Cross Court Vision: Octorara @ Xfinity Mobile Arena

Written by: Sterling Cross on December 3, 2025

Overall Thoughts:

The game Tuesday in Xfinity Mobile Arena ended with the Octorara Braves ahead of the Kennett Blue Demons 57 – 46. Octorara used a fourth quarter run to pull out a double digit victory in a game that was otherwise very close and even saw the Blue Demons lead for a good portion of the second half (much like Octorara’s first game, which Andy covered in detail here).

On the offensive end, Octorara has a lot of options, with all 5 starters capable of scoring in at least the high teens. On Tuesday, it was Senior Vito Vespe who led the way with a blazing 21 point performance on the Philadelphia 76ers home floor. Vespe, a three year starter, has always been a threat from deep, but this season he looks more comfortable putting the ball on the deck and getting to the rim. That’s getting him better looks from 3 and more opportunities from the free throw line in addition to the obvious increase in production around the rim.

Defensively, the Braves often play a sort of high risk, high reward style. They jump passing lanes and leak out on shot attempts which gets them a lot of fast break and transition opportunities on offense. However, it also leaves them out of position when they gamble for a steal and miss, or when they push up the floor early and opposing guards are able to compete for offensive rebounds unimpeded.

For three quarters in both of Octorara’s games this season, opponents feasted on second chance opportunities and wide open looks from 3 (Kennett’s Cayden Killgore hit 4 NBA 3’s in the first 24 minutes, while Downingtown East’s Holland Neff knocked down 2 in the first half before going out with an injury). Despite that, Octorara trailed Kennett by just 3 at the end of the third (37-40) and were actually ahead by a point against Downingtown East. In the final frame, it’s a different story for the Braves all together. On both sides of the ball Octorara plays their best in the fourth quarter. They are an eye watering +23 in 16 minutes of fourth quarter play (43 points scored vs 20 points allowed). That is an absurd 86 – 40 scoring pace extrapolated over a full game.

Looking at some of Octorara’s strengths and limitations, these results seem less surprising and more likely the outcome of strategic coaching decisions:

1. The Braves are relatively small, so their guards may not get many defensive rebounds regardless. Getting out in transition (even on made baskets) makes the game faster and higher scoring which reduces the importance of size and increases the importance of endurance and shot-making over the course of a full four quarter game.

2. The Braves are well conditioned. For a variety of reasons, the Braves as a whole just doesn’t wear down the way you would expect for a game played at their pace. First and foremost the Braves have to practice against themselves so I’m sure that helps, add to it that Vinny Thaler is an All State track talent and Coach Gene Lambert has found a couple rotation players in Demetrius Hamilton and Troy Madison to log meaningful minutes on the defensive end and you end up with a starting 5 that looks as fresh in the fourth as they did in the second.

3. The Braves are really good at offense. Every player 1 through 4 for Octorara is a threat to shoot, both from deep and in the mid range. That creates a lot of space for Thaler to clean up around the rim and for senior guards Chase Fetrow and Lazo Christou to initiate the offense and make plays. With so many options, Lambert has no trouble resting his starters in the middle two frames while still keeping the offense humming and the game at least within reach.

Put those things together and it starts to make a lot of sense why Octorara is so good down the stretch. At the start of the fourth the Braves starting 5 are all back on the court and relatively fresh. Coach Lambert often increases the pace, extending his pressure defense full court. This is when a lot of good things start to happen for Octorara. The gambles seem to force turnovers at a higher rate and opponents seem to convert less often when Octorara does get out of position. I guess passes get lazier and open shots get harder to knock down with tired legs. On offense the Brave’s have the weapons to exploit even one tired defender, let alone 3 or 4. It’s a kind of rope-a-dope during the second and third quarters. If the Braves are anywhere within striking distance down the stretch, they like their odds.

It’s no wonder the league seemed to have such high expectations for Octorara even before the season began. So far they are living up to the hype.

Off the Court:

Dave Burman of WCHX called the game over the arena speaker system which made the whole thing really cool. Awesome broadcaster who we have used for our Livestreams occasionally as well.

57 is a good amount of points in a 32 minute game, but it actually felt a bit light for the Braves. The game was played on the full Philadelphia 76ers NBA court with no adjustments – 3 pointers were NBA threes and there was a full 94 feet of space to operate on (vs 84 for high school courts). Octorara left a few 3 point attempts short that otherwise might have went down and also blew a couple easy lay ups (dunks?) that they may have gotten up for with 10 fewer feet to travel.

Octorara had a bus full of fans at the game. I’m sure Kennett had fans there too, but there were a lot of Octorara fans… notably students.