FAIRVIEW VILLAGE — Methacton drew up a beautiful play to open the second half of its District 1-6A semifinal against Coatesville. The inbounds pass from halfcourt to the paint looked like it was going to lead open to a wide open layup for the Warriors.
Enter Larry Brown.
The Red Raiders senior seemingly came out of nowhere to block the shot. It started a dominant second half for the 6-foot-7 power forward.
Brown scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to lead No. 3 Coatesville to a 61-54 win over No. 2 Methacton Tuesday night in front of a packed house at Methacton High School.
Brown entered the game needing 13 points to reach 1,000 in his career. After scoring six in the first half, he scored the Red Raiders first six points of the third quarter, eight of their first nine and 10 of the team’s 16 in the eight-minute frame.
“It means a lot to me,” he said of the milestone. “It’s something that I’ve been waiting for for a long time.
“Nothing really changed (in the second half). I feel like I was a little tired early in the first half, but I just kept that same mindset that I had since last game (23 points in an overtime win against Abington) and I was just ready.”
There was more dominance from Brown in the fourth quarter. He scored eight of Coatesville’s 13 points, giving him 18 of the team’s 29 in the second half.
“We knew going into the season that we don’t have the height,” Methacton coach Pat Lockard said. “If we run into teams with some size, that can be an issue for us. We’ve seen that a little bit this year, but the level they have it with (Colton) Hiller’s perimeter ability and Brown’s just physical attacking the basket when he catches the basketball. We were able to hold him in the first half there. They looked to make an effort in the second half to get him the ball with two feet in the paint and when he catches that basketball in the paint, it’s going to be tough to stop him. Even if he misses, he’s getting that rebound and putting it right back up.”
The Red Raiders (22-5) needed Brown’s big night, which included 10 rebounds. They led by 12, 48-36, at the end of the third quarter, but the Warriors opened the fourth on an 8-0 run to get within four, 48-44.
John Leet, who led Methacton (21-5) with 17 points, scored four points early in the fourth while Cole Webb and Ben DePaul each added a basket.
After a Coatesville timeout, Brown made back-to-back shots to get the lead back to eight, 51-44, but Methacton kept it close at 51-46 and 53-48.
“I told our guys I was really proud of our effort out there,” Lockard said. “They fought all the way to the end. (Coatesville) went on some big runs, they’re obviously a really good team. We just needed an A-plus game and I thought we had like an A game with some small breakdowns, couple things on offense we couldn’t get connected on. The gym was loud, it was a very high-intense environment. Then their size got to us. They got some offensive rebounds, they worked around in the paint. We knew they were going to be a really tough team to go up against. We gave a heck of an effort, just fell short towards the end there.”
Brown had another key moment when he scored through contact and converted the free throw to give Coatesville a 56-48 lead with 3:20 left in the game. The difference remained at seven or more points until the final minute.
“We carried it how we were supposed to,” Brown said. “We could have carried it a little bit better, but I’m proud of my guys. We executed our plays. We executed playing inside-out. We did what we wanted to do. We did our game plan.”
The game stayed close partly because Coatesville struggled from the free-throw line. The Red Raiders were 9-for-22 from the charity stripe in the game and 5-for-14 in the fourth quarter. Five-star sophomore recruit Colton Hiller, who finished with 15 points and five rebounds, was 1-for-7 from the line in the fourth.
The teams traded runs throughout the first half. Coatesville scored 11 straight points, including two on a transition slam dunk from Hiller, to take an early 11-3 lead. Methacton battled back to get within 1, 17-16, before Coatesville ended the quarter in front, 19-16. Hiller had eight points in the first quarter for the Red Raiders while Leet had six for the Warriors and Mason Conrad and Cole Webb each had five.
Coatesville scored the first three baskets of the second quarter for an 8-0 run going back to the first to build a 25-16 advantage. Methacton trimmed the deficit to four, 25-21, and five, 30-25, before Coatesville took a 32-25 lead to the locker room.
Coatesville will face No. 1 Plymouth Whitemarsh in the District 1-6A championship game Sunday at Staint Joseph’s University at 3 p.m. The two perennial district contenders met on Jan. 10 and PW won, 71-56. Coatesville reached its first district title contest since 2019 and is seeking the program’s first title since 2001.
“It means a lot,” Brown said. “I’ve been waiting for this for the last three years. We always get to Elite Eight, Final Four, but we’re ready. This is what I’ve been waiting for.
“(Rematch with PW) means a lot to me and Colton, definitely. We didn’t really perform how we wanted to perform. I definitely feel like we are ready. That’s all I have to say – we are ready.”
Methacton will face No. 5 Souderton in the District 1-6A third-place game on Saturday afternoon before heading to the PIAA-6A state playoffs, with the first round beginning on March 7.
“We were in this situation in our league playoffs, too,” Lockard said. “We had a tough loss, a buzzer-beater loss, to Spring-Ford. We had to get ourselves back up. We had a 10-day layoff before we played again. We’re going to lean on the fact that we were in this position before. We have an important game against Souderton coming up this weekend and want to make sure we’re going in on a high note into states. The good thing is we have to turn around relatively quickly compared to last time we were in this position. We’ll regroup, we’ll get ourselves together. These guys are a tested bunch. I think they’ll have the fortitude to fight back and make sure we’re ready to go for this weekend.”
Coatesville 61, Methacton 54
Coatesville 19 13 16 13 – 61
Methacton 16 9 11 18 – 54
Coatesville: Chris Allegra 2 2-5 7, Jahmaad Williams 1 0-2 2, Kevin Norman 0 0-0 0, Larry Brown 10 4-5 24, Colton Hiller 7 1-8 15, Jonas Chester 1 0-0 2, Jalil Thedford 3 2-2 8, Zeric Allen-Brown 1 0-0 3, Max Hiller 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 9-22 61.
Methacton: Ben DePaul 2 0-0 4, Mason Conrad 5 0-0 11, Cole Webb 2 4-5 8, John Leet 6 2-2 17, Jack Lineen 1 0-0 3, Micah Cherian 0 0-0 0, Jahmir Carter 1 0-0 2, Wes Robinson 3 0-0 9. Total 20 6-7 54.
3-pointers: Coatesvile- Allegra, Allen-Brown; M- Leet 3, Wes Robinson 3, Conrad, Lineen.
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