Lambert Picks Up 299th Coaching Victory As Octorara Responds From Berks Catholic Defeat, Uses Strong Second Half Push En Route To 24-Point Section Three Win Over Northern Lebanon On Saturday Afternoon
Written by: Andy Herr on December 16, 2023
If one were to try and describe Octorara’s early season in that of nautical terms, the Braves encountered what seemed to be nothing more than smooth sailing throughout their first few games out of the chute this year. Granted, there were some choppy waters along the way at times mind you, such as the first game of the year which required the Braves to go to extra time in order to knock off Church Farm in particular. Yet through all the various waterways and jetties, Octorara entered this week with an unblemished 5-0 record next to their name.
But this past Tuesday? That’s when the Octorara steam ship encountered it’s first iceberg of the year.
Now sure, while the year is still young and much is still yet to take place, good luck trying to handicap anyone other than Berks Catholic as the presumptive favorite in the District 3-4A ranks so far this year considering the warpath that the Saints have been on, not the least of which included a dismantling of one of the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s premier teams entering the year, Cedar Crest, just last weekend alone. Unfortunately, from Octorara’s side of things, they too would fall victim to a besiege from the same Berks Catholic crew which rolled into Atglen and left a dominating 80-47 triumph behind in their wake earlier this week to hand the Braves a decisive first loss on the campaign. And while it was just one game, the taste was probably equally as sour considering how it came at the hands of a fellow District 3-4A team as mentioned, the same classification in which Octorara happens to reside.
The thing was, for a team that knew nothing other than success in the win/loss column prior to Tuesday night’s outing, such a setback either rightly or wrongly gave them a first-hand example as to just how far they still need to travel provided they can make the postseason here in a couple of months. Needless to say, it would’ve been understandable if the Berks Catholic defeat could’ve hung with Octorara and then bubbled over into the next time out. Yet in the truest form of urgency that one could possibly ask for, the absolute last thing that Octorara wanted to do was surrender home court to Northern Lebanon on Saturday afternoon in the Braves’ first game of Section Three competition.
Ironically, Northern Lebanon also couldn’t bemoan their most recent outing and have a loss parlay itself into more.
In fact, not even 24 hours prior to taking the court against Octorara on Saturday roughly an hour and a half away from home, the Vikings had stayed out on the road after playing at Cocalico on Friday night as Northern Lebanon held Cocalico to a 5-5 stalemate after the first quarter before the Eagles went on to claim the eventual 54-30 verdict the rest of the way.
So, the question of the day –both literally and figuratively – was who would respond to their latest bit of adversity on Saturday, a stage that typically contains the sleepiest of atmospheres comparatively speaking to other game days found within the week? Yet while both Northern Lebanon and Octorara would show flashes of fight and a sense of collective resolve for stretches along the way, the Braves would ride a strong second half showing to open up divisional play at 1-0 while also dropping the Vikings to 0-2 inside of those very same standings by the end of Saturday’s league affair.
Yet right from the initial jump, it looked as if Octorara would go on the win in a runaway verdict.
Easy to say once Shane Althouse and Vincent Thaler took turns at authoring a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays between them which helped carry the home troops out the commanding 10-3 lead near the midway point of the opening stanza. From there, the hits –well, the points – just kept coming in Octorara’s favor as a nice dump down pass inside from Zach Kirk to Thaler underneath made it a 16-3 Octorara lead with Northern Lebanon already well behind the 8-ball at a baker’s dozen.
However, from that point on, the Vikings proceeded to retaliate right back at their hosts.
Needing to score to end their current drought, Northern Lebanon found the much-needed answer in the form of a 6’4 big man, Brady Krall, as the Vikings’ sophomore stormed his way down the lane before tallying the first points to formally end the Braves’ 14-0 salvo at the time, making it a 16-5 difference with 2:04 left in the first by that point. From there though, with Krall doing his damage outside, a pair of other rapidly improving Vikings who also just so happen to reside in the sophomore class took their turns stepping into starring roles later on in the opening frame as 6’3 wing Nolan Lesher and 5’10 guard Andrew Via knocked down a pair of trifectas in successive fashion to award their bench a taste of the momentum. All told, even after spotting Octorara that aforementioned two touchdown-sized burst that could’ve easily spelled doom for Northern Lebanon not being able to offer much in the way of the resistance department, the Vikings had to somewhat like their current spot all things being equal, albeit down by the 18-11 count.
And they certainly had to like things plenty more once the second quarter began to take shape no doubt.
Sure, while Octorara’s All-State senior returner and newly minted 1,000-point scorer, Zach Kirk, came away with a three-point play that upped the Braves’ lead to nine at 22-13 in the early portions of the second, Northern Lebanon didn’t appear to be the least bit phased. In fact, just a few minutes afterwards, the Vikings were able to climb within five, 22-17, following a 4-0 run all of which came courtesy of 6’1 senior guard, Riley Clinger.
But yet again, in the face of yet another Kirk-led volley, this of the more traditional three-point variety in that it came from beyond the arc to swing momentum back in the Braves’ favor, a strong take to the cup via Andrew Via not long afterwards suddenly saw Northern Lebanon close the window down a much more modest four, 28-24, with a shade over four minutes yet to play before the intermission.
However, even despite their best efforts to try and contain them, the Braves were able to put together a critical late second quarter rally which eventually propelled them into the break with the spoils of a double-digit lead.
Sure enough, a stalwart as he had played all throughout the first half inside, a chip shot bucket tallied by Vincent Thaler in the waning stages made it a 34-24 Octorara advantage with 2:15 still yet to expire from the second quarter clock to cap off a timely 6-0 Braves’ blitz. Later, even with both teams trading buckets back and forth with one another over the final few minutes and change, the Braves were able to get out of dodge by virtue of the 36-26 halftime lead.
