Exeter stifles Oley Valley, sets up semifinal rematch against Berks Catholic

(This story will be updated later tonight with additional details, postgame reaction.)

Second-seeded Exeter quickly shook off a slow start and dominated seventh-seeded Oley Valley Monday night to post a 68-35 victory in a Berks Conference quarterfinal at Reiffton.

The Berks II champion Eagles (18-5) used a 15-0 run over the first and second quarters to take command, and built a 20-point lead by the third quarter.

Exeter will play Berks Catholic for the third time this season Wednesday in a semifinal at Santander Arena, time TBA. The teams split their two Division II meetings this season. The Saints eliminated the Eagles in a semifinal last season.

The Berks IV champion Lynx (18-5) played well at the outset, running their offense and hitting open shots. Sophomore Ben DeBalko’s 3-pointer gave them a 9-2 lead three minutes into the game.

The defensive-minded Eagles responded with a 2-2-1 halfcourt trap that sped up the Lynx and completely changed momentum. The Lynx went over six minutes minutes without a basket and fell behind 20-10 on a basket by Anthony Caccese in the opening minute of the second quarter.

Caccese, who went scoreless in the first quarter, had eight points in the second as the Eagles took a 32-21 lead into intermission.

Caccese scored three straight baskets to open the third quater and push Exeter’s lead to 17. He finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior Reece Garvin scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for Exeter. Zyion Paschall had 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Jaden Kelly led the Lynx with nine points.

Oley saw its 11-game winning streak snapped.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Oley Valley	10	11	6	8	35
Exeter	18	14	17	19	68

Lynx (18-5)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Neal	2-7	0-0	0-2	0	4	4
Kelly	3-6	2-2	1-3	2	10	9
Rubendall	3-5	0-0	0-0	0	1	6
DeBalko	2-10	2-6	0-0	0	3	6
D. Turchi	3-14	1-2	1-3	0	1	8
J. Turchi	0-3	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
N. DeBalko	0-2	0-0	0-1	0	2	0
L. Turchi	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Smith	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	2
Cappellan	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Haines	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	14-51	3-4	4-16	2	26-32	35

Eagles (18-5)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Paschall	6-15	0-0	1-2	7	6	13
Saenz	3-9	0-0	0-3	3	1	6
Snyder	1-3	0-0	0-0	1	1	2
Garvin	8-13	4-9	0-0	1	13	20
Caccese	8-13	1-2	0-0	2	10	17
Kelsey	2-7	1-1	0-0	2	8	5
Dauble	0-4	0-0	0-2	1	5	0
Nester	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Bauer	1-2	0-0	1-1	0	0	3
Turman	1-2	0-0	0-0	1	2	2
Ware	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Totals	30-70	2-3	6-19	18	46-48	68

Turnovers: Oley Valley 13, Exeter 11.