Three’s are wild as Saints advance to district semifinal

Three’s were wild Thursday night at Berks Catholic. Have been all season.

Ryan Koch and Jack Miller each hit four 3-pointers and the top-seeded Saints combined for nine treys in a 55-40 win over eighth-seeded Elco in a District 3 Class 4A quarterfinal.

The Saints’ sharpshooting sent them on to the district semifinals for the first time since 2018, when they won the title. They’ll get one last home game Monday when they face fourth-seeded Littlestown, a 75-63 winner Thursday over fifth-seeded Eastern York.

Monday’s winner advances to the district title game Thursday, March 3 at Giant Center at 4:15.

Koch finished with a game-high 19 points after a slow start; 14 of his points came in the second half.

Miller, who scored 12 points, hit three 3’s in the first half as the Saints (21-4) moved out to a 25-15 halftime lead. They led by double digits throughout the second half.

Corey Attivo led the Raiders (14-11) with 14 points.

Those nine 3-pointers extended Berks Catholic’s season record total to 172. The previous record was 137, in 2019-20.

Koch is closing in on a couple of program records. The 6-3 junior has 99 career 3’s, seven short of Tyrone Nesby IV’s record of 106, set in 2017. Casey Jack is currently second with 101.

With the Saints guaranteed to play at least three more games Koch is within range of the single-season record of 68, set by Matt Harley in 2020. He has 56.

Earlier this season Koch matched the program record with six 3’s in a game. Harley, Nesby and Tre Dabney share that record.

Second-seeded Trinity (17-5) faces third-seeded Middletown (19-3) in the other semifinal Monday. The Shamrocks advanced with a 57-50 win over No. 7 Boiling Springs. The Blue Raiders advanced with a 57-44 win over No. 6 Bishop McDevitt.

Elco heads into the playback round to play Eastern York. The Raiders will need two wins to grab the fifth and final seed out of District 3. In the other playback game, Boiling Springs plays Bishop McDevitt.