Exeter’s incredible fourth-quarter rally falls just short against Wilson
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Matt Gaffney — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
The calendar says January but the intensity of play Friday night in Reiffton made it feel like late February as Wilson and Exeter battled it out in a key Berks Conference crossover matchup.
After three quarters it appeared Wilson was on its way to a fairly easy win. The Bulldogs built a 19-point lead in the first quarter and maintained it heading into the fourth.
Exeter turned up the heat in the final quarter and a playoff-type game broke out. The Eagles roared back, hitting 15-of-18 free throws and scoring 34 points to make it a one-possession game in the final minute. The Berks I-leading Bulldogs hit some free throws and held on for a thrilling 64-63 win.
Correll Akings scored a team-high 15 points and hit three crucial foul shots in the final 40 seconds to help close it out for the Bulldogs (6-2, 13-5); Luke Levan scored 14 for Wilson.
The loss was a costly one for the Eagles (5-3, 10-7), who saw their chance to catch Berks II leader Berks Catholic virtually disappear. The Saints clinched a tie for the division with a win over Twin Valley Friday and have a huge lead over Exeter in power ratings, which would be the tiebreaker should the two tie for first.
The Bulldogs overcame an off night by leading scorer Madyx Gruber, who was held to three points and fouled out with 2:45 left. Despite having their floor leader on the bench during crunch time Wilson found a way to close out the game.
“That’s another positive,” said Wilson coach Matt Coldren. “We went the last three minutes basically without our best player and a guy with our most experience and we did enough to win.”
It was fitting that Exeter’s 1981 girls’ cross country state championship team was honored Friday night because for a while it looked like Wilson was going to run the Eagles out of the gym.
The Bulldogs were firing on all cylinders on offense in the early going and clamped down on the defensive end.
Wilson opened a 24-5 lead at the end of the first quarter, capped off as Jon Etim made a beautiful pass to Cam Zullinger on a backdoor cut. The Bulldogs played with patience and balance, working the ball and getting a couple of easy buckets off passes from Levan in the high post.
Their aggressive defense stymied Exeter throughout the first half as they contested every shot, giving the Eagles’ potent 3-point shooters little space. Exeter’s leading scorers, Kevin Saenz and Alex Kelsey, were held to four points and three points, respectively, in the first half as Wilson took a commanding 37-18 lead.
“I think we did a great job in the first half pushing them off the (3-point) line and they were frustrated that they didn’t get the shots that they normally get,” Coldren said. “But in the second half they attacked us a little bit more and we were fouling, which led to open shots on the outside.”
The teams played evenly throughout the third quarter and it looked like Wilson might escape with a relatively easy win. As Lee Corso likes to say, “Not so fast my friend.”
When Exeter mounted its comeback Coldren was the least surprised person in the gym.
“At halftime, I kept telling the kids this is far from over,” he said. “Exeter is not going to go away, and they obviously didn’t.”
The Eagles refused to concede anything as they mounted a furious comeback.
Saenz and Reece Garvin each scored 21 points to lead the way. Saenz had 14 points in the fourth quarter. Alex Kelsey made eight straight free throws in the final quarter, when he scored 10 of his 13 points. Garvin had a pair of 3’s and scored 10 points in the final quarter.
Exeter switched to fullcourt pressure and forced Wilson into multiple turnovers that led to easy baskets and a 25-8 run.
Saenz was all over the floor during the frantic fourth quarter. His basket with 39.9 seconds left cut the deficit to 60-58 but he couldn’t knock down a 3 that would have tied the game a few seconds later.
Akings was fouled as he rebounded Saenz’s miss and the sophomore calmly sank two free throws to give the Bulldogs a five-point cushion.
“I thought our immaturity showed a little bit in the fourth quarter,” said Coldren. “We kind of panicked a little bit, turned the ball over, weren’t the spots we needed to be, did a lot of fouling defensively which helped them get back into the game.”
With the league playoffs about two weeks away Coldren sees the value in a tough, tight game.
“Anytime you can get a win against a good team like Exeter it’s a positive,” he said. “For 32 minutes we were slightly better than them, so I’ll take it. It’s going to help us down the road.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 24 | 13 | 11 | 16 | 64 |
| Exeter | 5 | 13 | 11 | 34 | 63 |
| Bulldogs (13-5) | FG | FT | Points |
| Gruber | 1 | 1-2 | 3 |
| T. Hunsicker | 3 | 2-2 | 8 |
| Akings | 4 | 5-6 | 15 |
| Levan | 6 | 2-2 | 14 |
| Etim | 4 | 0-0 | 8 |
| McFadden | 2 | 3-4 | 7 |
| Zullinger | 3 | 1-2 | 9 |
| Twiford | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 23 | 14-18 | 64 |
| Eagles (10-7) | FG | FT | Points |
| Saenz | 8 | 3-3 | 21 |
| Kelsey | 1 | 11-12 | 13 |
| Garvin | 7 | 4-5 | 21 |
| Murray | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Ware | 1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Nester | 1 | 0-0 | 3 |
| Flanders | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Gwitira | 1 | 0-4 | 2 |
| Dauble | 0 | 1-2 | 1 |
| Totals | 19 | 19-26 | 63 |
3-pointers: Wilson: Akings 2, Zullinger 2; Exeter: Garvin 3, Saenz 2, Nester 1.
