23 numbers to remember from historic 2023 Berks boys basketball season
Here are 23 significant numbers to take away from the 2022-23 Berks boys basketball season:
1
Times Rick Perez has been named Berks Coach of the Year in his 12 seasons.
The Reading High coach has been named Pennsylvania’s Class 6A Coach of the Year twice, and likely will be for a third time next month.
2
District 3 Class 4A titles for Berks Catholic the past two seasons.
The Saints, with three starters back from last season – Josiah Jordan, Ryan Koch and Jack Miller — again went in as the No. 1 seed and again won two home games, and against posted a big championship win at Giant Center. They won this year’s championship by 29 points, last year’s by 23; they have five titles in 12 seasons.
The last two seasons were nearly identical, ending with 23-5 records and a first-round home loss in the PIAA Tournament.
(Tim Macrina photo)
3
District championships by Berks teams.
Reading High, Exeter and Berks Catholic swept the three largest classifications, a feat we haven’t seen since 1961 when Reading, Kutztown and West Reading took the Class A, B and C titles (there were just three classifications then).
A record five Berks teams played for district championships, with Fleetwood in 4A and Antietam in 2A.
Only once before, in 1990, had as many as four Berks teams played for district championships: Reading High in Class AAAA, Muhlenberg in Class AA and Fleetwood and Central in Class A. (There were four classifications that season).
3
Consecutive District 3 Class 2A title game appearances for Antietam.
The Mounts had to replace three of their top four scorers from last season – two due to graduation, one due to transfer – yet still put the pieces together to go 12-10 in the regular season and enter districts as the No. 3 seed.
Once they got to the final faced eventual PIAA champ Lancaster Mennonite, which beat them for the third straight year. Mennonite, by the way, won its final four state playoff games by double digits after beating the Mounts 57-44.
This marks the first time the Mounts reached the championship game three straight years since the glory days of Mount Penn basketball, when it won three straight titles from 1970-72.
4
Number of freshman among Brandywine Heights’ top six scorers.
The Bullets had the youngest starting lineup in the league, with three freshmen and two sophomores, and managed to win 11 games, enough to get them into the district tournament.
With all of their top players returning, including sophomore Jayden Kantner, who led the team in scoring, and freshmen Noah Walakovitz, Scotty Ray and Nate Winkler, look for the Bullets to challenge Oley Valley and Antietam for the Berks IV title next season.
6
Thousand-point scorers in Berks this season.
Reading’s Ruben Rodriguez reached that mark last season as a junior, as did High Point’s Drew Hoffman (1,510). Four others hit the milestone this season: Fleetwood’s Jake Karnish (1,422), Berks Catholic’s Josiah Jordan (1,210), Tulpehocken’s David Bednarczyk (1,103) and BC’s Ryan Koch (1,007), who did it in his final game.
Jordan and Karnish established program scoring records.
11
Postseason losing streak snapped by Oley Valley.
When the Berks IV champion Lynx beat Brandywine Heights 67-53 in a District 3 Class 3A quarterfinal it marked their first postseason win since 2007. The Lynx have lost six straight Berks Conference playoff games and had lost five straight in districts.
Their previous postseason win came as the No. 17 seed over No. 16 Lancaster Mennonite 58-55 in a District 3 AAA preliminary round game 16 years ago.
14
More wins this season than last for Exeter (27-7), the biggest victory increase in the league.
The Eagles went 13-15 last season before a turnaround that saw them win their first division title since 1984 and their first district title.
Next: Schuylkill Valley, which increased its win total by 10, going from 7-14 to 17-7.
Four teams improved by six wins: Fleetwood, Oley Valley and Reading High.
19
Wins by Oley Valley, the most in the program since 2004-05, when the Lynx recorded their only 20-win season, going 22-5.
The Lynx played just one return starter, point guard Jaden Kelly, but saw first-year starters Ben DeBalko, David Turchi, Chase Rubendall and Keith Neal make big strides. Kelly and Neal earned all-division honors. They played the whole season without injured Chase Reifsnyder, their No. 2 scorer a year ago.
The Lynx ended the regular season with an 11-game winning streak to clinch their second division title in three years.
24
District 3 championships for Reading High, a record.
The Red Knights needed OT to beat Cumberland Valley in the title game but came through when Yadiel Cruz hit a couple free throws with 2.9 seconds left to pull it out, 55-54.
It was Reading’s third straight district title, their first threepeat since 1955-57. You’d have to go back to 1941-43 to find the only other program, Gettysburg, to win three straight in the largest classification.
Before Reading, the last public school to win three straight District 3 titles was Steel-High, which won four straight from 1998-01 under former Red Knights coach and guard Rick Binder.
Trinity, which won the Class 3A title this year – and five times in seven years – is second in District 3 history with 19 championships. Steel-High has 16 and the now defunct Scotland School 13.
Reading has won four of the seven Class 6A titles since the PIAA expanded from four to six classifications and has played in six straight.
25
Years since the Berks Conference had two teams reach the PIAA championship game.
