Berks Sports Report Paul Roberts
Exeter made the short trip to Reading on a snowy Saturday for the annual Geigle Classic. Aidan Dauble finished with a game-high 19 points as the Eagles defeated State College 61-53. Dauble is within eight points of 1,000 for his career. “He works hard every day. He’s huge to the program. His family is awesome. I’m gonna miss him,” said head coach Jeff VanGorder. Dauble has been a three-year starter in Reiffton. VanGorder believes the 6’3, 215-pound senior has close to 500 rebounds. Dauble provided seven points in the fourth quarter to hold off the (8-7) Little Lions. Their leading scorer, Nick Carr, was injured with 2:15 left in the second quarter and didn’t return. The junior guard averages 16 points per game.
Exeter jumped out to a 13-5 advantage on a layup by Mason Goodhart. Braylon Reinert jammed seven of his 18 points into the opening quarter. “If you look at the games that we’ve performed well, he’s gotten a lot of touches. It’s a big emphasis…he’s huge for us,” emphasized VanGorder. The 6’3, 225-pound junior forward is a tight end and linebacker in the fall. The (10-6) Eagles were tied 13-13 after eight minutes. State College went scoreless for four and a-half minutes in the second quarter. When Carr went down, the Little Lions trailed 28-14. However, they closed the first half on a 7-0 run.
It was even at 37-37 when Jayden Ware converted a three-point play with 50 seconds left in the third period. Ware chipped in with eleven points before fouling out late. Exeter had a 41-37 edge entering the final quarter. A putback by Dauble made it 47-42 with 5:31 remaining. Dylan Donate drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Eagles a 50-42 cushion with 5:05 to go. Sophomore Cam Scott knocked down a pull-up jumper to extend the margin to 54-44 with 3:10 on the clock. It was his only bucket of the afternoon. Scott then found Goodhart for a layup to make it 58-50.
Exeter went 14-of-16 from the free throw line, while State College was just 2-for-6. “We’ve been struggling a little bit from the foul line. Some of it is Dylan [Donate] and Dauble were hurt. I knew coming in that State College was really good, but they didn’t shoot a ton of free throws and we did. That was an advantage that we ended up having,” noted VanGorder. Dauble and Ware were each 5-of-6 from the stripe. The Little Lions hit seven triples, including three by senior forward Parker Thurley. All eleven of his points came in the second half. Micah James scored eight of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter. Sophomore point guard Chase Rhoades and Lucas Starks added nine points apiece. Chase is the son of Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades.
Dauble will try to surpass 1,000 points on Tuesday when the Eagles host Daniel Boone. He’s averaging a team-high 14.3 ppg. this season. “I’m very happy that he’s about to reach this milestone. He’s been one of the best players in Berks County for three years,” said VanGorder.