Josiah Jordan sat on the bench in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, watching his Berks Catholic teammates wage a fierce battle with Exeter and wondering if and when he would return.
“I hung my head a little bit, I’m not going to lie,” Jordan said. “I was sitting there for a little bit. I knew what I had to do. We needed a spark.
With the Saints down one, Jordan drove strongly to the basket and scored with 7.6 seconds left to lift Berks Catholic over Exeter 41-40 in a Berks Conference semifinal at Santander Arena.
Exeter’s Alex Kelsey and Reece Garvin missed shots in the final seconds, allowing the Saints (20-3) to exhale and advance to Friday night’s title game against Reading High or Muhlenberg.
“I wanted them to make sure (Colin) Payne didn’t touch the ball,” Berks Catholic coach Snip Esterly said about the final possession. “Aidan (Sands) was back there. I thought he gave Kelsey too much room, but he made him shoot over him.
“I don’t know what happened after that. We got lucky. We were fortunate. The ball fell our way at the end.”
Jordan began the fourth quarter on the sideline because Esterly was unhappy with his performance. Jordan returned with 2:15 left with the second-seeded Saints in a 36-36 tie.
“I didn’t know when I was going to put him back in,” Esterly said. “I just wasn’t happy with the way the ball was moving. Jay Jay (Jordan) thinks the world is on his shoulders and he has to do something every time. It’s just not the case.
“(But) when crunch time came, I knew we could create and I put him back in. I’m not that stupid.”
Jordan’s heroics spoiled a gutsy performance from sixth-seeded Exeter (11-12), which played its fifth game without second-leading scorer Joey Schlaffer (wrist injury).
The Eagles took the lead on back-to-back baskets by Payne, who finished with 14 points. Zyion Paschall had a chance to extend the lead, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 24 seconds to go.
Anthony Caccese had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Exeter, which was looking for its first berth in the championship game since 1974. The Eagles are the 10th seeds in the District 3 Class 5A playoffs and open Monday at No. 7 Milton Hershey.
Sands played superbly for Berks Catholic with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Jordan had seven points, nine below his season average. But he scored the most important two points of the game.
“I knew I had to stay poised and wait for a moment,” Jordan said. “I knew it was coming. I knew we were going to need a clutch play at the end. I came through.”
Source: Berkshire mont