Hoop Notes: Blazing new trail, 3-point record, next for 1,000, streaking Panthers
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
No team has taken as big a step forward this season as Daniel Boone, which has already won seven games – equaling it’s total of the past four seasons (7-76).
The Blazers (7-8) pulled within a game of .500 and snapped a long losing streak Monday with a 77-71 win at Twin Valley. That was Boone’s first league win since Feb. 2021 and snapped a 31-game league losing streak.
The Blazers went 3-19 last season on the heels of the program’s first winless season: 0-22 in 2021-22.
“Last year we had a rough season,” said junior Brendan Gaines, who has fueled the turnaround. “We’ve really been picking it up (this year). We said, let’s stay positive and keep going, and now we’re getting wins. The culture’s definitely changed here since last year.”
The Blazers returned five of their top six scorers from last season and figured to take a step up, but this has been an unusually big one.
Gaines has increased his scoring average by nearly four points and is second in the league at 19.3 points per game. Juniors Matt DiGiacomo (8.7) and Harrison Delissaint (5.6) have also boosted their scoring averages and sophomores Gavin Welker (6.4) and Freddie Lacey (4.5) have made an impact.
Welker (19 points) and DiGiacomo (17) each posted season-highs in the win over Twin Valley, in which the Blazers scored their most points in nearly 13 years (since an 80-44 win over Fleetwood Feb. 8, 2011.)
Boone hasn’t won more than seven games in a season since 2013-14, when it finished 11-12. That’s also the last time it made the county playoffs.
The Blazers haven’t finished with a winning record since 2010-11 when they went 12-10. That’s also the last time they reached the District 3 Tournament.
Boone will be hard-pressed to finish with a winning mark or crack the district field: It has games remaining against Ephrata (9-4), Twin Valley (4-12), Conrad Weiser (6-6), Reading High (8-6), Exeter (7-6), Muhlenberg (9-5) and Berks Catholic (11-0).
The Blazers had a strong run under John Butkus from 2004-12 when they won or share four division titles, made the county playoffs seven times in eight years and twice posted 20-win seasons.
Their 2007-08 team set the program record with 25 wins, including two in the PIAA Tournament. In 2002-03 they won 23 games and made the state tournament with the help of a freshman by the name of Wayne Ellington. He averaged 15.1 points per game in his only season at Boone. Ellington went on to play at Episcopal Academy, with the University of North Carolina and then in the NBA for 13 seasons.
Shooting star
Donovan Gingrich needs four 3-pointers to become Conrad Weiser’s all-time leader. The junior enters Thursday’s game against Reading High with 139 3’s in his first three seasons, three away from Greg Brizek’s program record of 142, set from 1999-03.
Gingrich’s first basket at the varsity level was a 3 and he hasn’t stopped shooting them since. He opened this season with seven 3’s in a win over Antietam, scoring 31 points. He had six 3’s in a 32-point performance against Daniel Boone.
He is tied with Daniel Boone’s Brendan Gaines for the league lead, with 36 in 12 games.
Gingrich is in position to become just the sixth player in Berks history to hit 200 treys in his career, and just the third in Berks Conference history.
Tulpehocken’s Charlie Copp has the record with what appears to be an unreachable 308. Matt Ashcroft of Central Catholic is second in league history with 212.
Drew Hoffman and Ryan Vanderboegh of High Point and Jerry Kapp of Boyertown also finished with over 200 career 3’s.
Only John Richardson, who set the league record with 10 3-pointers in game during the 1997-98 season, has more 3’s in a game than Gingrich. Gingrich and teammate Brady McKee are among six Weiser players who have made seven in a game.
Gingrich set the program single-season record last year with 58.
Grand finish
Fleetwood’s Aiden Soumas takes the floor Thursday against Tulpehocken needing 57 points to reach 1,000. The four-year starter is averaging a team-high 16.9 points.
He’ll become just the sixth player in program history and the second in two years to reach the milestone. Jake Karnish topped the mark last season, snapping a 40-year drought. Karnish finished with a program-record 1,422 points.
Fleetwood plays at East Pennsboro Saturday, at Antietam Tuesday and at Schuylkill Valley Friday Jan. 26.
Two other Berks players are on pace to reach 1,000 points this season: Daniel Boone’s Brendan Gaines and Berks Catholic’s Josh McKoy.
Gaines, a junior, returns to play Monday against Ephrata with 907 career points. He’s averaging 19.4 per game, second in the league. The Blazers have seven games remaining.
Boone’s last 1,000-point scorer was Chaunce Johnson in 2019.
McKoy, a senior, heads to Wilson Thursday with 879 points. He is averaging 15.5 points per game. He scored 441 points with Antietam as a freshman and sophomore and has 438 with the Saints since transferring before his junior season.
McKoy has plenty of time remaining: The Saints have 10 more regular season games and figure to have six or more in the postseason.
Streaking Panthers
Schuylkill Valley has won six straight games and at 11-3 is off to its best 14-game start during Taylor Grim’s 12 seasons as head coach.
The Panthers are in second place in Division 3 of the Berks Conference, a game behind Fleetwood. They’ll get a rematch with the Tigers Jan. 26 at home. They lost the first meeting 51-38.
Schuylkill Valley has had a pair of 17-win seasons under Grim, including last year when it finished 17-7 but went out in the opening round the District 3 Class 4A Tournament.
The Panthers are No. 6 in the Class 4A power ratings and in line for a first-round bye.
Schuylkill Valley’s only losses are to Blue Mountain (12-1), Octorara (13-2) and Fleetwood (12-2). Octorara is No. 2 and Fleetwood No. 3 in the district power ratings, behind Berks Catholic. Blue Mountain is No. 2 in District 11, behind Class 4A leader Allentown Central Catholic.
