Exeter survives wild finish against Fox Chapel but pays a heavy price

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

Alex Kelsey provided the biggest play in Exeter’s first PIAA Tournament win nearly 50 years, a scoring drive with 28 seconds left that sparked the Eagles to a 62-57 win over Fox Chapel Friday night at Reiffton.

Kelsey, a junior guard, scored a team- and career-high 13 points but he won’t be able to play in the Eagles’ Class 5A second-round game Tuesday against Mechanicsburg after being ejected in the final seconds.

Kelsey got entangled with Fox Chapel’s Kam Greil following a loose ball call that went in Exeter’s favor. Greil objected harshly, Kelsey got involved and both were ejected and escorted from the court with Exeter leading 61-57 and 5.9 seconds left.

The game was halted for several minutes so that officials could restore order. Following the ejections, Kevin Saenz hit the first of two free throws to complete the scoring.

The District 3 champion Eagles (24-6) led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter and were up 54-45 with 4:10 left before the Foxes (15-12) made their charge. They got 3-pointers from Jefferson Moorefield-Brown and Asher White and a basket inside from Moorefield-Brown to cut Exeter’s lead to 54-53 with 2:05 left.

After a basket by Anthony Caccese, Fox Chapel answered to make it 56-55 with 1:05 left. Following a timeout with 35 seconds left, Kelsey’s basket pushed the lead back to three. Reece Garvin made both ends of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left to make it a five-point game.

Greil, a talented ballhandler effective at creating shots, scored again with 7.8 seconds left; he finished with a game-high 23 points.

When Alex Paschall missed the back half of a one-and-one with 7.3 seconds left the teams scrambled to track down the rebound. When possession went to Exeter Greil objected profusely, tempers flared and the players from each team had to be separated.

Exeter advances to play District 3 fourth-place Mechanicsburg (19-8), a 56-52 winner over North Hills.

Exeter’s last win in the PIAA Tournament came in 1974, 45-32 over Cocalico in a state semifinal.

Caccese finished with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Garvin had 12 points, Paschall 11 points and seven assists and Saenz 11 points.

Exeter started slowly, falling behind 7-2 in the opening minutes. A Caccese putback started an 11-0 run that put the Eagles in the lead for good. Saenz sparked the run with a 3-pointer and Paschall converted a three-point play for a 16-10 lead, the biggest of the opening quarter.

Paschall opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer and freshman Aidan Dauble added another late in the quarter, giving Exeter its biggest lead at 32-24. Paschall and Saenz each had eight points in the first half, which ended with Exeter leading 33-26.

The Eagles have won 14 of their last 15 games and gone 18-2 since Jan. 21. The victory gives them their highest win total since 1973-74 team went 30-3, establishing a program record.

Fox Chapel beat McKeesport in the seventh-place game after entering District 7 Tournament as the No. 11 seed. The Foxes reached PIAA semifinals last season, playing in Class 6A. They were eliminated by Archbishop Wood, 56-54.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Fox Chapel	14	12	14	17	57
Exeter	16	17	13	16	62

Foxes (15-12)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
K. Greil	10-15	2-3	1-2	5	2	23
Morefield-Brown	5-10	0-0	3-4	0	5	13
Siegel	0-0	1-2	0-0	0	0	1
Hanna	0-2	0-0	0-1	2	3	0
Kaiser	3-5	3-4	1-2	0	6	10
White	2-5	0-0	2-5	0	0	6
Wilson	1-5	2-2	0-1	0	4	4
Rehak	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Totals	21-42	8-11	7-15	8	20-22	57

Eagles (24-6)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Paschall	4-12	2-3	1-2	7	3	11
Kelsey	6-9	0-0	1-1	3	3	13
Saenz	3-8	4-5	1-2	1	1	11
Snyder	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Garvin	4-12	4-4	0-6	2	5	12
Caccese	6-9	0-2	0-0	0	12	12
Dauble	1-1	0-0	1-1	0	0	3
Totals	24-52	10-14	4-13	13	25-30	62

Turnovers: Fox-Chapel 13, Exeter 9.