Season Over: Aces Fall to Red Land 40-38

For a round called the Sweet 16, the Aces all left with a bitter taste in their mouths.

Despite 13 points from Raheem Hall and a tremendous defensive effort from Darryl Reynolds, the Aces fell to the Red Land Patriots, 40-38, Wednesday night at the Geigle Complex in Reading.

Aces head coach Gregg Downer, who has shepherded plenty of Ace teams to deep playoff runs, said, despite the sting, he was proud of his group.

"This club was 6-6 at a certain point in time. And to get to the Geigle at a point in time didn't even seem possible. But the kids have done a great job improving and buying what we've been selling them, and the kids are 50 seconds away from the Elite Eight in a game we think we should have won ... I'd love to have that last minute back," said Downer after the game.

The Aces played a brilliant first 14 minutes. They clicked after falling into an 11-4 hole that had only looked to deepen, based on the strength of Reading's matchup nightmare twin towers Stephen Zack and Mike Zangari.

Darryl Reynolds was stalwart inside, forcing turnovers and denying Zack post position.

"You do your best on the two big kids, and I thought we did a good job on them. Darryl did a good job. Eric did a good job. You don't do a good job, you're going to lose five feet and in," said Downer.

On the offensive end, Raheem Hall, as he has made a habit of doing this postseason, took over.

The dynamic Hall leaped, drove, and swished his way to eight first-quarter points, the Aces' first eight of the game.

With minutes left in the second period, the Aces had reeled off a 20-5 run and built a 24-16 lead.

"We were trying to bite into their guards. And we thought we had the better bench. We play a lot more people than they play. And we got a good little run going there," said Downer.

The Patriots roared back, though. With an inside/outside combo of Zangari, Zack, and freshman sharpshooter Dominick Antonelli, Red Land ripped off a 14-2 run that covered the tail end of the second and beginning of the third and, after a three-pointer from Antonelli, gave them a 30-26 lead.

"When you overemphasize the big kids, they've got kids who can shoot the ball outside too," said Downer.

The run was helped along by an offensive stagnation by Lower Merion, driven in no small part by their continued struggles from beyond the arc.

The resilient Aces didn't stay down for long. A pair of buckets by athletic junior Mike Robbins tied the game at 30 heading into the final quarter where, after a brief injury scare involving defensive linchpin Reynolds, Eric Green hit a pair of free throws to put the Aces back in the driver seat.

The Lower Merion defense was superlative as well. After allowing the Patriots their 14-2 run, the Aces defense didn't allow another field goal until Zangari got a layup to tie the score at 34 with a little over two minutes remaining in the game.

After a Green putback, Darius Hall stole an attempted save of a ball headed out of bounds, and raced down the length of the court for the layup and a 38-34 lead with a minute left.

Things quickly deteriorated from there for the Aces. After a Red Land bucket, Darius Hall was called for a foul that put Red Land in the double-bonus.

Then, after a Zack tip-in to tie it at 38 with 35 seconds left, Mike Robbins used an Ace possession hastily. He took and missed a shot with plenty of time on the clock, and Eric Green, in the scramble to get the loose ball, fouled the Patriots' Nick Diller with five seconds remaining.

"We were holding for a shot there, thinking—worst case scenario—overtime. We went a little early, which created about a four-second buffer, and then we fouled a kid 75 feet from the rim," Downer said.

Diller drained both free-throws to give Red Land an unlikely lead. A missed (and heavily contested) Darius Hall layup attempt later, the Aces' season was over.

"We sent them to the foul line too many times," said Downer afterwards. "At 38-34 I thought we were one stop away from winning the game.'

Reynolds was deeply affected by the loss.

"Of course I'm upset. And if you quote me on anything, quote me on this. 'Thank you to the seniors. Thank you for their leadership, and their dedication. And thank you to the coaches,'" he said.

At that Reynolds left and got on the bus for the last time with this Aces team; once 6-6, but by season's end one of the best 16 teams in the state of Pennsylvania.

There are no moral victories at this level of basketball. If there were, though, the Aces would have earned one.