Eagles wipe away the pain with long-awaited victory over Red Knights
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Exeter shook off its loss to Reading High in last year’s Berks Conference championship game by winning eight straight postseason games and reaching the PIAA title game.
Still, the hurt from that defeat never went away.
“We had tears on Feb. 17,” senior Kevin Saenz recalled of the night the Eagles let the Red Knights dig out of a 10-point fourth-quarter hole, then watched them celebrate on the court at Santander Arena.
Saenz and the Eagles didn’t forget pain. If anything it brought out the best in them Tuesday as they unleashed a torrid shooting attack, dismantling the Red Knights on their home court 79-55 in the long-awaited rematch.
“We gave them the best game that we could’ve possibly played,” said Saenz after the Eagles (2-0 Berks II, 5-4) knocked down 13-of-24 shots from 3-point range and stymied the Red Knights (1-1, 5-4) with a junk defense.
Saenz, who fouled out in last year’s loss to Reading, was at his best. He scored a game-high 21 points and came within one rebound and one assist of a triple-double. He ran the floor, distributed the ball to open shooters and aggressively took the ball to the basket.
Sophomore Aidan Dauble sparked the Eagles with an incredible second-quarter streak that saw him score his team’s first 14 points. He knocked down five straight shots over a 5 ½-minute stretch that included a four-point play, a three-point play and a 3-pointer as Exeter moved out in front 36-24.
Junior Brady Murray, injured and unable to play the last several games, came off the bench and scored 15 second-half points. He hit four 3-pointers, including three straight in the final period as the Eagles stretched their lead to 26.
Senior Reece Garvin, who sat out the entire second half last year against Reading after turning his ankle, played a pivotal role Tuesday as a post defender. He played a one-man zone at times, swatted away several shots and grabbed five rebounds.
Senior Devon Nester, starting in place of Murray, knocked down three 3-pointers.
“Everyone was working on all cylinders today,” Saenz said. “We shot the ball well. We just played as a team.”
The Eagles had trouble finding their groove through the early weeks of the season. They were working in three new starters and playing for a new coach, Jeff VanGorder, who introduced a new, faster style of play. They also faced a brutal schedule.
VanGorder didn’t put much stock in their .500 record as the calendar flipped to a new year.
“I never thought we weren’t this good,” he said after his team handed Reading its worst defeat to a league opponent in 34 seasons, since a 69-44 loss to Holy Name. “They needed to see evidence of it.”
The win was all the more extraordinary given the fact that Exeter had lost 29 straight to Reading and hadn’t won in the series since December 2009.
They hadn’t beaten the Red Knight much before that, either. They once went a staggering 18 seasons between victories over their long-time division rival. They entered Tuesday’s game with a 4-86 record against them, their last win coming in December 2009.
That was but a footnote to this meeting. The Eagles had a different score to settle.
“We remembered what happened last year,” Garvin said. “It was on all of our minds.”
“They were locked in,” VanGorder said.
The Eagles went up 10-2 in the opening minutes but the Red Knights, sparked by a huge first quarter by freshman Jeremiah Camara, came back to briefly take a slim lead.
Dauble took over in the second quarter and the Eagles moved ahead 36-24 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half. The Red Knights answered with a run of their own, ending the half with the final seven points to close within 36-31.
The Red Knights never adjusted to a defense that essentially let center Malik Osumanu roam free but that collapsed on leading scorer Yadiel Cruz every time he touched the ball in the paint. Cruz, who came into the night leading the league in scoring, finished with 18 points but it came on 6-of-16 shooting.
VanGorder said the Eagles have practiced their 2-3 zone but hadn’t shown it in a game this season.
“(That was) on purpose,” he said, hinting that he was saving it for Reading.
Cruz hit his first two shots, both from beyond the arc, but after that the Knights couldn’t sink many 3’s, finishing 5-of-24. They were 0-for-7 in the final quarter with several ill-advised 3-point attempts.
“They were caught off guard (by our defense),” Garvin said. “They probably don’t go against that very often. I did my best protecting the rim; they like to get to the rim and finish there; that’s their strong suit.”
Reading High was no doubt hurt playing without injured senior Nick Chapman, their No. 2 scorer, but it’s unlikely he could have saved them. The Eagles were playing at a high level, especially in the second half when they outscored the Red Knights 43-24.
They shot 58 percent from the field, 54 percent from 3-point range and had assists on 16 of their 29 baskets.
“We came into this game with a chip on our shoulder,” Saenz said. “We let ’em have it.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Exeter | 22 | 14 | 24 | 19 | 79 |
| Reading High | 22 | 9 | 10 | 14 | 55 |
| Eagles (5-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Kelsey | 2-7 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| Saenz | 9-11 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 9 | 9 | 21 |
| Nester | 3-5 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Garvin | 3-7 | 1-1 | 1-4 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Dauble | 6-7 | 2-2 | 3-3 | 0 | 5 | 17 |
| Flanders | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Murray | 5-12 | 1-1 | 4-8 | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| Ware | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 29-51 | 8-9 | 13-24 | 16 | 27/32 | 79 |
| Red Knights (5-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Burgess | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Cruz | 6-16 | 4-6 | 2-5 | 2 | 7 | 18 |
| Camara | 4-10 | 2-2 | 1-5 | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| Rosario | 2-9 | 0-2 | 0-5 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
| Osumanu | 1-5 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Sosa | 4-13 | 3-4 | 1-3 | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| Beatty | 2-2 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Totals | 19-57 | 12-20 | 5-24 | 8 | 29/32 | 55 |
Turnovers: Exeter 18, Reading 20. Team rebounds: Exeter 5, Reading 3.
