Downer Sees Tough Road Ahead For State-Bound Aces

Despite weathering a handful of storms --a 6-6 start, three early-season one-point losses, and extended lulls on both ends of the court-- the PIAA AAAA state-tournament-bound Aces are not just happy to be here.

They are pretty happy to be here though.

"It's a great thing anytime to be in a state tournament," said Lower Merion head coach and twice-PIAA champion Gregg Downer, a man who knows a thing or two about state tournaments.

Happiness aside though, this year it could be a short run for Downer's Aces.

In Lakawanna juggernaut Scranton, they've drawn a first-round opponent who's less than ideal. The Knights enter the PIAA with a 24-2 record, a 17-game winning streak, and are fresh off a dominating 97-66 win over Wyoming Valley West in the District II championship --their second-straight district title.

"We've scouted Scranton, and they're absolutely awesome," admitted Downer. "We watched [the Wyoming Valley win] and it was the best basketball performance I've seen, what they put on display, in maybe the last three years. They have an Atlantic 10 junior recruit, a Textile signee at the point, and what looks to be a D1 junior winger. We struggled to see weaknesses. It was just the cleanest and most flawlessly played game we've seen in a long time."

The Knights are as balanced as they are deep. They returned four players from last season's PIAA quarter-finalist and saw each of them average double figures in the regular season, led by junior Terry Turner's 15.8 ppg.

"They're a serious threat to go far in this tournament," added Downer.

His Aces though are no slouches either.

Winners of 12-of-15 and with a lineup so balanced it confounds attempts to identify a "best" player, Lower Merion has peaked at the right time. They defeated nemesis Upper Darby 73-66 in the second-round of the District 1 playoffs to clinch a state-bid and, after a week-long break between games, just may be primed to take it up another level in Scranton.

"We're hoping that by Saturday we'll be healthy," Downer said. "Matt McKenna had an ankle issue, and Mike Robbins has had ankle issues all season, so [after the week] we might be able to go in healthy. The break can help or hurt though. In our case I think it can help. In our Rustin performance we saw a mentally and physically exhausted team. We were on dead empty that particular night."

Downer said that while he and his staff will essentially stick with the same approach that got them here, they may make a few strategic tweaks to optimize their chances against the Knights.

"[Our rotation] may be a little bit tighter, with his being a uniform game," he said. "You may see the rotation being a little bit shorter --there will not be a high tolerance for mistakes. If we're going to win, we have to play our best game of the season."

While Downer said Scranton will be, "by far" the toughest opponent the Aces have faced this year, he acknowledged that there are no easy matchups at this level. There are, after all, only 32 teams left standing.

The plan? The Aces will work hard this week, then come Saturday, let the chips fall where they may.

"The coaches will get together to formulate the game plan, and we'll try to execute it," said Downer. "But there's no magic dust that's going to get us better over the next week."

And even if there were, from the sound of it, they'd need a lot of dust.

The Aces tip-off March 12 at 4:30 p.m. at Marywood University in Scranton.