Saints’ Parker Nein brings the heat, shuts down Eagles’ late rally

By Mike Drago Last updated Jan 13, 2024

Berks Catholic's Parker Nein. (Tim Macrina photo)

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Parker Nein went through a rigorous conditioning program throughout the summer and fall, aiming to get stronger and add a few mphs to his fastball. All that hard work will pay off for the senior right-hander when he takes the mound come spring.

It’s paying off for him and Berks Catholic on the court, too. He’s getting up to the rim now, dunking the ball, and the added leg strength has given him incredible depth on his 3-point shot.

He doesn’t even bother to look for that arc anymore; if he gets open and is feeling it, he’ll let it fly from NBA range.

With the Saints’ huge lead over visiting Exeter all but gone in the final minutes Thursday night, Nein was feeling it.

His deep 3-ball with two minutes left halted the Eagles’ late run and turned the momentum back to the unbeaten Saints, who pulled away again for a hard-fought 72-64 Berks Conference Division II win at Wolf Gymnasium.

“I’m confident wherever I can shoot (from),” said Nein, who leads the Saints (4-0, 9-0) in scoring and with 23 3-pointers. “I knew Alex Kelsey wasn’t gonna give me a lick of space; he was right in my chest. I knew as soon as I got an inch I was gonna throw it up on him.”

The Saints were wobbling terribly before Nein let loose. They had seen a 22-point, third-quarter lead dwindle to 58-55, Exeter’s Kevin Saenz making it a one-possession game when he took the ball hard to rim with 2:18 left.

Saenz was relentless in the final quarter. The all-division pick hit his final five shots and jammed 10 of his game- and career-high 29 points into the final 5 ½ minutes, fueling a 16-2 Exeter run. He had 20 second-half points and was good on 10-of-12 shots overall.

It wasn’t enough. The Saints were too good for most of the game, building a commanding lead the Eagles (3-1, 6-5) couldn’t entirely chop away.

Saints’ Parker Nein takes the ball to the basket. (Tim Macrina photo)

The Saints played with played with precision, executing their offense at a high level through the first three quarters. Sophomore guard Kingston McKoy constantly broke down the defense, driving into the lane, then kicking out to open shooters, Nein, Brady Altimar, Zach Suski and Armanni Dominguez.

“That 20-point lead? I don’t know, we just came out so energized, it was great,” Kingston McKoy said. “We loved it.”

Nein hit three 3’s and scored 15 points and Suski came up big off the bench with 11 points and some key plays down the stretch. Kingston and brother Josh combined for 31 points and 14 rebounds.

They all played defense, and they were careful with the ball: They turned it over just three times in the first three quarters and five times overall, incredible for such a fast-paced intense game.

The Eagles got rolling in the second half when they made seven 3’s and scored 46 points but 10 first-half turnovers put them in too deep of a hole.

“We know that this team is a 3-point shooting team,” Kingston McKoy said, “so we get up on everybody; we don’t give ‘em a chance to get it off.”

The Eagles finished with 10 3’s but managed only 18 first-half points and went into intermission down 34-18.

“At halftime, when we were up, I’ve never seen Coach Snip (Esterly) yell like that and get that happy in my life,” Nein said.

The Saints were extra-pumped for this one. They lost the division title to the Eagles last season, then lost to them in the league semifinals. They also made note of what Exeter did to Reading last week, rolling to a 24-point win at the Geigle.

“We saw that they blew out Reading,” Nein said, “and we knew they’re the guys to beat right now; them Muhlenberg, Reading, Wilson.”

Indeed, it’s a tight five-team race; the top teams in Berks I and II aren’t separated by much. Good as the Saints played most of the way Thursday the Eagles were right there at the end. They played full-out to the wire.

That’s been the case with all of the top contenders.

“Some days people are gonna come out and have a bad game, some days people are gonna come out and have a good game,” Kingston McKoy said. “I just hope that we come and play strong every game that we play against these good teams.”

The Saints won’t have to wait long to see how that plays out: They’re back at it again Friday night against Muhlenberg, which is coming off a double-overtime win over Reading.

The Saints led 56-37 after Josh McKoy opened the fourth quarter with a bucket but they went cold right after that. They missed their next nine shots and saw Exeter run off 15 straight points, a rally capped by Brady Murray’s 3-pointer with 3:09 left.

The Saints kept the Eagles in it by missing six straight free throws to begin the fourth quarter, and 15 overall.

“I didn’t enjoy the fourth quarter at all,” said Esterly.

The Saints were leading the league in free throw shooting before Thursday; not any longer.

“Free throws is what killed us,” said Kingston McKoy, who missed 6-of-9 from the line. “Personally, I couldn’t find a free throw shot to save my life today, but we’re gonna get back at, get in the gym and keep working on it.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Exeter	7	11	19	27	64
Berks Catholic	11	23	20	18	72

Eagles (6-5)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Kelsey	1-5	8-11	0-2	1	2	10
Saenz	10-12	4-5	5-7	2	7	29
Garvin	4-10	0-0	2-6	2	9	10
Murray	3-9	0-0	3-7	0	2	9
Dauble	2-6	0-0	0-2	0	8	4
Nestor	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Ware	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	2	0
Flanders	1-6	0-0	0-1	0	2	2
Magee	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Totals	21-49	12-16	10-26	5	35/35	64

Saints (9-0)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Dominguez	3-5	0-2	1-3	1	3	7
Nein	6-11	0-0	3-6	1	4	15
K. McKoy	6-17	3-9	0-4	2	9	15
J. McKoy	5-8	6-11	0-0	2	5	16
Altimar	2-6	0-0	2-6	0	4	6
Komoro	0-1	0-2	0-1	1	0	0
Diaz	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	2
Suski	3-5	4-4	1-2	0	3	11
Totals	26-54	13-28	7-22	8	28/29	72

Turnovers: Exeter 16, Berks Catholic 5. Team rebounds: Exeter 0, Berks Catholic 1.