As mentioned off top though, the second half was where Octorara would eventually lean on Northern Lebanon and put the game away.
Largely stymied by what felt like a lack of explosive opportunities in transition which undoubtedly is their style of play ranked far above all others, Octorara finally found its rhythm and timing of playing end-to-end basketball after addressing matters back in the locker room at the half.
Case in point, a leak out bucket at the tin from 5’8 junior lead guard, Jason Johnson, making it a 40-26 Braves’ lead with not even two minutes having gone by in the third. Then, in true complimentary fashion, a trifecta dialed up by another Octorara underclassman, 5’9 sophomore Lazo Christou, preceded a Zach Kirk steal and layup which prompted Northern Lebanon into calling a timeout as a means to try and stem the tide considering the Vikings now found themselves down by a sizable 45-26 margin with 4:17 left in the third.
And while a pair of Northern Lebanon big men found in Luke Shaffer and Brady Krall would offer their services inside with a pair of bunnies tallied between them later on in the third respectively, yet another Octorara run out in transition made it a 53-31 Braves’ once 6’2 sophomore guard, Vito Vespe, was able to come away with the easy deuce with roughly one minute left to go in the third quarter by that time.
In short, if the goal for Octorara was to see their lead swell up in size from the second quarter into the third, consider that to be mission accomplished seeing as how the Braves were able to double their halftime-sized lead come the end of the third given the 56-36 margin of separation heading into the final eight minutes.
In the fourth, it seemed for all the while that Octorara may even improve upon that numerical difference too once all was said and done.
Specifically speaking, it may have appeared that way considering that the Braves’ lead then swelled up to its largest of the day at that time, 23, following a bucket inside from 6’0 senior forward, Nick Wellcome, before a triple knocked down by the game-high scorer who found himself with a 19-point effort on the afternoon, Jason Johnson, put the hosts up 63-40 with 6:30 left to play.
Even still, Octorara’s unselfishness was acutely on display in the waning moments on Saturday afternoon most specifically.
For that, look no further than a Zach Kirk dish to his fellow classmate, Shane Althouse, as the potent Octorara senior duo made it a 72-50 Braves’ lead with two minutes left to play yet.
But speaking of Octorara seniors, arguably no one had a better day of it than 5’7 guard, Daniel Peters.
After checking into the contest late in the game, not only would Peters add to his scoring mark already accumulated so far this season, but he would also make the most of his stat-stuffing opportunity by coming down with quite a few offensive rebounds along the way before his point-blank bucket, good for his third and fourth points on the year, drew what was without the question the loudest ovation heard from the crowd of the entire afternoon.
And once the dust had finally settled, while Octorara was able to claim victory in the form of the 76-52 final score, rest assured that Northern Lebanon provided an ardent fight and a test that blindly made a score of such a steep difference nothing if not deceiving.
Afterwards, Gene Lambert, not more than a few minutes being removed from what was his 299th coaching victory, was quick to elaborate as to just how instrumental this particular game was for this team as it relates to the bulk of their season still yet to unwind.
“We started off 5-0, but then coming back and getting whooped by Berks Catholic, that kind of makes guys think, ‘What are we?’ From there, you just have to go back to basics,” Octorara’s long-time head coach stated as to what transpired in his team’s camp these past few days in particular getting ready for their guests from Fredericksburg. “That was a test,” Lambert explained of Berks Catholic. “We wanted to see where we were at. We’ll have another test coming up. Let’s pass this one first.”
An exam that the Braves’ former player turned 24th-year head man knew what he and his team was getting into as far as this specific Saturday matinee was most concerned.
“Look, Northern Lebanon plays hard. They do what they do, and Coach George does a great job with them,” Lambert said in praising the divisional adversary his team had just knocked off by two dozen points. “I was excited against (Northern Lebanon) about how we moved the ball today. Zach (Kirk) made some nice passes, Jason (Johnson) made some nice passes, Shane (Althouse) and Vincent (Thaler) finished. It was a good day.”
“We’re about where I thought we’d be. About where I thought we’d be,” Lambert admitted when asked about where his team currently finds itself heading into the week prior the holiday break. “Talk to me after Christmas though,” he quipped. “After the (Fleetwood) Christmas Tournament, get back to me and I’ll let you know where we are. But yeah, I do like the way we’re playing right now. We’ll see if that all comes to pass.”
But this victory against Northern Lebanon pushed to the side for just a moment, one could argue that the far bigger picture that came out of Saturday’s win is that Octorara’s next victory would give Lambert his 300th victory while presiding over the bench. Quite an accomplishment for someone to persevere and come out the other side of when it involves 300 basketball battles.
“You know, I’ve been here a long time and worked hard for a lot of kids,” said Lambert after pausing to consider such a milestone moment approaching somewhere out on the upcoming horizon. “I’ve been blessed to have a great administration and they’ve allowed me to run the program the way I saw fit. When you get to 300, that’s huge. It’s a monumental number. Very proud, very happy, but very happy for the kids I’ve coached,” he was equally quick to say. “And my coaching staff. I mean, we’ve been together forever. I’m lucky for that, you know? A lot of that goes to them. It really does.”
In many ways though, as any basketball-lifer such as he would be sure to tell you, while the next one may make for a nice, round number that serves as a mile-marker in terms of a career achievement, rest assured that Lambert is far more focused and concerned with the possibility of many more victories beyond that which lie ahead in wait. And if he had his druthers, hopefully many more to add this season inside of L-L Section Three play. After Saturday, that’s already one achieved.
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