New-look Lower Merion retooling on the move after big graduation

Demetrius Lilley (above) is the first D-I prospect at forward for the Aces since Darryl Reynolds graduated in 2012. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By Josh Verlin

Lower Merion senior Eli Rothman rattles the numbers off with ease.

“Eleven new guys, 11 seniors who left…4500 points left our team, and only 39 return.”

That’s the stark reality for Gregg Downer’s Aces. For the last four years, the proud program on Montgomery Avenue has been all about its 2019 class, a group which started with five freshmen on the varsity squad and grew to one short of a dozen by the time they were done. And it wasn’t just the size of the class, it was the talent: eight of those freshmen are playing sports in college, including six playing hoops.

Sharpshooting wing Jack Forrest is at Columbia, high-scoring guard Steve Payne doing a prep year at the Perkiomen School with either a D-I or D-II scholarship in his future, forward Josh Martin is playing at Penn State-Harrisburg, guard Julian Hairston at West Chester, guard Theo Henry at Tufts, guard Darryl Taylor at Northampton CC. Two others, Matt O’Connor and Jalen Goodman, are on the football team at Villanova.

That left the 2019-20 cupboard, as Rothman noted, pretty bare on returning production.

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