Exeter gets big win over Wilson
Anthony Caccese, a 6-8 center, scores a game-high 20 points and has 12 rebounds to lead the Eagles over the Bulldogs
With 4:23 left in a Berks Conference Division I-II game, Exeter coach Matt Ashcroft called a timeout as Wilson got within seven points after the Eagles had been up 12 at the half.
From there, Exeter’s Anthony Caccese took over as the 6-8 center scored six unanswered points down the stretch to lead the Eagles to a 48-35 victory Friday night at West Lawn.
Caccese scored 16 of his gamehigh 20 points in the second half and finished with 12 rebounds.
“We came into this game with a ton of heart, just ready to go and ready to run our heads off,” Caccese said. “It was really just a lot of hustle and we shut them down defensively, so defense leads to offense and we took it away.”
Defense indeed led to offense in the fourth quarter as Exeter (7-2 Berks II, 12-5) limited the Bulldogs (5-3 Berks I, 13-5) to just four points after leading 4031 after three. Wilson shot 1-of-7 from the field in the final eight minutes, and the Eagles made the most of their possessions by using exceptional ball movement to frequently find Caccese under the rim for a layup.
Caccese scored all eight of Exeter’s fourth-quarter points. The Eagles finished with 17 assists in a game that Ashcroft said he believed exemplified his team’s identity.
“This is the goal: the goal is to be peaking and playing your best basketball late January into February and into the postseason,” Ashcroft said. “Not that December is not important, but we always tell our guys December is about working your tail off, getting in shape and discovering your identity.
“Well, we found that (identity) and it’s tremendous defense, balanced offense and great ball movement.” The Eagles’ defense was on full display in the first half as it limited the Bulldogs’ top scorers in Aidan Melograna and Cleveland Harding to a combined one point, which came from a Melograna free throw. Melograna finished with a teamhigh 11 points; Harding ended with two.
Exeter led 27-15 at the half. “Our goal was to make them work for everything they got,” Ashcroft said. “We know that Aidan is such a good shooter, Cleveland is such a good shooter and we knew they were gonna get looks. We wanted to make it as difficult as possible on them.
“We wanted to be there on the catch with high hands, just kind of discouraged some shots. So that was the goal. And I thought our guys came out and played with a ton of energy. Credit to our guys.”
Wilson started to make things interesting in the third quarter as Melograna got going from beyond the arc. Melograna, who has 44 3-pointers on the year, made two in scoring eight of the Bulldogs’ 16 third-quarter points.
Senior Cam Jones did not play as he was on an official recruiting visit at Holy Cross for football.
For Wilson coach Matt Coldren, a lack of intensity cost his team.
“I thought tonight the better team won; they beat us in all phases of the game,” Coldren said. “They out-hustled us. I think that was the biggest thing: the effort. I thought they played a lot harder than we did. They shared the ball a lot better than we did, and they defended well. And I think all three of those areas we didn’t do well.
“I’m not sure why we didn’t play hard or why we didn’t have the effort; we normally do but we didn’t. So that blame goes on me a little bit too, because that’s my job. We didn’t do a good job tonight, but it’s not the end of the world.”
Kevin Saenz, a senior, recorded seven of Exeter’s 17 assists. Saenz also got the Eagles off to a hot start by scoring 10 points in the first half and finishing with 13, including three 3-pointers.
Reece Garvin and Zyion Paschall each had four assists and six points for Exeter.
According to Caccese, the unselfish offense is the result of the team’s heightened chemistry.
“Our chemistry is only going up as the year is going on,” Caccese said. “All the guys are great passers and they all get to the rim amazingly. So whenever one of them is driving, I know the other team is gonna need to help out and I’m just there to get the ball; they’re great at feeding me.
“This (win) really sets the momentum. We want to be playing our best ball at the end of the season, just like we did last year. We were playing our best basketball (last year) when we got in the playoffs, and that started off with a Wilson win last year. So we’ll start off with a Wilson win this year.
“It’s a different type of Exeter team. This ain’t the usual Exeter loses to Wilson; this is a different era for us.”
Last season, Exeter defeated Wilson 55-51 in the BCIAA quarterfinals. The Eagles are ranked eighth in the PIAA District 3 Class 5A power rankings and the Bulldogs are ranked seventh in the Class 6A rankings.
For Ashcroft, the victory is a sign of Exeter’s potential against stronger competition should they continue to play balanced basketball.
“It’s vital to have a balanced team because you’re gonna have days where you don’t make your 3s,” Ashcroft said. “So you have to be able to grind out those games and go inside. We didn’t make as many 3s down the stretch as we did in the first half so that’s why you have to be more balanced.
“You have to be much more balanced in order to achieve success against good teams. Wilson’s one of the best teams in District 3, they’ve had a tremendous amount of success and you need to be able to be balanced to compete against the Wilsons of the world.”