Muhlenberg boys basketball hangs on for victory against Exeter in hard-fought matchup

Jan. 16—A hard-fought Berks I-II boys basketball game between Muhlenberg and Exeter came down to the wire Monday night at Laureldale, as Muhls coach Matt Flowers said poise led his team to a 59-54 victory over the Eagles.

"We've talked about growth and we have been in a lot of close games," Flowers said. "Today we had to grow up, which I thought we did. We grew up very well. The guys stuck together and we persevered. Through every high they had and every low we had, they stuck together and did everything they were supposed to do.

"We're always talking about staying poised, we're always talking about sticking together. Tonight our guys stuck together."

Banding together and holding a 53-52 lead late in the fourth, foul shots proved to be the defining factor for Muhlenberg.

Needing the ball back in a hurry, Exeter intentionally fouled the Muhls (4-2 Berks I, 9-5) following a layup by Eagles senior Alex Kelsey that made it a 1-point game with 12.5 seconds remaining.

After the foul was called a mere seconds later, conversations between Exeter coach Jeff VanGorder and the officials ensued, which resulted in a technical foul on the Eagles.

Junior point guard Jayden Kantner sank all four foul shots for the Muhls moments later, giving Muhlenberg a 57-52 lead with 10.5 seconds remaining.

"In those moments you just have to be calm, collected and focus on putting the ball through the basket," said Kantner, a junior. "There's nothing else you have to focus on."

Though he was surely locked in during those closing moments, Kantner was seemingly focused during all aspects of the game as he tied teammate Shermar Killen, a junior, with a game-high 20 points.

Kantner went 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final minute and scored the last 13 points for the Muhls down the stretch.

Killen was 4-for-5 from the foul line and led all scorers at the half with nine points. He scored his team's first five points of the fourth.

The Muhls held a 27-24 lead at halftime and a 41-38 lead after the third quarter as very little separated the two sides.

"Ever since he (Killen) came off the bench, he's been lighting it up," Flowers said of Killen. "He's been a spark for us. He gives a great component to Jayden (Kantner). He's a great guy, he's a great kid who works on his craft daily and tonight he showed he's trending in the right direction."

Exeter briefly held the lead at 38-36 with a little over a minute left in the third quarter and then again at 46-44 with four minutes to go in the game.

An offensive rebound followed by a layup by Killen tied it 46-46. Kelsey later broke another tie at 48 and gave the Eagles (3-2, 7-6) a two-point lead on a field goal.

With his team trailing by two with about 2:30 left, Kantner made his second 3-pointer of the night to give the Muhls the lead right back at 51-50.

He converted the first two of his eight fourth-quarter foul shots thereafter to make it 53-50. His last two successful foul shots of the night closed out the scoring for Muhlenberg.

"This is a big win against a (PIAA Class) 5A school," Kantner said. "This is going to be great for us."

Seniors Kevin Saenz and Kelsey each scored 15 points to help keep Exeter in the game throughout the night.

Kelsey scored 11 points in the second half while Saenz had six. The Muhls applied double coverage throughout the night on Saenz, who led the Eagles in scoring heading into the game at 17.6 points per game.

"Everything starts with Kevin," Flowers said of his team's defensive game plan for Exeter. "He's the igniter, he's the guy. If you take the ball out of his hands, then they have to focus on handing someone else the rock. I thought they did a great job of understanding and executing the game plan today. They did what they were supposed to do and I couldn't be more proud."

For Saenz, elevated emotions in the heat of the moment were costly but did not take away from the Eagles' resilient performance.

After trailing by five to start the game, Exeter was never behind by more than five until the Muhls took a 59-52 lead following Kantner's final foul shots with under 10 seconds left.

"We got the intentional foul at the end but there was a misunderstanding, my coach thought that we were going for the ball and got a little rowdy," Saenz said, "But it's all good, it was such a heat of the moment (thing) and he (VanGorder) couldn't believe it because he didn't think he came at him (the referee) or cursed or anything.

"Muhlenberg is a great team, they obviously closed it out at the end and I give all props to them. They were sending doubles at me every possession so we knew we were gonna have someone open on the court. We're the best shooting team in the county, we have the most threes made on the year at the highest percentages. So we just knew that if we could find our guys they were gonna hit shots and I think that's what pretty much kept us in the game."

In addition to Kantner going 10-for-12 total from the foul line, Muhlenberg shot 18-of-25 as a team on foul shots while the Eagles were 6-for-11.

Senior Alex Collado scored 15 points and made a team-high three 3-pointers for the Muhls, and Exeter senior Brady Murray scored nine points and also had a team-high three 3-pointers for the Eagles.