Alex Kelsey sparks big fourth quarter as Exeter passes Warwick
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Anyone who saw Exeter play this season knew the Eagles weren’t the 10th-best Class 5A team in District 3, as power rating suggested.
The Eagles showed that again Wednesday, putting together a big fourth quarter to ease past Warwick 67-59 at Lititz in the tournament’s fifth-place game.
All-Division guard Alex Kelsey scored a game- and career-high 21 points for the Eagles (18-9), including 10 in the fourth quarter as Exeter erased a two-point deficit.
The Eagles (18-9) will open the PIAA Tournament Friday, March 8 against the District 1 runner-up, either Unionville or Upper Dublin. Those teams meet in the championship game Thursday at West Chester University at 7.
Exeter saw its 30-25 halftime lead disappear when Warwick’s Ya’Majesty Washington hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the third quarter, pushing the ninth-seeded Warriors out in front 43-41.
Five different Exeter players scored in a fourth quarter which saw the Eagles make 9-of-12 free throws and outscore the Warriors 26-16. Kelsey was good on 6-of-8 in the fourth and the Eagles finished 21-of-28 from the line.
Kevin Saenz scored 13 for Exeter, Jayden Ware had 11 and Reece Garvin 10.
Exeter, entering as the No. 10 seed, won three of its four district playoff games, knocking off No. 7 Lampeter-Strasburg on the road, falling at No. 2 Mechanicsburg, then beating rival Muhlenberg Monday in a seeding game at Reiffton.
The Eagles will enter the state tournament having won 8-of-10 games.
Last season they put together an eight-game winning streak in the postseason that carried them to their first District 3 title and to the PIAA championship game, where they lost to Imhotep Charter 78-40.
Warwick, which finishes sixth, will open state play against the District 7 runner-up, either Moon or Franklin Regional. Warwick is looking at a considerably longer opening-night trip than is Exeter, which will likely play somewhere in District 1.
