Eagles survive another tight finish, advance to championship vs. Imhotep
ALTOONA – When the games get tight and the seconds get few, a lot of guys don’t want to be anywhere near the foul line.
Exeter’s Kevin Saenz looked like he couldn’t wait to get there in the final seconds Monday against Erie Cathedral Prep.
“We’ve been in a lot of these situations this year,” said Saenz, who went to the line for a one-and-one with his team leading by three with 7.2 seconds left at Altoona High School. “I’d say at least a third of them came down to free throws at the end to seal it.
“(A lot of times) I was the one taking those free throws, so I was super-confident. Even though I had a slow shooting night, I knew those were good. I’ve been in that situation so many times.”
Saenz, who hadn’t scored since the opening minute of the game, sank four straight free throws as the Eagles held off Cathedral Prep 51-47 in a PIAA Class 5A semifinal and punched their ticked to the state title game.
The District 3 champion Eagles (27-6) will face defending state champ Imhotep Charter, a 72-50 winner over Archbishop Ryan. The championship game is Friday at 8 at Giant Center, where the Eagles beat Manheim Central for their first district title.
Eagles coach Matt Ashcroft told his guys back in January that they’d be playing Imhotep for the state title, but the Eagles had to squeeze through a couple of nail-biters, including Monday’s game, to make that prediction come true.
The Eagles saw an 11-point lead with 4:17 remaining nearly evaporate. The Ramblers (24-4) closed within 45-43 with 33 seconds left when Jake Sambuchino hit the front end of a two-shot foul.
When he missed the second the Eagles broke Cathedral Prep’s troubling press and freshman Aidan Dauble found Anthony Caccese for a layup and 47-43 lead.
The Eagles played the final 7 1/2 minutes without All-Berks point guard Zyion Paschall, who picked up his fifth foul on a charge with Exeter leading 35-28. He fouled out in the state quarterfinal against Peters Township, as did Alex Kelsey and Anthony Caccese.
“Just to see him (do) that in a situation like that, that close of a game, and in a state semifinal, I’m super-proud of him,” Saenz said of Dauble.
Caccese, confronted with 6-8 shot-blocker Zion Barksdale, had trouble getting his shot off in the first half, and went into halftime scoreless. The Eagles’ leading scorer finished with seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Eagles turned it over 19 times, were good on just 3-of-11 shots from 3-point range and missed seven free throws. Yet they never gave up the lead after Dauble’s three-point play made it 20-19 in the final minute of the first quarter.
Somehow, they keep finding ways to survive and advance.
“When I’m out there with my guys, I’m never concerned,” said junior Reece Garvin, who scored a team-high 14 points, including three 3’s. “I knew we were gonna pull through. It got a little hectic. We just had to get a time out, calm down. We’re all confident out there, and we know we’ve got each other.”
Dauble came up huge for the Eagles, with several key rebounds, passes and baskets. He finished with nine points, five rebounds and two assists. He made two critical plays down the stretch to help the Eagles break the press and stay ahead.
When Saenz and Alex Kelsey trapped to force a loose ball at midcourt with 1:10 left, Garvin picked it up and found Dauble, who was alone under the basket and laid it in.
Thirty seconds later he made a quick feed to Caccese for a 47-43 lead after the Eagles broke the press.
Exeter has won 17 of its last 18 games. Several of them have been close, including a four-point win at Berks Catholic, a four-point win at Cedar Cliff, a seven-point win over Hershey in district, a five-point win over Fox Chapel in states and Friday’s comeback win over Peters Township in OT.
“We’ve been in a lot of tough situations,” Saenz said, “and we just find that push that we need. We all step our games up for our brothers.”
The Eagles are a confident group, one galvanized by a heart wrenching loss to Reading High in the Berks Conference title game, when they led by 11 in the second half.
They have played their best basketball of the season in the district and state tournaments and now find themselves in the final game for just the second time in program history, and the first time since 1974.
“We think we’re a really good basketball team,” Ashcroft said. “We don’t think many teams out there are as efficient as we are on both ends of the floor.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Cathedral Prep | 7 | 12 | 9 | 19 | 47 |
| Exeter | 9 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 51 |
| Ramblers (24-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Barksdale | 1-4 | 0-1 | 1-10 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Sambuchino | 4-10 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| Spencer | 2-5 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Pickens | 6-13 | 3-4 | 1-5 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| Lofton | 5-15 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Spence | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Roberts | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rahama | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 18-51 | 9-15 | 2-8 | 4 | 23-28 | 47 |
| Eagles (27-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Paschall | 4-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| Kelsey | 2-5 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Saenz | 1-6 | 4-6 | 0-3 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Snyder | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Garvin | 5-8 | 1-4 | 3-5 | 1 | 5 | 14 |
| Caccese | 3-7 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 8 | 7 |
| Dauble | 4-6 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| Totals | 19-37 | 10-17 | 3-11 | 9 | 25-29 | 51 |
Turnovers: Cathedral Prep 14, Exeter 19.Fouled out: Pickens, Paschall.
