Is it time to give the Fleetwood Tigers a little more respect?
A little chip on the shoulder never held anyone back.
If anything it’s helping push the Fleetwood Tigers forward. They came into this basketball season full of confidence and high expectations. They were upset when others didn’t share their optimism.
“We knew we were capable of it,” said sophomore guard Nate Herb of winning a division title, “(but) nobody else thought we were. We just had to prove it.”
The Tigers did Wednesday night when they played a tight zone, held visiting Antietam to it’s lowest point total of the season and pulled away down the stretch for a 51-38 victory in a battle of Berks Conference division leaders.
“We know what their record is,” Fleetwood’s Jake Karnish said of the Berks IV-leading Mounts (6-1, 14-2), “and we thought if we came to play we could give ’em a second loss.”
The Berks III-leading Tigers (6-1, 11-3) got a career-high 19 points from Herb, controlled the boards in the second half and used a dominant spurt down the stretch to pull away, scoring 11 straight to build a 17-point lead.
They rolled out a 2-3 zone to help contain the Mounts’ length and rebounding ability and ended up frustrating them. They sent them to their first loss over a month and snapped their 11-game winning streak.
The Tigers sent a message that they are indeed legit and capable of making a return to the postseason and after a historically long drought.
Fleetwood hasn’t won a division title in over 60 years, hasn’t played in the Berks Conference playoffs in nearly 20 years and hasn’t reached the District 3 Tournament since 2000.
All of that could, and likely will, change over the next few weeks. They could even make the PIAA Tournament for the first time since 1990.
Herb’s got that scoped out already.
“We only have to win one (district) game to get into states,” he said after checking out the District 3 Class 5A bracket.
“Counties, districts and our (winning our) division, that’s all on the goals board right now,” said Karnish, a junior guard and their leading scorer.
They moved a big step closer Wednesday when they fought off a late Antietam push with a bigger push of their own.
Antietam’s Carson Lubas cut a 10-point deficit in half in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter, hitting a 3-pointer and a jumper to make it 38-33.
The Tigers responded with a 13-2 run to put it away. Dylan Fickes scored on a rebound, then knocked down a 3-pointer — Fleetwood’s only trey of the night — to make it a nine-point game with three minutes left.
After that Karnish, Herb and the Tigers spread it out, worked down the clock and made free throws. Antietam’s Jovan Hollis picked up his fifth foul with 2:26 left; a few seconds later leading scorer Hector Tiburcio picked up his fourth on a technical and joined Hollis on the bench.
It was the Mounts’ third ‘T’ of the game; head coach Mike Green picked up consecutive technicals late in the third quarter and was ejected. He’ll have to sit out Friday’s game against Wyomissing.
“We just wanted to play a disciplined game and let them get out of control,” Tigers coach Terry Sitler said of Antietam.
Karnish finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. Senior center Will Ryan had 10 points and 10 boards. Herb hit 6-of-7 shots in the first half and had 15 points, topping his career-high by intermission. Most of that came on hustle plays when he beat everyone else down the court.
“He saw he had some mismatches leaking out of the zone,” Karnish said. “We would get the board, just give it to him, he would do the rest. He finished well, he shot the ball from the foul line really well. An impressive day.”
“His main thing is to run the offense, distribute,” Sitler said of his point guard. “If we get points from him that’s gravy.”
The Tigers are in a good spot. They’re in control of their division after hammering Wyomissing, their top competition, 52-25 last week. Now they’ve handily beaten the best team in Berks IV.
“We felt disrespected the first couple weeks of the season,” Sitler admitted. “We knew what we had. We want people to see how good we can be, and how good we are, the kind of program we’re building.
“People were overlooking us, thinking that we’re not one of the top 10 teams in the county. And we really think we are.”
These photos and others from the game can be purchased here:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Antietam | 12 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 38 |
| Fleetwood | 13 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 51 |
| Mounts (6-1, 14-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Lubas | 2-6 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| McKoy | 2-3 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Hollis | 2-7 | 4-4 | 0-1 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Archambault | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Tiburcio | 4-12 | 1-2 | 0-5 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Montero | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Reyes | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 14-43 | 8-10 | 2-16 | 7 | 19/21 | 38 |
| Tigers (6-1, 11-3) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Soumas | 2-7 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Herb | 6-10 | 7-9 | 0-1 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| Karnish | 2-5 | 7-11 | 0-2 | 3 | 11 | 11 |
| Ryan | 4-7 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| Fickes | 2-8 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Gorman | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Knoll | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 16-38 | 18-26 | 1-10 | 7 | 30/34 | 51 |
Turnovers: Antietam 13, Fleetwood 19.
