With a packed crowd at Lloyd M. Wolf Gymnasium roaring late in the fourth and Berks Catholic struggling to hold on to what had been a 22-point lead against Exeter, senior forward Parker Nein had more than one reason to take a shot from far behind the arc.
Not only was he trying to preserve the Saints’ perfect start to the regular season and earn a key victory in the race for the division title, he was also trying to silence some familiar faces.
“Well, I knew (Eagles senior guard) Alex Kelsey was covering me and he’s been one of my best friends my whole life, so I knew he wasn’t gonna give me an inch of space,” Nein said. “So when I got just a little bit of space, I was throwing it up for sure.
“I went to Exeter until about eighth grade when I transferred over (to Berks Catholic). So playing against these guys is always a good game and when the student section is chirping at me, it’s great.”
Much to his former classmates’ dismay, Nein sank the momentum-shifting 3-pointer from what seemed like NBA-range to give Berks Catholic a six-point lead with 2:04 to go.
From there, the Saints were able to hang on and secure a 72-64 win over the Eagles by completing an 11-9 run down the stretch in the Berks II boys basketball game on Thursday night.
“That was beyond the NBA (line),” Berks Catholic coach Snip Esterly said of Nein’s pivotal 3-pointer. “We weren’t moving the ball as well as I liked and when Parker pulled up for that (shot) I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ But then he banged it home. And that’s just Parker. That’s Parker.”
As Nein alluded, both student sections exchanged cheers and jeers during the final moments, as what had been a one-sided contest got very interesting in the fourth quarter.
A field goal by Exeter senior guard Kevin Saenz made it a one possession game seconds before Nein’s decisive 3-pointer. The Saints (4-0, 9-0) led 54-37 heading into the fourth quarter and had a commanding 42-20 lead early in the third.
Saenz scored 20 of his game-high 29 points in the second half and had 10 points in the fourth.
The Eagles (3-1, 6-5) went on a resounding 18-4 run during the fourth quarter to make it a 58-55 game with seven points coming from Saenz and five coming from Kelsey/
For Exeter coach Jeff VanGorder, the result was another sign of his team’s strong resilience.
“I think I already knew it, but we got a bunch of tough kids,” VanGorder said. “Obviously, they responded, but for whatever reason, and it’s hard to think that we weren’t awake because the atmosphere was so good, but it just seemed like we were kind of sleepwalking a little bit. The second half kind of went the way that I would have liked the first half to go. Defensively, we were more locked in.”
Up 61-55 in the fourth, Nein secured an offensive rebound following two missed free throws by Saints senior forward Joshua McKoy, and Berks Catholic scored four straight points to take a 10-point lead with about a minute to go.
Nein finished with a team-high three 3-pointers and 15 points and Joshua McKoy ended the game with a team-high 16 points for Berks Catholic.
Sophomore guard Kingston McKoy also had 15 points for the Saints, who led 34-18 at the half.
“Basketball is just a game of runs,” Kingston McKoy said. “In the locker room at halftime, we knew they were gonna make a run. So we knew that when they made that run, we had to stay composed and stay poised, and just finish — get to what we want to do and just finish out the basket.”
Though they were able to get the baskets when they mattered most in the second half, a stout defensive showing in the first half gave the Saints a comfortable advantage.
The Eagles turned the ball over nine times in the first half, while Berks Catholic turned it over just three times. Additionally, Exeter scored only three 3-pointers in the first half compared to seven in the second half, as the Saints tried to limit their scoring chances from deep early.
In the end, a collective offensive performance and consistent defensive pressure proved paramount in the win, which was Esterly’s 801st career victory. He was honored prior to the start of Thursday’s game for earning his 800th career win against Daniel Boone a week ago.
“I thought we played great defense,” Esterly said. “We forced turnovers in the first half. They walked five or six times and were rushing a bit, and offensively, we spread the ball around. You’re gonna have an off night offensively, but you should never have an off night defensively. That’s what we stress to the guys and they do a great job.”
“Defense is our strong suit,” Kingston McKoy said. “(Exeter) shoots a lot of 3s, and up until about the third quarter they weren’t able to get an open look at a 3-pointer. That’s what really got us the ‘W’ today.”
Source: Berkshire mont