Saints’ Josh McKoy steps up, earns Weeber/Langdon Team of Merrill Lynch honors
Berks Catholic’s Josh McKoy is coming off a big week and heading for an even bigger one.
The 6-4 senior needs three points Monday night against Conrad Weiser to become the ninth player in the Saints’ short history to reach 1,000 career points.
He got there in a hurry, scoring 83 points over four Berks Catholic wins last week to earn Weeber/Langdon Team of Merrill Lynch honorshonors for the first time.
McKoy scored 18 points, including the game-winning basket with six seconds left, in a thrilling 61-59 comeback victory over Reading High on Tuesday.
Two nights later, with the Saints playing without his brother Kingston for the first time, McKoy rose to the occasion to score a career-high 33 points and avoid an upset at Wyomissing. He ended that game with a thunderous dunk.
“Unbelievable,” said senior teammate Parker Nein of McKoy’s performance. “Nobody on the court can really guard him when we play teams like that, because they don’t have that big guy who can guard him. He’s strong and tall, he gets to the basket. I knew he was gonna play for Kingston. We said (beforehand) we were gonna feed him all game.”
Kingston was lost for the season against Reading High with a broken leg. The Saints pulled together and won three games last week without him but understand it will be difficult to replace all that he brought to their team.
“We are definitely missing a key piece to our offense, our defense,” Josh said after the Wyomissing game, “so I had to pick up his slack.”
Josh had never scored more than 29 points in a game before; that came as a sophomore at Antietam. This year’s season-high had been 24, against Pottsville. He set a new standard, and did it efficiently, hitting on 10-of-14 shots (9-of-11 inside the arc). He was good on 12-of-16 free throws.
Josh played with a pair of 1,000-point scorers last season, Josiah Jordan and Ryan Koch. He also played with one at Antietam, Hector Tiburcio.
He scored 441 points in two seasons at Antietam and has 556 in two seasons with Berks Catholic.
Josh averaged 21.7 points in the three games after his brother went down with the injury; he is averaging 16.9 points for the season, fifth-highest in the Berks Conference.
“McKoy is good,” Wyomissing coach Garrett Etzel said following Thursday’s game. “We couldn’t keep him out of the paint. It was a tough match-up (for us). Danny (Fleischood) did a really good job (guarding him). It’s just once he got into the paint it was tough, because he’s strong, he’s big and he’s athletic.”
After’s Monday’s game against Weiser the Saints face unbeaten Abington Heights on Tuesday and play at Exeter Thursday.
McKoy is the second Berks Catholic player selected for the award this season, following his brother Kingston.
Players considered for Weeber/Langdon Team of Merrill Lynch Player of the Week honors are nominated by their coach or by members of the MikeDragoSports.com coverage team.
Also considered for Player of the Week:
- Kevin Saenz, Exeter
- Aiden Soumas, Fleetwood
- Matt Koeher, Gov. Mifflin
- Kole Schuler, Kutztown
- Shermar Killen, Muhlenberg
- Yadiel Cruz, Reading High
- Luke Levan, Wilson
Players selected earlier this season:
- Dec. 11: Alex Collado, Muhlenberg
- Dec. 18: Madyx Gruber, Wilson
- Dec. 25: Nate Herb, Fleetwood
- Jan. 1: Yadiel Cruz, Reading High
- Jan. 8: Kevin Saenz, Exeter
- Jan. 15: Kingston McKoy, Berks Catholic
- Jan. 22: Shermar Killen, Muhlenberg
Players selected last season:
- Dec. 12: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Dec. 19: Mark Rajnath, Schuylkill Valley
- Dec. 26: Ryan Koch, Berks Catholic
- Jan. 2: Myles Grey, Reading High
- Jan 9: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Jan. 16: Yadiel Cruz, Reading High
- Jan. 23: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Jan. 30: Aiden Soumas, Fleetwood
- Feb. 6: Anthony Caccese, Exeter
- Feb. 13: Cooper Hohenadel, Schuylkill Valley
- Feb. 20: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Feb. 27: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- March 6: Anthony Caccese, Exeter
- March 13: Myles Grey, Reading High
- March 20: Kevin Saenz, Exeter
- March 27: Nick Chapman, Reading High
Players selected in 2021-22 season:
- Dec. 20: Matt Harley, Gov. Mifflin
- Dec. 27: Colin Payne, Exeter
- Jan. 3: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Jan. 10: Myles Grey, Reading High
- Jan. 17: Danny Turchi, Oley Valley
- Jan. 24: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Jan. 31: Julian O’Brien, Wyomissing
- Feb. 7: Xavier Goodman, Kutztown
- Feb. 14: Danny Turchi, Oley Valley
- Feb. 21: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Feb. 28: Hector Tiburcio, Antietam
- March 7: Joey Chapman, Reading High