Reading High (6A) and Exeter (5A) became the first pair of Berks state finalists since Central Catholic (AA) and Holy Name (A) in 1998.
It also happened in 1959, with West Reading (C ) and Kutztown (B).
In both 1950 and 1951, Kutztown reached the PIAA Class B championship and Central Catholic reached the PCIAA title game.
Berks had two PIAA champs in the same season just once, 1959.
32
Wins by Reading High, tying the Berks single-season record.
The Red Knights were the first to win 32 games, in 1982-83 under Rick Binder; that team was eliminated in the state semifinals.
Central Catholic, coached by Snip Esterly, was 32-0 in 1995-96 before losing to a shady George Junior Republic team in the Class AA final.
33
Years without a postseason win for Fleetwood before it beat Middletown 50-34 in a District 3 Class 4A quarterfinal.
The Tigers won again four nights later to advance to their first district title game since 1990. They finished 22-5, their most wins since 1984 and the third-most in program history. They won back-to-back division titles for the first time since the mid 1950’s.
They were powered by Jake Karnish, who became the program’s first two-time All-Berks selection in at least 60 years.
35
Postseason games for Ruben Rodriguez, which is likely the Berks record. It’s hard to imagine anyone playing in more – or winning more of them.
He became the first Berks basketball player to win four district gold medals and one of the few with two state championships. He also won two county titles.
All told, Rodriguez – a four-year starter and his team’s leading scorer the past three seasons – went 32-3 in the postseason. He was 8-2 in county playoff games, 13-0 in districts and 11-1 in the state tournament.
He averaged 17.1 points in the postseason and scored 599 points – that’s more than 90 percent of all high school players ever score in their career.
65
3-pointers by Oley Valley sophomore Ben DeBalko, tops in Berks and a program record.
He averaged 2.5 per game and made at least one in 25 of 26 games. He topped the previous program record of 54 and has a shot to break the career mark of 162, set by Joe Murphy.
Wilson’s Aidan Melograna was second in the league with 62 3-pointers, Berks Catholic’s Ryan Koch third with 60.
82.1
Top free throw percentage in the league, by Fleetwood’s Jake Karnish (among players with at least 2.0 attempts per game).
Muhlenberg’s JayDaniel Mosquera was next at 81.5 percent, followed by Schuylkill Valley’s Jacob Zimmerman at 80.2 percent.
163
Ryan Koch career 3-point total, a Berks Catholic record.
The All-Berks pick made 60 this season and led the league with 63 as a junior. He smashed the program record of 106, set by Tyrone Nesby IV. He made six last season against Wilson, tying the program single-game mark.
167
3-pointers by Conrad Weiser, a program record.
Sophomore Donovan Gingrich set the program single-season mark with 60 program and sophomore Brady McKee hit 57, each of them topping the previous record of 56, set by Cartier Talford.
McKee hit seven 3’s in the season finale against Bishop McDevitt, nearly half of his team’s 15, which is likely a program record.
Gingrich and McKee have a big target to shoot at the next two seasons: John Richardson’s program record of 10 3’s in a game, set in 1998.
228
3-pointers by Muhlenberg, the most in the league.
That’s the fourth-highest figure in league history. The Muhls set the record with 238 in 2018-19, then smashed it a year later, hitting 303 in 29 games.
The Muhls averaged 7.8 3’s per game this season, also fourth-highest in league history.
Six different players hit 19 or more, led by Jay’Daniel Mosquera (57) and Xzavion Robertson (45).
281
Rick Perez’s win total, highest in Reading High history.
Perez, in his 12th season, eclipsed Jim Gano’s mark of 251 in the third game of the season, a 68-65 win over Cardinal O’Hara that saw the Red Knights fight back after falling behind by 19.
Perez is 281-74 overall, with a .791 winning percentage, and has coached far more games (355) than anyone in program history. If he returns next season he’ll set the record for longevity; no one else has lasted more than a dozen years at The Castle.
792
Snip Esterly’s career win total, which ranks No. 7 all-time among Pennsylvania boys basketball coaches.
Esterly, who has coached 34 seasons, has won 166 more games than any other Berks coach.
He needs 10 wins to move past North Catholic’s Don Graham and into sixth place all-time.
2,008
Ruben Rodriguez’s career scoring total, seventh-highest in Berks history.
Of the six players ahead of him only Wilson’s Stevie Mitchell played in Berks I, and at the Class 6A level, against the best competition. The others played at smaller schools.
Rodriguez scored 1,720 points over three seasons at Reading High, No. 2 all-time to Lonnie Walker IV (1,828).
Walker IV scored 1,608 points over his final three seasons at Reading, averaging 17.5 per game; Rodriguez averaged 18.9 points with Reading.
2,218
Wins by Reading High, the most by any Pennsylvania boys basketball program.
Chester is next with 2,005, followed by Roman Catholic (1,890), Farrell (1,886) and Williamsport (1,876).
Among programs with 800 wins, only Uniontown (.745) has a higher winning percentage than Reading (.738).
