Hoop Notes: Grand week, wild finish, championship doc, and more (updated)
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
(Updated to correct Josh McKoy’s career total.)
It figures to be a grand week in Berks basketball.
Three player are on the cusp of scoring 1,000 points: Aiden Soumas of Fleetwood, Josh McKoy of Berks Catholic and Brendan Gaines of Daniel Boone.
Soumas needs just seven points to reach the milestone after scoring 17 in Friday’s win over Schuylkill Valley. He is averaging a team-leading 16.9 points per game and has reached double figures in 16 of the Tigers’ 17 games.
Soumas, a senior and four-year starter, will be the second Fleetwood player in as many years to reach 1,000 points: Jake Karnish did it last year, on the way to a program-record 1,422. He became just the fifth player in the program history to get there.
Fleetwood plays at home Monday against Garden Spot.
(Tim Macrina photo)
McKoy is pushing toward the milestone in a hurry after scoring 83 points over four games this week, including a career-high 33 Thursday against Wyomissing.
The 6-4 senior has 997 points entering Monday’s home game against Conrad Weiser.
McKoy scored 441 points in two seasons at Antietam and has 556 in two seasons with Berks Catholic.
Former teammates Josiah Jordan and Ryan Koch each went over 1,000 last season.
Gaines, a junior, needs 42 points to become the first Boone player in five years to hit the milestone.
He is averaging 19.2 points per game, second in the league, and has reached double figures in each of the Blazers’ 18 games.
The points won’t come easily as the Blazers play Exeter on Monday, Muhlenberg on Thursday, and Berks Catholic Feb. 6, all at home.
Four Berks Conference players reached the 1,000-point milestone last season: Karnish, Jordan, Koch, and Tulpehocken’s David Bednarczyk. Reading High’s Ruben Rodriguez went over 1,000 the season before as a junior. Also, Drew Hoffman of High Point reached 1,000.
It’s unlikely there will be fourth 1,000-point scorer from the Berks Conference this season. The next-closest is Conrad Weiser junior Donovan Gingrich, who has 820 points.
Fantastic finish
As promised the Berks I race has been a wild one and it’ll come down to the final night of the season.
Wilson (6-2, 13-5) has a slight lead over Reading High (6-3, 12-7) and Muhlenberg (5-3, 11-7); each plays the other two over the next nine days.
Each of the three contenders took a league loss to unbeaten Berks II leader Berks Catholic.
The Bulldogs’ other league loss came at Reading High Jan. 4. They play at Muhlenberg Monday, at home Thursday against Reading, then close league play at Gov. Mifflin Feb. 6.
That last game is far from given. The Mustangs beat Muhlenberg last week and also took out Hempfield earlier in the season. The Mustangs would love nothing better than to ruin the Bulldogs’ chance for a division title.
The Red Knights’ league losses were to BC, Exeter, and Muhlenberg – the latter in two OTs. They’re on a roll right now with Nick Chapman back in the lineup after missing a month with an injury and five wins in their last six games. They nearly took out Berks Catholic last week.
The Red Knights are at Wilson Thursday and close at home against Muhlenberg.
The Muhls are home Monday against Wilson, at Daniel Boone Thursday and at Reading in the finale Feb. 6. That game will mark Rick Perez’s first game at the Geigle facing the Red Knights since he left that program to be assistant for Matt Flowers.
Championship relived
Thirty years after Lebanon Valley’s Division III NCAA championship run a documentary has been completed: “The Dutchmen.”
Central Catholic grad Steve Zeiber was a key part of that championship and is featured in the 82-minute doc.
The film will make its Berks debut with a showing Saturday at 5 at Berks Catholic. There is no charge for admittance.
Lebanon Valley’s championship squad featured All-American Mike Rhoades, now the head coach at Penn State.
Berks IV on the line
As it has for each of the past three seasons the Berks IV champ will be either Antietam or Oley Valley. The two are tied with three league games to play, including a head-to-head match-up Thursday at Oley.
The Lynx won the Berks IV title last season and in 2020-21, the latter decided in double-overtime in the final game of the season, at Antietam.
The Mounts took the division in 2022.
The Lynx (10-8) have won three in a row and 7-of-9. They got off to a slow start, winning just one of their first six games but have bounced back to put themselves in thick of the District 3 Class 3A playoff race, as well as on the cusp of a division title.
The Mounts (9-9) also got off to a rough start, losing their first three games. They didn’t climb over .500 until early January.
Oley Valley won the first meeting 51-44 on Dec. 22.
(Tim Macrina photo)
Blazing new trail
No team has made more progress this season than Daniel Boone, which has won eight games, it’s most in a decade.
When the Blazers beat Twin Valley Tuesday they reached 8-8, the first time they’ve seen .500 this late in a season since they were 11-9 in late January 2014.
Boone was 3-19 last season and won a total of seven games over the last four seasons, including an 0-22 mark in 2021-22 when the current starters were freshmen and sophomores.
The Blazers likely won’t make the postseason: They close with Exeter, Muhlenberg, Berks Catholic and Ephrata, all likely District 3 qualifiers.
Next season could be different: Leading scorer Brendan Gaines is a junior and each of Boone’s top five scorers are underclassmen, including Matt DiGiacomo, Gavin Welker, Harrison Delissaint and Fred Lacey.
