Tulpehocken knocked off, falls behind Antietam in Berks IV race
The Kutztown Cougars played spoiler Thursday night, knocking off visiting Tulpehocken 71-60 and possibly costing the Trojans a shot at the Berks Conference Division IV championship.
The Trojans (8-3, 15-4) fell a game behind Antietam (9-2, 17-3), which took care of business with a 48-42 win over Oley Valley.
The loss dampened the celebration for Tulpehocken’s Bryce Mellen, who scored a game-high 22 points to top 1,000 in his career, according to figures provided by the school.
The Trojans trailed by just two points heading into the fourth quarter before the Cougars (5-7, 9-9) broke loose with a 30-point quarter. Grant Fitzgerald scored 11 of his team-high 20 points in the quarter, including four straight free throws. Andrew Fleming scored seven of his 13 points in the fourth.
Xavier Goodman finished with 14 points for the Cougars, who made 9-of-10 free throws in the final quarter.
Aiden Miller scored 16 points and David Bednarczk had 14 for Tulpehocken, which saw its five-game winning streak snapped.
Tulpehocken beat Kutztown 46-36 in the first meeting Jan. 4 at New Schaefferstown.
The win was the sixth in eight games for the Cougars, who moved past Lancaster Catholic and into fourth place in the District 3 Class 3A power ratings. If they can hold onto that No. 4 spot they’ll earn an opening playoff game at home.
Meanwhile at Stony Creek, the Mounts recovered from a slow and used a balanced scoring attack to knock off the Lynx (5-6, 11-7). Hector Tiburcio scored 12 points and Jovan Hollis and Josh McKoy each had 11 for the Mounts, who lost the Berks IV title to the Lynx on the final day of last season.
Tulpehocken plays Antietam in New Schaefferstown Tuesday in the league finale for both. The Trojans can move into a first-place tie with a win but will likely lose out on the division tiebreaker.
If the teams split their two meetings the tiebreaker will be power rating. Antietam went into play Thursday with a significant lead over Tulpehocken, according to unofficial power ratings on the District 3 website.
Antietam won the first meeting 50-48 at Stony Creek Jan. 6.
The Mounts’ last division title came in 2015, when they won the Berks III title.
The Trojans’ last division title came in 2007.
