First PIAA Tournament win in nearly 50 years has bittersweet ending for Exeter
The Exeter Eagles fought their way to the District 3 Class 5A championship game short-handed and resolute, undaunted about playing without one of their top players.
The Eagles (24-6) will carry that mindset into the second round of the PIAA Tournament Tuesday, knowing they’ll be without Alex Kelsey, the guy who made the biggest play in their first state tournament win in nearly 50 years.
“I think it goes unsaid how important he is to our team and our program,” Eagles coach Matt Ashcroft said of Kelsey, whose scoring drive with 28 seconds left Friday lifted his team to a 62-57 win over Fox Chapel at Reiffton.
Kelsey, a junior guard, scored a team- and career-high 13 points but he won’t be able to play in the next round against Mechanicsburg after being ejected in the final seconds. He got entangled with Fox Chapel’s Kam Greil following a loose ball call that went in Exeter’s favor with 5.9 seconds left.
Greil objected harshly, drew Kelsey into the fray, and both were ejected and escorted from the court with Exeter leading 61-57. The game was halted for several minutes so that officials could restore order. Following the ejections, Exeter’s Kevin Saenz hit the first of two free throws to complete the scoring.
Kelsey and his teammates weren’t aware he would have to sit out one game, the mandatory minimum PIAA penalty for an in-game ejection, until informed by media members following the game. Kelsey said he felt Greil, a senior who knew high school career was over, intentionally tried to get him tossed.
“His season’s over, so he’s just trying to get my season over,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey brings a lot to the table and has been a driving force throughout the playoffs. He stepped into the starting lineup when Reece Garvin was lost for two weeks with a sprained ankle before districts. The Eagles didn’t miss a beat, winning four straight games, including their first district championship.
Even without Garvin, who returned to start the district title game, they dominated. Now they’ll have to try to repeat that without Kelsey, for one game.
They’ll play District 3 fourth-place finisher Mechanicsburg (19-8), a 56-52 winner over North Hills, at a site and time to be determined later this weekend.
“We’ve gotta find a way to get to Friday,” Ashcroft said. “Some way. Somehow. Our mantra’s been: Go 1-0.
“You know what? We’ve been here before. We were without Reece for 3 ½ games, and we won, I would say, 3 ½ of those games.”
Garvin didn’t play the second half of the Berks Conference game against Reading. The Eagles led 33-30 at half; they ended up losing 70-63, blowing a double-digit lead in the final quarter.
Things were slipping away from them again Friday against Fox Chapel (15-12), which trailed by 11 in the third quarter and 54-45 with 4:10 left. The Foxes made their move, getting 3-pointers from Jefferson Moorefield-Brown and Asher White and a basket inside from Moorefield-Brown to cut Exeter’s lead to 54-53 with 2:05 left.
After a basket by Anthony Caccese, who finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Fox Chapel answered to make it 56-55 with 1:05 left. That’s when Kelsey stepped up. He’s left-handed and usually leads with that hand on drives to the basket. He noticed how he was being defended and switched up.
“He tried to cut my left hand off,” Kelsey said. “I could see the opening. ‘Oh, OK.’ So I just took it to the basket and finished it.”
Kelsey scored with 18 seconds left to make it 58-55.
Ashcroft was excited both by the points and how they came about.
“That (play) was going to his right, and he made the game-winning play,” Ashcroft said. “He’s worked on that hard. We’ve been wanting Alex to be more aggressive all year. We want him to play freely and we want him to play in attack mode. We don’t think there’s a guy out there that can stay in front of him.”
When White missed a 3 on the other end and Garvin made both ends of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left the Eagles seemed to be home clear. That’s when things went haywire.
Greil, a talented ballhandler effective at creating shots, scored again with 7.8 seconds left; he finished with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting.
When Zyion Paschall missed the back half of a one-and-one with 7.3 seconds left the teams scrambled to track down the rebound. When possession went to Exeter Greil objected profusely, tempers flared and the players from each team had to be separated.
The win was bittersweet for the Eagles, because of what transpired in the final seconds. They earned their first PIAA Tournament win since 1974, when they beat Cocalico 45-32 in a state semifinal. Their 24th win is the most since that season, when they set the program record with 30 wins.
“It just feels amazing to be a part of history,” Kelsey said. “We’re about to be in the Hall of Fame in about 20 years.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Fox Chapel | 14 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 57 |
| Exeter | 16 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 62 |
| Foxes (15-12) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| K. Greil | 10-15 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 5 | 2 | 23 |
| Morefield-Brown | 5-10 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0 | 5 | 13 |
| Siegel | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hanna | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Kaiser | 3-5 | 3-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| White | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Wilson | 1-5 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Rehak | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 21-42 | 8-11 | 7-15 | 8 | 20-22 | 57 |
| Eagles (24-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Paschall | 4-12 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| Kelsey | 6-9 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Saenz | 3-8 | 4-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| Snyder | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Garvin | 4-12 | 4-4 | 0-6 | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| Caccese | 6-9 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Dauble | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Totals | 24-52 | 10-14 | 4-13 | 13 | 25-30 | 62 |
Turnovers: Fox-Chapel 13, Exeter 9.
