Can Muhls measure up to Berks’ best? They’re off to a fast start so far
Muhlenberg may be undersized when it matches up against the top teams in the Berks Conference — Reading High and Wilson in Division I, Berks Catholic and Exeter in Division II — but that’s only if you’re measuring with a ruler.
J’Daniel Mosquera doesn’t. He knows there’s way more to basketball than just height.
“It’s going to come down to our effort and intensity,” the Muhls senior guard said. “I feel we’re the hungrier dogs and that’s gonna play a big factor in those games. Obviously, that showed tonight.”
The Muhls got off to a fast start in league play Friday, shooting down overmatched Gov. Mifflin 70-38 in a Berks I match-up at Laureldale.
The Muhls (1-0, 5-2) have too many shooters for a Mifflin team that doesn’t possess a lot of weapons. Fact is, the Muhs have too many shooters for most teams. When Julian Zaballa stroked a ‘3’ midway through the fourth quarter he became the eighth different Muhlenberg player with a 3-pointer.
That’s depth.
“When they’re hitting, it’s fun to watch,” said Muhls coach Matt Flowers.
To hang with defending champ and preseason favorite Reading High, Wilson and the others the Muhls will have to do more than just shoot.
They’ll have to play defense and they’ll have to do better on the boards. Even against a Mifflin team without a lot of length they were badly out-rebounded (42-29).
“We’re one of the shorter teams in Berks County, so we’ve got to box out and all five crash the boards,” said Mosquera, who’s generously listed on the Muhlenberg roster at 5-9.
He and Xzayvion Robertson form a pint-sized backcourt, but they can fill it up.
Robertson certainly did Friday when he scored 10 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 19 — on just six shots from the field. He made them all — including three 3’s — and didn’t take a shot in the final quarter.
Mosquera can knock it down, too, and he’s equally dangerous on the other end, where he can force turnovers and start the transition game. He had four steals Friday, part of the whopping 29 turnovers by the Mustangs (0-1, 2-3) — some forced, some not.
Robertson, a senior and about the same size as Mosquera, has been a revelation for the Muhls this season. He showed signs of breaking out as a scorer last season, when he averaged 8.6 points per game and once went off for 28.
He’s become their top gun this season. He dropped 28 last week against Susquehanna Township and has had 19 or more in four of their seven games. He opened the season with 26 against Central Dauphin. He’s among the league’s top scorers at 18.4 per game.
“When he plays defense it transitions into his offensive game,” Flowers said. “The first couple games he was phenomenal (on defense); I thought he took a little break. Tonight he came out, he had a couple deflections early and that led to his early scoring. It propelled us.”
Robertson opened the game with a 3-pointer, then forced a steal and scored a layup for a 5-0 lead. The Mustangs came back to tie it at 8-8 but the Muhls took off after that. They went on a 25-5 run — capped by three straight 3’s, two from Robertson, one from Alex Collado — and it was pretty much lights out after that.
The Muhls were effective over the middle two quarters when Flowers switched from his attacking man-to-man to a 3-2 zone. It helped them a little on the boards and forced the Mustangs to shoot from the outside, which they couldn’t: They made just 3-of-23 from beyond the arc.
Mifflin scored 15 points over the middle two quarters.
“That’s our goal every time, to get the sub-10’s,” Flowers said. “You’ve gotta throw something different in; the more we can change up and make people think more the better off we are.”
Bigger tests lie ahead for Muhlenberg. It faces Lampeter-Strasburg, one of the top teams in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, Wednesday in Laureldale, then gets its first true league test against Wilson two days later.
The Muhls have already beaten Central Dauphin and Columbia, the defending District 3 Class 3A champs; their losses have come to unbeaten Bonner-Prendergast of the Philadelphia Catholic League and Hempfield, one of the top teams in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
“It’s not what we wanted,” Mosquera said of the 5-2 start, “but I believe these two losses humbled us. It opened our eyes. We realized not everything’s going to be given to us. We’ve got to work harder and take every game like it’s our last. We took that mentality into this game and (will) from now on.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Gov. Mifflin | 13 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 38 |
| Muhlenberg | 21 | 12 | 19 | 18 | 70 |
| Mustangs(2-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| D. McNeil | 1-7 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| G. McNeil | 2-9 | 3-4 | 0-6 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Massillon | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Renninger | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Minick | 4-7 | 1-2 | 2-4 | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| Guantuomo | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| D. Johnson | 0-3 | 2-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| J. Johnson | 1-3 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
| Koehler | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Cannon | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Trupp | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Beeman | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Totals | 13-45 | 9-18 | 3-23 | 4 | 36-42 | 38 |
| Muhls (4-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Robertson | 6-6 | 4-6 | 3-3 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| Mosquera | 1-5 | 1-3 | 1-4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Archie | 1-4 | 0-4 | 1-2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Alcantara | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Adonis | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Valentin | 1-2 | 4-6 | 1-1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Branch | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Collado | 3-8 | 2-2 | 1-4 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Towles | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Zaballa | 2-4 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Miller | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Marte | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| McGovern | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| LeClair | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 22-51 | 15-28 | 11-27 | 11 | 27-29 | 70 |
Turnovers: Gov. Mifflin 29, Muhlenberg 11.
