Refocused Shermar Killen now the ‘difference-maker’ Muhls have needed
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Alex Collado didn’t mince words when he was talking about his Muhlenberg teammate, Shermar Killen.
He said Killen was not working hard enough in practice early in the season, that he was going through the motions. He wasn’t reaching his full potential, and it was hurting the team.
Killen, standing shoulder to shoulder with Collado Thursday night after the Muhls opened Berks Conference play with a 58-44 Division I win at Gov. Mifflin, nodded in agreement.
He knew Collado was right, and that once he started putting out in practice everything started to come together for him.
“My teammates are motivating me,” said the 6-2 junior wing after scoring a team-high 16 points. “They’re pushing me harder at practice and I’m taking that into the game.”
Killen, who saw nothing but end-game minutes last season, has been a spark for the Muhls (4-2) this season. First it was off the bench. For the last several games it’s been in the starting lineup.
On a team that needed to replace it’s top five scorers he, along with Collado, have stepped up and taken over those roles. Killen scored a career-high 16 points Tuesday in a loss to Hempfield, then matched it Thursday.
“He’s realized that he can really be that difference-maker that we need,” Collado said.
Killen was Thursday when the Muhls played a sluggish first half and trailed the Mustangs (3-2) at intermission, 22-21.
The Muhls were not moving well on offense and weren’t hitting shots, and they let Mifflin’s Matt Koehler take control of the game. The 6-3 junior started feeling it from the outside and knocked down three second-quarter 3-pointers as the Mustangs surged ahead. He was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first half and scored 16 points.
Koehler finished with five 3-pointers – he had never had more than two in a game – and finished with a career-high 21 points.
“That’s who he is,” said Mifflin coach Brian Wrobel, “a dead-eye shooter. He’s struggled so far this season, so it was nice to see him get it going a little bit.”
Muhls coach Matt Flowers told his guys at halftime they needed to move the ball better, get more aggressive and get to the basket. Killen listened. He scored three straight baskets in the opening minutes of the third quarter, the last a three-point play off the break, as the Muhls gained the lead for good.
“He told us to be more aggressive,” Killen said of Flowers, “and we started rolling.”
Killen scored nine points in the third quarter, equaling Mifflin’s total.
It was still a four-point game when Mifflin’s Bryce Detwiler put back a miss with 5 ½ minutes to go but it wasn’t close after that. The Muhls started playing together better, with Michael Miller, Kyle Archie, and Juelz Martinez each finding cutters to the basket with sharp passes.
They also got points off their press, with Collado and Killen each turning steals into buckets. They made 7-of-8 shots in the final quarter and shot 74 from the floor in the second half, the result of getting nothing but easy shots.
“They made the timely winning plays, and we did not,” said Wrobel, who saw the Mustangs fade down the stretch, scoring just twice over a decisive five-minute stretch.
Collado finished with 12 points; Kantner had nine. Killen had a team-high seven rebounds.
Miller scored seven points for Muhlenberg but his biggest impact came on the defensive end where he matched up against Mifflin’s leading scorer, Andrew Galantuomo, when the Muhls were playing man-to-man in the first half. Galantuomo finished with just three points on 1-of-6 shooting; he had 16 last time out against Manheim Township.
For a night, at least, the Muhls are all alone in first place in Berks I. Reading High and Wilson don’t open league play until Tuesday, the Red Knight against Mifflin, the Bulldogs with a crossover game against Twin Valley.
It’s expected to be a race to the wire and Flowers expects his guys to be in it the whole.
“We just want to get one percent better every day,” he said.
“It’s important, you’ve got to get the first one,” Collado said of opening league play with a win. “You get the first one, then it can be like the domino effect: you start stacking up.”
Despite the loss Wrobel was pleased with the way his team played. The Mustangs, like the other teams in Berks I, are replacing most of their key starters from a year ago.
“That’s the best we’ve played this year,” Wrobel said, “we just couldn’t hang on till the end. They fought their butts off.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Muhlenberg | 14 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 58 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 11 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 44 |
| Muhls (4-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Kantner | 1-2 | 7-8 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| Archie | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Miller | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Killen | 7-10 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| A Collado | 4-10 | 4-4 | 0-3 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Leclair | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| J Collado | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zabala | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Hemming | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Martinez | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Marte | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Armstrong | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 21-42 | 13-14 | 2-8 | 12 | 22/23 | 58 |
| Mustangs (3-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Galantuomo | 1-6 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Mayo | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| J. Johnson | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Renninger | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Koehler | 8-12 | 0-3 | 5-6 | 1 | 5 | 21 |
| Detwiler | 3-8 | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Pletz | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| D. Johnson | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Flerimon | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Morris | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Leaf | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Byrne | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Foster | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Curry | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 18-41 | 2-9 | 6-16 | 7 | 23/25 | 44 |
Turnovers:Muhlenberg 11, Gov. Mifflin 18. Team rebounds: Muhlenberg 1, Gov. Mifflin 2.
