Wyo, Oley see comeback bids thwarted in District 3 play

Wyomissing and Oley Valley each saw their comeback bids snuffed out in the District 3 Class 4A Tournament Monday night.

The ninth-seeded Spartans trimmed a 10-point deficit to one in the final minutes before falling to No. 8 Elco 68-59 at Myerstown, despite a record-tying performance by Julian O’Brien.

The 10th-seeded Lynx came back from a seven-point third-quarter deficit and sent the game to overtime before losing at No. 7 Boiling Springs 52-42.

The Spartans (12-11) and Lynx (13-10) were each eliminated. Only the top five teams in Class 4A advance to the PIAA Tournament.

O’Brien, a senior guard, kept the Spartans in it with his hot shooting. He finished with 31 points, two shy of his career high, and matched a program record with seven 3-pointers.

Max Hurleman set the record with seven 3’s against Kutztown during the 2019-2020 season.

O’Brien had five 3’s in the first half and 26 points through three quarters. He set his career scoring mark in a 68-60 win at Antietam Jan. 28.

Wyomissing trailed throughout and was down 39-29 late in the third quarter. O’Brien hit a pair of free throws with 1:24 left to cut the Raiders’ lead to 58-57.

The Spartans went cold at that point and saw Elco score 10 straight points to put the game away.

At Boiling Springs, Oley Valley scored the final seven points of the third quarter to tie it 33-33. Danny Turchi, who scored a team-high 17 points, gave the Lynx the lead three different times in the final quarter, the last time at 40-38 on a backdoor cut with 4:21 left.

The Lynx, in a 40-40 tie, held the ball for the final minute of regulation looking for the last shot. Turchi’s 3-point attempt with 4.9 seconds left was short. The Bubblers got off a forced 3 at the buzzer.

Turchi scored all seven of the Lynx’s points in the fourth quarter and got no help in the fourth quarter, when the Bubblers pulled away by scoring the first seven points.

Turchi scored Oley’s only points in overtime, with a basket with 28 seconds left. The senior finishes his career with 1,018 points, ninth-most in program history.

The Bubblers got a game-high 32 points from Trey Martin, 15 of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime. He hit six straight free throws in OT and 13-of-15 overall.

Boiling Springs advances to play No. 2 Trinity (16-5), which had a first-round bye.

Elco advances to play at top-seeded Berks Catholic (20-4) Thursday; the Saints also had an opening-round bye.

The Lynx were looking for their first district playoff victory since 2007. They went out in the opening round last season at Littlestown, 53-46.

Amory Thompson scored nine points and Drew Eisenhower and Nevin Carter had eight apiece for Wyomissing, which ended the season with three straight losses.