Julian O’Brien drops 33 as Wyomissing breaks out against Antietam

A couple days of practice turned out to be beneficial for the Wyomissing Spartans, especially for Julian O’Brien.

The Spartans broke loose with their biggest offensive showing of the season and O’Brien scored a career-high 33 points in a 68-60 win over Division IV leader Antietam Friday in a Berks Conference crossover game at Stony Creek.

The Spartans (4-2 Berks III, 7-6) hit a season-high 10 3-pointers and scored 25 points in the final quarter to register a critical win. They remain just one game behind Berks III leader Fleetwood in the loss column with a rematch against the Tigers looming Monday.

Wyomissing has won four of its last five games.

“It’s gotta be a momentum-booster for the guys,” said Wyomissing coach Ryan Ludwig. “They were all super-thrilled (afterward).

“They’re locked in, ready to go. Really, our season’s on the line the next few games. It’s a huge stretch of games right now, and they know it. They responded really well against a really good Antietam team.”

Wyomissing has another key game Saturday afternoon when it faces Berks IV contender Oley Valley, which has won seven straight.

The Mounts (6-2 Berks IV, 14-3), meanwhile, took their second straight loss and now are tied with Tulpehocken and Oley Valley in the loss column in Berks III.

They were without head coach Mike Green, who was ejected in Wednesday’s loss at Fleetwood. He’ll serve the second game of his PIAA-mandated two-game suspension Monday against Brandywine Heights.

The Spartans trailed by six points in the third quarter and 46-43 heading into the fourth. Ben Zechman snapped a 48-48 tie with a pair of free throws with 6:43 remaining left and they led the rest of the way.

O’Brien’s 3-pointer with 5:58 left extended the lead to 53-48. He and Drew Eisenhower hit back-to-back 3’s to push the lead to 61-53 with 3:17 left.

O’Brien, a senior guard, finished with a career-best six 3’s; he also made 9-of-10 free throws.

“He was in the zone tonight,” said Ludwig. “The guys were getting him (the ball in good spots) and he was catching them in rhythm, just firing. That’s what we want.”

O’Brien scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and 23 in the second half. He was 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final quarter.

Wyomissing’s Amory Thompson matched his career-high with 19 points.

Josh McKoy led the Mounts with 20 points; Hector Tiburcio had 18.

Wyomissing’s season started 10 days late because of its run to the PIAA football championship game. It was delayed twice by COVID shutdowns. All of that has disrupted the normal flow of the season and prevented the Spartans from practicing on a regular basis. They were able to practice three straight days this week after playing on Monday. They hadn’t done that since the preseason.

“Practice really helped this week, and the guys responded really well to that,” Ludwig said. “You can actually work on things, and when you’re not shooting well you can get some shots up. That helps.”

The 68 points was the most Wyomissing has scored since beating Kutztown 76-32 on Jan. 22 2020, more than two years ago. They had not scored more than 56 this season.