Blazers’ Brendan Gaines reaches milestone; Muhls keep pace in Berks I
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Daniel Boone’s Brendan Gaines reached a cherished scoring milestone and gave Muhlenberg a scare all in the same night.
The junior scored 22 first-half points and topped 1,000 career points in the third quarter but the Blazers’ upset bid fizzled in the second half as the Muhls pulled away for an important 81-62 Berks Conference crossover victory.
With the win the Muhls (7-3, 13-7) remained tied for first place in Division I with Reading High and set up a championship showdown Tuesday at the Geigle. That will be the final league game for both teams.
Gaines, meanwhile, finished with a game-high 27 points and 1,003 in his career. He became the first Boone player in five years to hit the milestone.
Gaines scored 12 first-quarter points and 10 in the second to spark the Blazers’ upset bid; they trailed just 32-31 at half.
The Muhls put the game away with a 29-point third quarter that saw six different players score four or more points.
Freshman Justin Armstrong scored all of his seven points in the quarter. Shermar Killen, who scored a team-high 23 points, had four points. Kyle Archie scored five of his career-high 20 points in the quarter.
Gaines finished with four 3-pointers and is third in the league, with 46. He’s averaging 19.5 points, second-best in the league.
He has scored 11 or more points in every game, with a season-high 29 in the season-opener against Pottsgrove.
Gaines is on pace to challenge for the program record of 1,482 points, set by Emil Washko in 1980.
Chaunce Johnson is the last Boone player to reach 1,000 points; he did it in 2019.
Daniel Boone (2-9 Berks II, 8-12) has two games remaining this season: Tuesday against Berks Catholic and Feb. 9 against Ephrata.
Gaines is the third Berks player this week to reach 1,000 points, following Berks Catholic’s Josh McKoy and Fleetwood’s Aiden Soumas.
