5 Things To Know about Berks IV boys basketball for the 2022-23 season
Berks IV team preview capsules
1. No missing these Lynx
Most small-school programs would wince at the thought of replacing a scorer as productive as Danny Turchi.
Not at Oley Valley. The Lynx should actually be better this season.
They won’t have a guy capable of dropping 37, as Turchi did on Annville-Cleona late in the season as the Lynx were fighting for a District 3 playoff spot.
They should be deeper and more balanced, and in a divison that has collectively hit the wall the way Berks IV has they should come out on top. The Lynx may be the only team in the division to finish with a better record than last.
“It doesn’t happen that often that we can keep rolling these seniors out year after year,” said Oley coach Matt Barrell, whose lineup could include as many as five seniors, three first-year starters. “We have a group that can step in and and play right away. We’ve been lucky.”
Luck, it’ been said, is the residue of preparation. Barrell and the Lynx have worked to get to this spot. They had a busy and productive summer, finishing second in the Cedar Beach small school bracket and making the playoffs in the West Reading Summer League, where Chase Rubendall, Jaden Kelly and Ben DeBalko were all-stars and DeBalko was a finalist for Most Improved Player.
Senior Chase Reifsnyder is the leading returning scorer but he’s out indefinitely with a wrist injury from soccer. Barrell hopes to replace Turchi’s nightly 18.3-point contribution with a balanced effort, led by Rubendall, Keith Neal and DeBalko.
Turchi’s younger brothers, juniors Davey and Johnny, will be keys, too. Davey, at 6-2, provides the only kind of inside presence the Lynx possess.
“These guys have been playing together forever,” Barrell said. “It stinks not having Chase out there, too. We’d love to have him. He has that toughness; (he’s) that pure athlete that you love to have.
“(The others) can all score; they’re all unselfish. They (just) need to show toughness. If they can do that, they can be special.”
Rubendall missed over a month last season with a broken thumb and didn’t score much but Barrell expects that to change.
“He can put the ball in the basket, and he can get to the rim,” Barrell said. “It’s his time.”
Neal, who averaged 6.1 points per game last season, seems poised for a breakout; he could be a double-digit scorer.
DeBalko, a sophomore, is emerging as one of the best players in his class.
“He can shoot it — most people know that,” Barrell said. “He’s developed other parts of his game. He’s worked hard on his defense and his body. He’s done really well for himself.”
Oley Valley hasn’t reached the District 3 Tournament in three straight seasons in more than 20 years, since a strong run from 1999-2001. It can match that by getting there this year; it figures to be less challenging after dropping one classification to 3A.
2. Mounts reeling
Antietam was well-positioned for a run at a second straight Berks IV title, something the Mounts haven’t done since the early 1970’s.
They knew it would be tough without four-year starter Hector Tiburcio, Antietam’s all-time scoring leader, but they didn’t figure they’d have to try it without the McKoy brothers, Joshua and Kingston. Their transfer to Berks Catholic was devastating to the program.
“That sets a small school likes ours back, not just this year but two to three years,” said Antietam coach Mike Green.
“Our team would’ve been very difficult to beat at (Class) 2A (in districts) with (them). We would’ve had a lot of size and athleticism.”
Joshua is a rangy junior who averaged 15.4 points and hit 22 3-pointers on a team that won 20 games. He would’ve been the No. 2 returning scorer in the division.
Kingston, a freshman, has shown tremendous promise. Berks Catholic coach Snip Esterly compared him favorably to Wilson’s Stevie Mitchell at this stage.
Green was no less effusive in his praise.
“He probably would’ve been the best player ever to come out of Antietam had he stayed here,” said Green, referencing a history that dates to 1989-90, when the school named switched from Mount Penn. “This kid’s special.”
Antietam’s cupboard isn’t bare, just showing signs of supply-chain issues.
Three starters return from a team that reached the District 3 Class 2A championship game: Seniors Jovan Hollis, Carson Lubas and Noah Archambault.
Hollis, at 8.5 points per game, was the third-leading scorer and top rebounder a year ago. He was named Defensive Player of the Year in the West Reading Summer League.
“He’s pretty much the go-to guy now that Hector has graduated,” Green said.
3. Tall task for Cougars
The Kutztown Cougars’ Berks IV rivals will be looking up to them this season. Literally.
With 6-6 seniors Andrew Fleming and Myles Schmidt on the front line the Cougars will clearly be the biggest team in the division.
The question: Can they play that way?
“We’ve never been in this position before, being the biggest team,” said Cougars coach Craig Mogel. “It’s a different situation.”
Fleming and Schmidt are each comfortable on the wing; they combined for 46 3-pointers last season. Fleming, who averaged 10.7 points as a junior, is one of only two returning players in Berks IV who averaged 10 or more points.
Mogel needs him and Schmidt to play inside and hit the boards. If they do that the Cougars could end up back in the postseason.
They made a stirring run last season, going 9-2 down the stretch to finish 13-10 and make the District 3 Class 3A field.
This time they’ll have to do it without all-everything Xavier Goodman, their leading scorer, rebounder and passer. He was Berks IV’s leading scoring at 17.2 points per game.
“He did everything for me,” Mogel said. “It’s a hard kid to replace.”
4. Big lift for Bednarczyk
Tulpehocken’s David Bednarczyk returns as the third-leading scorer in the Berks Conference and tops in Berks IV after averaging 16.5 points per game.
The 6-2 senior needs 141 points to become the eighth in program history to reach 1,000 points. Only Reading High’s Ruben Rodriguez, with 1,291 points, has scored more among current Berks players.
“We have one of the best players in Berks County in David,” said Trojans first-year coach Nate Miller, “so he will takes us as far as we can go.”
The Trojans enjoyed a breakout season in 2021-22, finishing 19-7 and reaching the District 3 Class 3A semifinals and PIAA Tournament. They have won more than 19 games just once in the last 30 years.
Miller was named head coach in September, shortly after former coach J.D. Ricapito abruptly resigned, citing parental interference.
Bednarczyk led Berks IV players with 45 3-pointers last season. He has 70 in his career and can become just the fifth in Tulpehocken history to hit 100 in a career.
5. Transition game
Three All-Berks picks and a dozen all-division picks return to the Berks Conference this season, as do five of the top 15 scorers from a season ago.
There are plenty of familiar faces, with the return of Player of Year Ruben Rodriguez at Reading High and All-Berks picks Josiah Jordan and Jake Karnish, at Berks Catholic and Fleetwood, respectively.
Not so at Brandywine Heights. As the old saying goes, you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.
The Bullets lost eight seniors from last year’s team, including five starters. They are the only team in the league with no returning starters. (Daniel Boone and Hamburg each have five returning starters.)
“We are an extremely young team,” said Bullets coach Dave Moseley in a vast understatement.
The Bullets could have three or more freshmen in the starting lineup; they list just one senior on the roster. Talk about your Daiper Dandies.
The returning all-division picks:
- Berks I: Myles Grey, Reading High; J’Daniel Mosquera, Muhlenberg (Berks II); Cam Jones, Wilson.
- Berks II: Ryan Koch, Berks Catholic; Joshua McKoy, Berks Catholic (Berks IV); Kannon Zdimal, Twin Valley.
- Berks III: Xander Menapace, Hamburg; Aiden Soumas, Fleetwood.
- Berks IV: David Bednarczyk, Tulpehocken.
Rodriguez averaged a league-leading 19.8 points last season. Only five other returning players averaged more than 15 per game: Karnish (17.2), Bednarczyk (16.5), Jordan (15.4), McKoy (15.4) and Zdimal (15.0).
