Octorara senior Brake scores 1,000th point in win over Rustin

WESTTOWN — Head coach Gene Lambert knows that if his Octorara squad is going to finish off the regular season with a Ches-Mont American basketball championship, it is going to have to scratch and claw its way to the title. And the Braves started the stretch run on Tuesday with a hard-fought and well-earned 61-56 triumph over host West Chester Rustin.

The Golden Knights are not only the defending champs but also saddled Octorara with its only setback so far this season back on Dec. 22.

“We fought, and we fought hard,’ said senior guard Tarojae Brake, who led the Braves with 16 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his high school career.

“Everybody knows we are 17-1 right now with four games left,’ added Lambert. “Who doesn’t want to knock us off?

“Rustin did it the first time we played. Now we have Great Valley on Thursday and the first time we played them we had to make a shot with two seconds left to send it into overtime. Then we have Coatesville, Oxford and Kennett. Nobody is going to give us anything. We are going to have to earn it.’

Octorara certainly did that on Tuesday against a Rustin team that fell behind by 11 at the half only to storm back to make things very interesting. The Braves improve to 8-1 in the league (17-1 overall).

“Since they beat us the first time we played, I felt like we had to win this one regardless,’ said Brake. “Our mindset was that we were going to do whatever it took to win.”