By Josh Verlin
The opening two quarters of a District 1 5A semifinal between No. 4 seed Bishop Shanahan and No. 8 Upper Merion couldn’t have been much uglier.
Aiden Newell (above) got Upper Merion started with a 3-point play early in the fourth quarter. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)
With every young athlete playing on by far the biggest stage of his career, both teams came out ice cold, combining for a grand total of 21 points in the game’s opening 16 minutes.
“A combination of defense and nerves,” Upper Merion head coach Jason Quenzer called it, though he admitted it was “maybe a little bit more nerves.”
With the way both the Vikings and Eagles were shooting the ball, it was only a matter of time before one of the two put something together.
Finally, after 13 missed 3-pointers over the game’s first 29 minutes, Upper Merion’s Andrew Persaud connected. And then, 30 seconds later, he hit from deep again.
The senior guard’s pair of 3-pointers in the game’s closing minutes sealed the deal as the Vikings advanced to the district championship game with a 45-30 win over the Eagles.
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(Webmaster’s note: The Upper Merion vs Bishops Shanagan game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link on the left hand side of the page.)