In the end, the Red Knights were missing a big piece

When Daniel Alcantara came crashing to the floor Feb. 25 after landing awkwardly following a dunk he brought Reading High’s hopes for another state title crashing down with him.

No one on the team was about to admit it but that fall, which ended the All-State pick’s season, lowered the Red Knights’ ceiling.

With the graceful 6-5 wing on the floor the Red Knights had a chance to get back to the PIAA championship game and defend the Class 6A title they won a year ago against Archbishop Wood. Without him the odds of that happening again were long.

“With Daniel going down, that killed us,” said Reading junior Amier Burdine Sunday afternoon, minutes after Reading’s season ended with a 64-58 loss to Wood. “Daniel’s a big piece of this team.”

Alcantara was the tallest player on a team that had no one else taller than 6-2 in its rotation. He was Reading’s top rebounder. Its No. 2 scorer, at 16.4 points per game. A three-year starter whose presence on the floor in a pitched state playoff battle like the one the Red Knights waged against Wood would’ve made a difference.

He showed that last year when he had a double-double in the state final. He showed that in this year’s season opener when he was the best player on the floor against an Imhotep Charter team loaded with Division I talent and likely headed to a PIAA Class 5A championship.

“The ball ends up in Dan’s hands — boom, he knocks it down,” said Reading coach Rick Perez. “He’s the finisher.”

The Red Knights lacked that finishing touch Sunday, when they shot poorly, missed some makable shots and took others they shouldn’t have. They’ve lacked it through the postseason, ever since Alcantara went out in a district opener against Wilson.

Ruben Rodriguez again had to carry the offensive load. He had a game-high 21 points Sunday, another remarkable effort during an impressive postseason run that saw him score 20 or more points over his final six games.

Perez was looking for, hoping for, a consistent scorer to step up and replace some of what he was missing without Alcantara, but it never happened.

Reading’s other four starters averaged 23.5 points in the four games without him.

That made the Red Knights easier to stop.

“It’s one less guy you have to guard,” said Wood coach John Mosco. “We benefited from that.”

Winning back-to-back titles at the highest level in Pennsylvania is a major feat. Even at full strength Reading would’ve been hard-pressed to do that.

Over the last two decades only two programs have gone back-to-back in Class 6A (or Class AAAA before that): Roman Catholic, in 2015 and 2016, and Chester, in 2011 and 2012. Those are some heavyweight names.

The Red Knights were determined to get there. They never gave up hope, not even down 25 points early in the second half Sunday. They roared back with one of the most stirring comebacks you’ll ever see. Twice in the final minutes they made it a one-possession game.

They never stopped fighting, not even after Alcantara was lost. Perez wouldn’t let them. He refused to lower the bar. He always believes you can find a way; he has his players believing that, too.

“By no means did we lower our expectations,” he said. “I knew (the moment Alcantara fell) he was done. My first words were: ‘We’re still gonna win it, no matter what.’ That didn’t lower the ceiling for us at all. You get by this one, you’re going to a (state) final. We’re still one of the best teams out there, if not the best team out there. Wood was better today. I think (a state title) was within reach.”

A win Sunday would’ve sent Reading High to the state quarterfinals for the third straight year — that’s something the program has never achieved. That says a lot, considering how good this program has been for so long.

It would’ve been Perez’s 250th win, one short of the program record established by Jim Gano. That’ll come next year, along with a lot more wins. Rodriguez returns, along with Burdine, Myles Grey, Aris Rodriguez and some very talented players coming through the program.

As it stands the Red Knights won their 30th division title, 24th Berks title, 23rd District 3 title and 26 games overall.

They saw Ruben Rodriguez and Alcantara top 1,000 points. They beat nationally acclaimed Vertical Academy and quieted social media sensation Mikey Williams. They won their 500th game at the Geigle (against Wilson in the district playoffs).

They were beaten just once this season with Alcantara on the floor.

No surprisingly, no one took the season’s end harder than Alcantara. He was devastated watching his brothers lose without him.

‘”I just wish I wasn’t injured,” he said in a whisper in the postgame locker room. “I wish I could’ve been out there playing with them instead of watching them play their hearts out and watching them lose. I was with ’em for years, put in blood, sweat and tears. To see it all end like this . . . “