Spartans’ Julian O’Brien is Wyomissing PT Player of the Week
Wyomissing Physical Therapy Player of the Week
When the Wyomissing Spartans needed a basket to keep their hopes alive for a division title the basketball found Julian O’Brien. And he hit the shot, of course.
“He’s been as clutch as could be,” said teammate Amory Thompson after O’Brien’s bucket in the final seconds gave the Spartans a thrilling 42-41 win over Oley Valley Saturday, completing his 24-point afternoon.
That came hours after O’Brien scored a career-best 33 points in a win at Antietam, the two victories keeping the Spartans in position to challenge for the Berks Conference Division III title.
They’ll play at Fleetwood Monday night with first place on the line.
O’Brien, a senior guard, scored 78 points over three games, all wins, to earn Wyomissing Physical Therapy boys basketball Player of the Week.
“This week Julian has been incredible, especially on the offensive end,” said Wyomissing coach Ryan Ludwig. “He’s also showed lot of maturity this week. He has worked so hard, and it’s showing in his play this year.
“Without his scoring this week, we probably go 1-2 and are out of contention for the division and maybe even districts. He stepped up when the team needed him to score with big plays.”
The Spartans trailed by 12 points against Oley Valley before O’Brien scored 19 points over the final 13 minutes. One night earlier he pulled off a similar feat with a 23-point second half against Antietam. He opened the week with 21 points in a 57-42 win at East Pennsboro.
He scored 78 of Wyomissing’s 167 points for the week — that’s nearly 47 percent.
“He’s the clutchest player on our team,” Thompson said after seeing O’Brien hit the game-winner with five seconds left Saturday. “We need a bucket, we’ll go to him.”
O’Brien is averaging a team-leading 16.5 points per game and has a team-high 23 3-pointers in 14 games. He’s shooting 79.4 percent from the free throw line, among the best in the league.
O’Brien was fourth on the team in scoring last season when he averaged 8.5 points and hit 11 3-pointers in 16 games.
O’Brien is the sixth Wyomissing Physical Therapy Player of the Week for the 2021-22 season and the first from Wyomissing.
Berks Conference coaches nominate their top players each week. At the end of the season a Wyomissing Physical Therapy Player of the Year will be selected.
Previously selected for Wyomissing Physical Therapy Player of the Week:
- Dec. 20: Matt Harley, Gov. Mifflin
- Dec. 27: Colin Payne, Exeter
- Jan. 3: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Jan. 10: Myles Grey, Reading High
- Jan. 17: Danny Turchi, Oley Valley
- Jan. 24: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
Berks basketball Honor Roll
