Second-Half Explosion Pushes Octorara Past Defending Champion Cedar Crest In L-L Playoffs (Article By Kyle Morgan)

Written by: Andy Herr on February 7, 2026

By Kyle Morgan

Who would you pick? The reigning league champions? Or the team with the best regular-season record? 

Score one for the latter. Octorara has now earned the first L-L League playoff victory in program history with a 76-63 win over Cedar Crest, who won last year’s title game. That means there will be a new L-L champ following next Thursday’s finals. 

The Braves (21-1) trailed by 7 at halftime before bursting to 48 second-half points, converting seven 3-pointers in the final two quarters. 

“I told my kids that if we could beat these guys, the defending league champs, we’ve done a good thing,” Octorara head coach Gene Lambert said. “I’m happy for them. I’m always one to believe that when the tournament bracket comes out, if you don’t win that first game, you’re not in the tournament. This year, we’re in it.” 

“Hats off to them,” Cedar Crest head coach Tommy Smith said. “That’s a good basketball team. They’re well-coached with a group of seniors that have been doing it a long time together. The moment’s never too big for them.” 

Early on, it appeared that the Falcons (13-10) had a firm grasp on the game’s momentum. Sophomore Jemar Pauleus, one of the leading scorers in the L-L this season, was as good as advertised; he had 9 first-quarter points for Cedar Crest, with additional contributions off the bench from fellow sophomore Jackson Smith. 

But Octorara never let the flow of the game get away completely. The Braves had the game tied at 5-5 and 7-7, and just when the Falcons threatened to break the game open with a 6-0 run near the end of the quarter, senior Vito Vespe swished a 3-pointer just before the horn to cut the score to 18-13. He then tied the game up early in the second with a trio of foul shots and a layup. 

Then, Antonio Tirado took over. The junior answered Vespe with an and-one at the other end before adding 8 more points during the rest of the second quarter. Octorara trimmed the deficit to 2 points twice, but another 6-0 run near the end of the half gave Cedar Crest the temporary edge. The Falcons held a 35-28 advantage at the break. 

The Braves desperately needed a spark to start the second half. They got one, thanks to their head coach’s nephew. Junior Karter Lambert, the only non-senior in Octorara’s starting lineup, opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-balls, immediately erasing Cedar Crest’s lead to just one. And after Jackson Smith hit a 3 to put the Falcons back up 41-34, Lambert responded with one of his own. 

“We put a lot of time into the game with all the kids,” Coach Lambert said. “They all come out and work hard. But it was good to see him come through today. He’s our junior, and he’ll be here next year when we lose our seniors.”

That third Lambert 3-pointer kickstarted a 16-1 run for the Braves, with Vespe and senior Chase Fetrow also swishing shots from downtown during the spree. By the time Vespe notched a second buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the quarter, Octorara was up 54-45, having made six 3-pointers in the third alone. 

“(We were) just going for open looks and knocking them down,” Coach Lambert said. “It wasn’t as much ‘Come down and shoot it’ as it was ‘Someone create something for someone else.’ You saw a lot of drives and kicks (in that third quarter).” 

“They (Octorara) share the ball, they make the right passes, they move well without the ball … And they made shots,” Coach Smith said. “They came out early in that third quarter and started knocking shots down, and that started from us not being able to contain the ball and scramble.” 

A 3 from sophomore Steven Reyes and a layup from Pauleus briefly allowed Cedar Crest to get back into things early in the fourth. But, down 56-50, a technical foul following a dustup under Octorara’s basket put that to a halt. Vespe sank both free throws and an ensuing layup to push the Braves’ lead to double digits. They kept the Falcons at arm’s reach the rest of the way, going 9 of 10 from the stripe down the stretch. 

Octorara’s balance on offense has been the lifeblood for the team all season, and that was the case in this game as well. Vespe finished with a game-high 21 points, hitting 3 from beyond the arc, as well as 8 out of 10 free throws. Senior Lazo Christou did most of his damage from the foul line as well, scoring 11 of his 18 points from there. 

Lambert (14 points) and Fetrow (13 points) matched Vespe in made 3-balls. Lastly, senior Vincent Thaler chipped in with 8 points; Coach Lambert credited him for his steady rebounding on both offense and defense. 

“We have five guys averaging double figures, and we don’t mind keeping it that way,” Coach Lambert said. “None of them are good enough to go out and win the game on their own. We need everybody. That’s how we’ve played all year.” 

Meanwhile, Pauleus had a team-high 20 points for the Falcons, who also saw Jackson Smith (14 points off the bench), Tirado (13 points) and Reyes (12 points) reach double-figures. However, they couldn’t match Octorara’s offensive efficiency. 

The Braves finished 21 of 41 from the field, going 10 for 18 from 3-point range and 24 for 31 from the free-throw line. Cedar Crest was more than respectable from the field as a whole (27 of 52), but the Falcons were just 4 of 16 from 3 and 6 of 17 on foul shots. Coach Smith noted that Octorara made more foul shots than Cedar Crest attempted. Keeping Pauleus in check and shutting Tirado out in the second half was also a huge boost for the Braves defense. 

“We felt pretty comfortable where we were at halftime,” Coach Smith said. “We executed the gameplan, which we thought we could do. They just made a lot of shots in the second half. They had over 50 points in 3’s and foul shots, and we didn’t shoot well enough at the line.”

“We made adjustments to try and make sure that what was hurting us in the first half didn’t hurt us in the second,” Coach Lambert said. “It (worked) because the kids listened and did what we asked them to do.” 

Cedar Crest will look to reset following the loss, especially with the District 3 playoffs on the horizon for Tuesday, Feb. 17. The Falcons currently sit at 14th for the Class 6A power ratings as of late Saturday afternoon, which would give them a first-round matchup against Red Lion, one of the top teams in all of District 3 this season, though seeding is likely to change as the regular season wraps up. 

“We’ll see where we land with the power ratings shifting a little bit,” Coach Smith said. “We just got to continue to get better at what we do. Maybe we’ll put in some wrinkles here or there, depending on the scouting. You get that lack of consistency with a young team sometimes, so that’s something we want to be better in. If we can work on that, I think we’ll be a tough out.” 

This time last season, Cedar Crest was in the position Octorara currently finds itself in: a program with a ton of senior talent that could easily compete for a league title. The Falcons came through in 2025 but then had to come into this year with essentially a brand-new lineup that features just two seniors on the roster. 

What could’ve been a transition season has instead yielded postseason berths for both the L-L League and District 3. Coach Smith noted that, while he didn’t see the loss to the Braves as a “moral victory,” he was proud of his team for making it through a madcap Section One to get into leagues, and that the experience would be valuable as the core group of young players progresses over the next two seasons. 

“Honestly, we expected to be here,” Coach Smith said. “We lost a lot last year to graduation, and we have a young team, but we knew the type of talent that we had. It’s our expectation every year to finish in the top-two for our section and qualify for this awesome tournament. It’s the best week of the year in my opinion. Our guys handled the pressure well early on in a tough gym … They deserved to play in this game.” 

Back to the Braves: Octorara will draw Section Two champion Conestoga Valley in the semifinals on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., with Section One champ Hempfield and Section Four champion Lancaster Mennonite on the other side of the bracket. 

The Buckskins will have the home-court advantage since Rill Gym is hosting the doubleheader. They and the Braves have arguably been two of the most well-oiled machines in the L-L this season. Can Octorara stay hot and push toward their first championship appearance? 

“We’re gonna do our best to give them a battle, compete and play hard,” Coach Lambert said. “CV is on fire, and they’ve had a great year. We’re just trying to make sure that we take care of business.”

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