Antietam finds a hero and sole possession of first place with OT win at Oley
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Mitchell Jr. — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
“Heroes can be found in the most unlikely places. Perhaps we all have it within us to do great things but may simply lack the circumstances to be heroic.” — British author Justin Richards.
The Antietam Mounts found an unlikely hero Thursday in Denzel Severino. The 6-foot senior averages only a few points per game and makes less than half his free throws.
He ended up scoring the game-winning layup with 4.4 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Mounts a 49-47 victory and sole possession of first place in Division IV of the Berks Conference.
Severino scored out of the Mounts’ spread offense, taking a pass from sophomore guard AJ Scheifly.
“I saw nobody in the lane,” Severino said. “AJ was penetrating, so I cut to the basket and he gave me a great pass.”
The Mounts (8-3, 11-9) have a one-game lead over the Lynx (7-4, 11-9) with one league game remaining, Tuesday against Brandywine Heights. They beat the Bullets 39-36 at Mertztown Jan. 4.
Oley held the ball for the first 2:40 of overtime. Once the Mounts got it back they went into their version of Dean Smith’s vintage Four Corners.
When the Lynx aggressively double-teamed center Julious Williams, he passed to Scheifly. Scheifly penetrated and threw a nifty pass to Severino for the game-winner — the only points of the four-minute overtime by either team.
“I saw Julious getting doubled so I went to help him,” Scheifly said. “I penetrated and saw Denzel break open.”
After an Antietam timeout Oley’s Nick DeBalko got a clean look for a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer but it did not go down.
“I usually wait until we are up big to go into our Carolina offense,” said Mounts coach Mike Green. “You have to give Oley credit. They were taking away our high post offense and our motion offense, so we thought our best chance was to go with the Carolina Four Corners.”
Antietam came out strong. Shawn Rafferty, who scored a game-high 17 points, hit four first-half 3’s and Scheifly hit a pair to stake their team to a 24- 11 lead late in the first half.
The Mounts were scrappy on defense in their 2-3 and 3-2 zones and their 2-2-1 three-quarters court press, causing the Lynx to shoot poorly in the first half.
Oley got some momentum when Nick DeBalko connected on a three-quarters court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to 24-14.
Antietam answered early and often in the third quarter to extend the lead to 28-15 with 6:12 to go in the third. After a timeout and a switch to a fullcourt man press the Lynx went on an 11-0 run to pull within 30-29 with 2:05 left in the third.
From there it was a back-and-forth contest. A steal by Oley’s Tristan Mc Farland, who fed DeBalko for a layup, tied the game at 40 with just 2:32 remaining in regulation. It was the first tie of the game. Oley’s only lead was 2-0.
Raffety struck again with a strong drive, hitting a floater, getting fouled, and converting the three-point play to put the Mounts up 43-40.
Severino came up big for the Mounts. Leading 46-45 with 8.5 seconds left he was fouled. The 46 percent free throw shooter hit 1-of-2 to give the Mounts a two-point lead.
Johnny Turchi smartly let the inbounds pass roll, picked it up around half court, and drove strong to the hole for a game-tying layup to send the game to overtime.
Despite the loss, Oley coach Chad Walters was pleased with his team.
“I can’t fault our effort,” he said. “We’ve learned on the fly all year. None of those kids should have their heads down. I’m darn proud of their effort tonight and couldn’t have asked for anything more from them, effort-wise.
“Mike does a great job. Kudos to them. (Antietam is) a team that plays smart and physical.”
The Lynx opened the season 0-3 and were below .500 just a week ago. Now they’re on the cusp of a division title.
“I told the kids that this is playoff basketball,” Green said. “We can enjoy this one tonight, but tomorrow we need to travel to Halifax. If the season were ending today, Halifax would be our opponent in districts.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Final | |
| Antietam | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 49 |
| Oley Valley | 6 | 8 | 17 | 16 | 0 | 47 |
| Mounts (11-9) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Scheifly | 3 | 3-4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 15 |
| Rafferty | 2 | 1-1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| Williams | 2 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 6 |
| J. Coste | 2 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Severino | 2 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| N. Coste | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 17 | 9-11 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 49 |
| Lynx (11-9) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| B. DeBalko | 0 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| D. Turchi | 5 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| J. Turchi | 2 | 5-6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| N. DeBalko | 1 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| Mc Farland | 1 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| L. Turchi | 1 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Smith | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Hains | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hoffman | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 16 | 7-12 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 45 |
Turnovers: Antietam 12, Oley Valley 6. Team rebounds: Antietam 2, Oley Valley 1.
