Will the ‘Wright stuff’ help Muhls reverse astronomical 37-point loss to Red Knights?
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Matt Flowers will borrow a page from the Jay Wright playbook when his Muhlenberg basketball team meets Reading High in a Berks Conference semifinal eight days after losing to the Red Knights by a whopping 37 points.
Flowers will remind his players that in Dec. 2015 Villanova lost at home to Oklahoma by 23 points. Four months later the Wildcats routed the Sooners 95-51 in a national semifinal, two days before beating North Carolina in the NCAA championship game.
He could also mention a more recent game closer to home: Exeter beat Gov. Mifflin in the 2021 District 3 Class 5A football championship game seven weeks after being mercy-ruled by Nick Singleton and the Mustangs at home.
To pull off a similar reversal Wednesday at Santander Arena at 8:30 the sixth-seeded Muhls (14-8) will have to stop the hottest team in the league. The second-seeded Red Knights (16-7) have won six straight and are 7-1 since senior leader Nick Chapman returned from injury Jan. 20.
Flowers said flipping the script is simple.
“It’s (all) about fighting,” Flowers said. “We didn’t fight the last time we played them. The first game we fought, and the outcome was what the outcome was. Second game, we allowed them to dictate everything: What the tempo was, who’s gonna shoot the ball, where we were headed next. We don’t play like that. That’s now who we are; that’s not what we do.”
Muhlenberg won the first meeting between the Berks I rivals 87-74 in two overtimes at Laureldale on Jan. 9.
A month later, with the Division I title up for grabs in the regular season finale at the Geigle, it was no contest: The Red Knights dropped 27 first-quarter points and put the mercy rule into effect on the way to an 83-46 victory.
Chapman, who did not play in the first game while recovering from an orbital fracture, dominated the rematch on both ends of the floor. He scored 18 points and spearheaded a defensive effort that saw Muhls scoring leader Shermar Killen limited to five points – his lowest output since cracking the starting lineup early in the season.
Everything went right for the Red Knights in that game: Nico Sosa and Weshly Rosario knocked down buzzer-beaters in the first two quarters, they ran the floor well in transition, and they saw league scoring leader Yadiel Cruz drop 26 points. They held the Muhls to a season-low 46 points.
“I love the basketball that we’re playing,” first-year Reading coach Francis Camara said afterward.
The Red Knights are a much different team than the one that began the season with just one return starter, no proven scorers and a freshman and sophomore in their backcourt. They took their lumps the first six weeks of the season, were 6-5 at one point and played eight games at midseason without Chapman.
His return, which triggered a big win over District 1 standout Spring-Ford, has made all the difference in the world.
“They got their leader back,” Flowers said of Reading’s turnaround. “It’s that simple. He keeps them glued together. He is the guy that keeps that locker room in check, no matter what’s going on. When you have guys like that in your locker room you’re always going to be successful. He’s the Patrick Mahomes of the Reading High basketball team.”
So, how do the Muhls accomplish a 37-point turnaround? X’s and O’s aren’t the answer, Flowers said.
“There’s really nothing to change (in terms of match-ups or strategy),” he said. “You’ve just gotta play harder and fight better. We have to make sure that our emotions are in check. We have to play faster and we have to execute our offense.”
Reading High, despite a big turnover that saw three All-Berks players – including two-time Player of the Year Ruben Rodriguez – graduate from its district and state championship team is on the verge of a third straight Berks Conference championship. Even though Berks Catholic has the better record and is the No. 1 seed the Red Knights entered the tournament as the favorite.
They showed that in dispatching No. 7 Schuylkill Valley 78-40 in Monday’s quarterfinal. Muhlenberg held off Fleetwood 60-46 on the road in its quarterfinal.
The Muhls, despite a recent upsurge in the program – they won a District 3 championship in 2020, played for one the year before and have enjoyed six straight winning seasons – have not reached the league championship game since 1974, when they lost to Exeter. Their last county title came in 1969, when they topped Daniel Boone.
“You can lose the division, that’s fine,” Flowers said, “you’re in the (league) playoffs. Now you have an opportunity to get the championship game, which your school hasn’t been to since (1974). You have to let it all on the line. There’s nothing to hold back on.”
