Westtown (Pa.) junior Edvinas Rupkus (15) came up big in the second half of the Moose’s win over Kiski School. (Photo: Josh Verlin)
John Henry (@JAH1591)
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In front of a rocking atmosphere at Malvern Prep High School, Westtown’s Edvinas Rupkus stole the spotlight to help his team knock off the Kiski School and advance to the Pennsylvania Independent Schools (PAISAA) Championship game.
“This is very exciting, to be one of the top teams in Pennsylvania is really a good experience,” the Lithuanian native said. “This is my first year in America, it’s a great school, I have great teammates and I love it here.”
Inspired by countrymen like Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas, Rupkus is proud to represent his country of Lithuania, a small country on the Baltic Sea with a population of 3 million people.
And though it is small, the Eastern European country loves its hoops.
“We are a big basketball country,” he said. “We go to school and it’s kinda the same. I came to America because of all the opportunities, academics, great colleges and great opportunities to look forward to. In the summer I plan to go back to Lithuania to play in some summer leagues.”
Late in the third, Rupkus scored on back-to-back-to-back possessions to give Westtown a 10-point lead going into the 4th quarter. Rupkus totaled a solid 13 points in Westtown’s 73-57 win.
Westtown coach Seth Berger was very impressed by what the Lithuanian junior has brought to his team this season.
“The more comfortable Ed has gotten here, he can shoot, he can drive, he can defend,” Berger said. “He is so intelligent; Ed knows what he wants every single time.”
Rupkus certainly wouldn’t be paving new ground as a foreign player on the Moose with hopes of earning a scholarship offer. Former Westtown forwards Daniel Ochefu (Villanova) and Yilret Yiljep (American) each came from the country of Nigeria. They came over to America to attend Westtown, and both have made Division I rosters.
According to Berger, one in every five students at the West Chester, Pa. boarding school hail from international borders. And it’s even more prevalent on the basketball team.
“Every year we have kids speaking different languages and over half the team is filled with foreign players,” Berger said.
Junior center Georgios Papagiannis, another foreign player and one with a chance to make the NBA in a few years, had a good game for Westtown. He finished with 23 points and was a dominant force in the key against Marquette-bound Kiski center Satchel Pierce, who was limited to 14 points.
The game was close going into the 4th quarter at 52-45 but Westtown pulled away and limited the Kiski School to 12 points in the 4th quarter.
Kiski’s leading scorer in the hard fought loss was led by Hunter Shelton’s 15 points. Pierce’s 14 and Jake Babic’s 10 were the only other Cougars to finish in double figures.
Coming out from four hours away in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, the Kiski School unfortunately had to go home an unhappy group. Last year Kiski lost to Germantown Academy 53-47 in the championship game leaving them hungry for vengeance this year, but instead it was more disappointment in front of an unfriendly crowd.
The building tonight was pretty quiet anytime the Cougars scored a bucket because of the long journey from western Pa. On the other side, the arena was packed with the Westtown faithful students and fans. Everytime Westtown scored the building would shake because of the noise.
Now Westtown awaits the Hill School in the PAISAAs. With players such as Papagiannis and Rupteus getting hot now either the Phelps School or the Hill School will have a very difficult task.