Colin Payne puts it on the line as Exeter holds off Gov. Mifflin
Colin Payne is not the guy you want to put at the foul line at the end of a game.
The Gov. Mifflin Mustangs knew that, of course, but had little choice as they were forced to foul to make up a big deficit against Exeter Tuesday night in Reiffton.
Payne hit 10 straight free throws in the final quarter to put an end to those comeback plans, helping the Eagles hold off the Mustangs 63-56 in a Berks Conference Division I game.
“We got the ball into Colin’s hands, they fouled, and he did a nice job with it,” said Eagles coach Matt Ashcroft, who saw his senior scoring leader go 12-for-12 at the free throw line on the way to a team-high 20 points.
Payne is shooting 90 percent from the foul line this season. He has hit 17 straight shots over the last two games. Earlier this season he went 10-for-10 against Elizabethtown, 8-for-8 against Reading High and 10-for-11 against Palmyra. He’s made 81 free throws in 12 games, 34 more than any other player in the league.
The win, on the heels of a league loss last week to Berks Catholic, lifts the Eagles (3-2, 8-4) back into a second-place tie with the Saints (3-2, 8-2), who fell to Wilson Tuesday in West Lawn.
“To get to 3-2 is huge,” said Ashcroft. “To get a good home win, against a really nice opponent, on the heels of a loss against a really good opponent at home, it’s really big.
“I thought we controlled tempo; we were able to pull it out and get some really nice, patient possessions to start the second half, which opened it up. We threw the ball inside, which was nice. We got away from that against Berks (Catholic) and Wilson, and we got back to that tonight. We threw it inside to (center Anthony) Caccese and to (Joey) Schlaffer, and they did a really nice job inside.”
The Eagles scored the first seven points of the third quarter to expand their 26-21 halftime lead. They were up as many as 16 points before the Mustangs (2-3, 5-7) fought back. Tyler Minick came off the bench to score a game- and career-high 20 points for Mifflin, including 12 in the final quarter.
Mifflin scored 29 points in the final quarter after scoring 27 over the first three.
“They were down three, four possessions the majority of the second half, so they had to try to encourage pace of play, and they did,” Ashcroft said. “They irritated us a little bit. They sped us up. We played great defense until the end of the third, then we just allowed them to speed us up.”
Schlaffer had 16 points for Exeter and Reece Garvin had 13.
Ashcroft credited Garvin, Zyion Paschall and Teddy Snyder for their defensive work on Mifflin guards Delsin and Gerrell McNeil, who combined for five points and one field goal.
“I thought our guards did a really nice job on the McNeils,” Ashcroft said. “Paschall, Garvin and Snyder did a wonderful job.”
Matt Harley scored 14 for Mifflin, with a pair of 3’s and eight points in the final quarter; Bailey Ziolkowski had 10 points.
Garvin, a sophomore, drew the start and finished with a career-high 13 points, more than he had scored in the first 10 games. He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final quarter to help thwart Mifflin’s comeback bid.
“Garvin’s been doing such a good job in practice,” Ashcroft said. “We think he’s having a heckuva season.”
Mifflin has lost three straight. It’s got a tough assignment ahead Friday against Berks II leader Muhlenberg.
Exeter plays winless Boone Friday before heading to Muhlenberg Monday.
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