Cameron Jones, Bulldogs show they’re back with clutch performance against Saints
Cameron Jones is the engine that drives Wilson’s basketball team.
It’s been a season of fits and stops for the Bulldogs, and for Jones, too. He still isn’t in full basketball shape after an extended, and All-State, football season.
He showed signs in the fourth quarter Tuesday that, if he isn’t all the way back, he’s darned close to being one of the best players in the league. He took over a tight contest and led the Bulldogs to a 51-48 Berks Conference Division I win over visiting Berks Catholic, which came in with just one loss.
“When the fourth quarter hit is when I felt it,” said Jones, who finished with a team-high 21 points, 10 in the final quarter. “I was like: ‘I’ve gotta take this over. I’ve gotta give us some cushion.’ “
Jones buried 3-pointers on consecutive possessions in the opening minutes of the final quarter, tilting the game in Wilson’s direction for good. That, as much as anything, showed where his game is at.
His stroke hasn’t been as smooth as it was in the summer when he dominated at times and led the Bulldogs to the West Reading Summer League championship game.
Through the early quarters Tuesday he wasn’t even looking for that shot; he was content with getting his teammates involved, and with getting to the rack, which he did frequently.
When it was go time, with the game tied 35-35 a couple minutes into the fourth quarter, he went.
“That’s when I felt I had to take the game over,” said the junior guard.
“I said to Cam: ‘You’ve got to take charge, you’re our leader,” said Wilson coach Matt Coldren, “and he did. He led us.”
The Bulldogs (2-3, 6-4) were up 45-38 with 1:10 left when Jones went up to snare a defensive rebound. He came down hard, fell to the court and banged his head off the hardwood.
As soon as he left the floor Berks Catholic’s Ryan Koch — who really deserved to get his name in the headline, too — banged in a 3-pointer to trim what had been an eight-point lead in half.
Jones was back on the floor after an ensuing timeout, was fouled, and hit both ends of a double bonus to push the lead back to six. The Saints (3-2, 8-2) were smart enough not to foul him again. They found better candidates, and the Bulldogs proceeded to miss six of their next eight free throws.
That gave Berks Catholic a chance to get back in it, and, with Koch scorching the nets, they nearly won it. The junior wing hit a tough, fully defended fall-back jumper from beyond the arc with 40 seconds left that made it a one-possession game. It was his sixth 3 of the night, and 27th point, a career high.
“We tried to crowd Ryan as much as possible,” said Jones, “but he’s a basketball player, so he can still put the ball on the floor. That’s where he hurt us a little bit (hitting 7-of-8 free throws). I’ve known him for a long time, so I knew what he was capable of. When he gets hot, he gets hot; he didn’t miss.”
The Saints got as close as 47-46 when Jack Miller hit both ends of a one-and-one with 37 seconds left. They were within one again after Miller hit both ends of a double-bonus with 9.4 seconds left. They got no closer.
The Bulldogs beat BC’s fullcourt pressure on the ensuing inbounds play, with Madyx Gruber finding Aidan Melograna for an uncontested layup to end it.
The win was significant for a couple of reasons. First, it was the 363rd of Coldren’s career, making him the winningest Wilson basketball coach of all-time. His mentor, Reggie Weiss, whose record he broke, and whose model he has followed, was there to present him with a commemorative ball during a post-game ceremony.
More importantly it was Wilson’s second key win in a span of five days. Last week it knocked off Berks II leader Muhlenberg. Now Berks Catholic. Those are both solid district playoff teams; the Saints were ranked No. 1 in Class 4A coming in.
They’re significant victories and show that the Bulldogs, after starting 0-3 in the league, are back on their feet again, and dangerous.
“It’s a young group who I believe in,” said Coldren, who came into the season with just one return starter. “We’re talented (but) we’re not game savvy, we’re not there yet. We do a lot of dumb things, but man we do a lot of good things, too.”
One thing the Bulldogs do is defend. They couldn’t stop Koch, who was good on 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, but they didn’t give anyone else open looks. Take away Koch and the Saints were 7-of-29 from the field, 1-of-10 from 3-point range.
With Jones showing he’s able to take over such a key game the defending Berks champs are going to be a tough out the rest of the way.
“He’s slowly getting back to the Cam that I saw this summer, with his stroke, his body being into shape a little bit,” Coldren said. “He’s still not where he’s gonna get, but he’s definitely made strides.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 9 | 10 | 16 | 13 | 48 |
| Wilson | 12 | 11 | 12 | 16 | 51 |
| Berks Catholic (3-2, 8-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Sands | 1-7 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Jordan | 5-15 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 4 | 7 | 12 |
| Koch | 7-14 | 7-8 | 6-10 | 0 | 3 | 27 |
| Miller | 1-3 | 4-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Givens | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Rinehart | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Lawlor | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nein | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 14-43 | 13-16 | 7-20 | 7 | 22/27 | 48 |
| Wilson (2-3, 6-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Jones | 8-13 | 3-3 | 2-2 | 2 | 9 | 21 |
| Coldren | 1-1 | 2-2 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Harding | 0-3 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Odiale | 3-4 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| Sillah | 2-10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| Gruber | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Weitzel | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Melograna | 2-5 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Breslin | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 18-39 | 10-19 | 5-8 | 4 | 28-30 | 51 |
Turnovers: Berks Catholic 7, Wilson 8.