Quarterfinal loss ‘leaves a bad taste in our mouths’ says Exeter’s Alex Kelsey
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By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
MECHANICSBURG – Jeff VanGorder didn’t want to make any excuses for Exeter’s loss at Mechanicsburg Thursday night.
He credited the Wildcats for their hard play, and their boisterous student section, stationed in one of the end zones, for creating a tough atmosphere to play in. He didn’t want to dwell on the flu-like illness that swept through his team earlier in the week.
“This time of year, I’m sure everybody’s got some stuff,” the Eagles first-year coach said, downplaying the situation.
Alex Kelsey, his senior guard, didn’t mince words. He knew his team wasn’t able to give its best shot.
“I feel if everybody’s 100 percent, that’s a 10-point win,” Kelsey said after the 57-48 loss in a District 3 Class 5A quarterfinal. “If Kev and Brady (can) give that full 100 percent effort we win.”
They couldn’t. It was apparent both Kevin Saenz and Brady Murray, each of whom missed school and practice time this week, were lacking the usual energy they bring to the court.
Saenz, an All-Berks senior who leads the team in scoring and 3-pointers, was far off his usual dynamic game. Twice VanGorder brought him to the bench for a breather, something you’ll never see. On the court Saenz was moved from point guard to off the ball, in order to help him conserve energy.
Saenz scored the first bucket of the game, on a drive, but got just two more shots the rest of the opening half and didn’t drop another bucket until the final seconds of the game. He finished with a season-low six points, more than 11 below his average.
Murray’s as good a shooter as there is in the Berks League. He has 42 3-pointers and shoots a team-best 45 percent from beyond the arc. Not Thursday. He usually starts but didn’t. He missed each of his seven shots and was consistently short on each of them.
“We just could hit those wide-open shots that we normally do,” said Kelsey.
The 10th-seeded Eagles (16-9) were on a pace to hit more 3-pointers than all but one team in Berks history. They have three guys with 40 or more treys and seven with 14 or more. They play fast and let it fly.
Incredibly they went 3-for-23 from 3-point range Thursday, each the three makes by Aidan Dauble. Other than him the Eagles were 0-for-22.
“That’s rough,” said Kelsey, “very rough.”
It was unimaginable for a team that was averaging better than nine 3’s per game.
Even at that the defending district champs were right in it, positioned for a return trip to the semifinals. When Dauble opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer they led 40-38.
“Honestly, I thought we might go on one of our runs right there,” VanGorder said.
Instead it was the second-seeded Wildcats (18-5) who took over. Wiry 6-3 junior Chance Yanoski scored seven points in what became a game-changing 14-2 run that put Mechanicsburg up 10 with 2:38 to go.
The more the Wildcats stretched their lead the more the Eagles went to the 3-point line to close the gap. They missed 11 straight 3’s to end the game and scored just one field goal over those final futile seven minutes.
“People will say you live and die (with the 3),” VanGorder said, “but they were open, and we’ve made ’em all year. So, I’ll die with it.”
VanGorder survived the night but the Eagles’ hopes of another championship game didn’t. They’ll play Muhlenberg Monday in a state seeding game at Reiffton. The winner will play for the fifth seed out of District 3 heading into the state tournament, the loser for seventh.
It’s not a position the Eagles – even with their double-digit seed – thought they’d be in.
“I know these guys,” VanGorder said. “We expected to be there at the end.”
Even with two of their top offensive threats under the weather the Eagles fought to make a game of it. After falling behind by eight in the first quarter they came back to twice take one-point leads in the third quarter.
Kelsey, knowing some of his teammates were hurting, was even more aggressive than usual and continued to attack the basket. He got the foul line 11 times and finished with a team-high 16 points.
Dauble scored 13 points on just seven shots.
That wasn’t enough to overcome Mechanicsburg’s slick combo of Yanoski and Josh Smith, a 1,000-point scorer as a junior who had a game-high 22 points.
“He’s super-smart,” Wildcats coach Mike Gaffey said of Smith, “and he likes the big games.”
Smith and the Wildcats were waiting for another crack at the Eagles; they saw their season end last year when Exeter took them out in a second-round state playoff game.
“This is what we wanted,” Gaffey said of the rematch.
Not being able to compete as hard as they usually do wasn’t what the Eagles wanted.
“It leaves a bad taste in our mouths right now,” Kelsey said. “It’s just terrible.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Exeter | 11 | 8 | 18 | 11 | 48 |
| Mechanicsburg | 17 | 7 | 14 | 19 | 57 |
| Eagles (16-9) | FG | FT | 3s | A | R | Points |
| Kelsey | 4-9 | 8-11 | 0-3 | 1 | 5 | 16 |
| Saenz | 2-11 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Garvin | 1-6 | 6-8 | 0-3 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| Nester | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dauble | 4-7 | 2-2 | 3-5 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| Murray | 0-7 | 0-0 | 0-6 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Ware | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Redding | 1-2 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Totals | 12-45 | 21-27 | 3-23 | 2 | 27/28 | 48 |
| Wildcats (18-5) | FG | FT | 3s | A | R | Points |
| Yanoski | 9-16 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 0 | 8 | 20 |
| Smith | 6-12 | 7-8 | 3-5 | 3 | 7 | 22 |
| Owens | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Mark | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Bardo | 2-6 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Cavada | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Beya | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Simpkins | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 21-42 | 9-11 | 6-15 | 9 | 26/29 | 57 |
Turnovers: Exeter 7, Mechanicsburg 11. Team rebounds: Exeter 1, Mechanicscurg 3.
