job of shot selection, the actual sinking of the shots they selected was another story. Still, the plan of attack was the correct one.

On the rare occasions where the Aces eschewed efficiency, it was at least fun to watch. Uber-athletic BJ Johnson attempted and missed an ambitious and heavily contested reverse layup in the late second period with the Aces already with a lead in the high-teens. In the third, following a steal, Chris Forrester took it to the rim, did a 180 in the air—turning his back to the basket to better absorb defensive contact—and flipped it over his shoulder and into the net.

The Aces were as balanced as they were intelligent. While Matt McKenna led them in scoring with nine points and BJ Johnson came in a close second with eight, six Aces scored six or more points.

"I told the guys before the game, I wanted to have a lot of people play 10-12 minutes, and I wanted them to play them with energy," said Downer.

They listened, especially on the defensive end. The Aces held their opponent to under 45 points for the third time in four games.

"Every day in practice we make defense our top priority," McKenna said.

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