Freshman Michael Miller leads late Muhlenberg burst in PIAA opener

KENNETT SQUARE – Matt Flowers said his Muhlenberg basketball team felt overlooked and disrespected entering its PIAA Tournament opener Friday. That won’t happen again.

The Muhls pulled off an eye-opening 64-54 win over District 1 Class 5A runner-up Unionville, pulling away with a 27-point fourth quarter on the Longhorn’s home court.

Freshman Michael Miller led the late charge, scoring 13 of his career-high 15 points in the final quarter for the Muhls (18-10), who entered the fourth down two.

“He played phenomenal,” Flowers said after Muhlenberg’s first state playoff win since 2020. “He didn’t fade away from the big stage. He knocked down two big jump shots. When they went to the press he stepped up, made a nice pass to Josh for an easy layup. He grew up today.”

The Muhls, who entered as the No. 5 seed out of District 3, also got a huge game from senior Josh Alcantara, who scored a career-high 19 points. He matched his career high with five 3’s.

“His best game of the year came at the right time,” said Flowers. “We needed him. He stepped up. He played defense. Grabbed some rebounds. Took a charge. He knocked down a couple 3’s. When he’s rolling like that it’s pretty hard to stop, because he can shoot the ball.”

Senior Luis Valentin scored 12 points, seven in the fourth quarter when the Muhls outscored the Longhorns 27-15.

“Our conditioning kicked in,” Flowers said.

Muhlenberg advances to play District 12 champ and defending state champ Imhotep Charter (26-3), which opened with an 85-33 win over Holy Ghost Prep (14-13).

“It was a blessing,” Flowers said of his first state tournament win as a head coach. “It’s about building the program and bringing the right culture to the program and I think they did that tonight.”

Miller had scored 30 points all season and never more than six in a game, which he had in the District 3 fifth-place game against Milton Hershey.

His role has been increasing throughout the postseason, and he’s sure to get more minutes going forward. He’s strong on both the defensive and offensive ends, Flowers said.

“He’s gonna be phenomenal,” Flowers said. “He’s been knocking down the 3-ball lately. He’s explosive.”

The Muhls were good on 10 3’s Friday, and they needed them since they got to the foul line just once.

The Longhorns (22-6) went to the line 13 times.

Senior Robbie Logan led the Longhorns with 19 points, including five 3’s. Junior center Nick Diehl scored 12 and Charlie Kammeier scored 11.

Flowers said his players were confident after beating Unionville twice in the fall. Apparently, word of those wins didn’t get out.

“(Some) newspaper people thought this was going to be an easy night for (Unionville) to advance to the second round,” Flowers said. “We kind of felt disrespected.  They gave us some billboard pictures to put up to motivate our kids.”

Muhlenberg won the final two games in District 3 Tournament, including 79-77 double-overtime game against Milton Hershey to finish fifth.

The Muhls last made PIAA Tournament in 2020, when they beat Shippensburg and South Fayette before play was suspended due to coronavirus outbreak.

Nine of Muhlenberg’s 10 losses have come against PIAA Tournament qualifiers: Reading High (twice), Wilson (twice), Exeter, Berks Catholic,  Manheim Central, Lampeter-Strasburg and Hempfield.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Muhlenberg	12	15	10	27	64
Unionville	13	16	10	15	54

Muhls (18-10)	FG	FT	PTs
Mosquera	3	0-0	7
Robertson	0	0-0	0
Archie	0	0-0	0
Valentin	5	0-0	12
Towles	1	0-0	2
Miller	7	0-1	15
Alcantara	7	0-0	19
Collado	2	0-0	5
Adonis	2	0-0	4
Totals	27	0-1	64

Longhorns (22-5)	FG	FT	PTs
Ash	0	0-0	0
Brenner	1	2-2	5
Anderson	2	0-0	4
Logan	7	0-2	19
Napolitano	0	0-0	0
Robbins	0	0-0	0
Hyman	0	0-0	0
Brown	1	1-2	3
Carson	0	0-0	0
Boyle	0	0-0	0
Kammeier	3	3-5	11
Diehl	5	2-2	12
Totals	19	8-13	54

3-point field goals: Alcantara 5, Valentin 2, Miller, Collado; Logan 5, Kammeier 2, Brenner.