It’s another world championship for Reading’s KTB basketball program

It’s not always easy to get high school players to play defense; it’s even tougher to get grade-schoolers to commit to that end of the court.

“A lot of kids, they’re used to playing on the playground, putting up 3’s,” says Brad Merriweather, who played at Reading High and Alvernia. “There’s more to the game than offense. You’ve got to work on your defense, too.”

Merriweather and assistant coach Tremayne Jones got their Reading KTB Under-12 boys basketball team to buy into their defensive concepts and ended up winning a world championship because of it.

The eight-player KTB squad defeated BWSL of Virginia 54-31 in the championship game to claim the AAU 12U Division 2 World Championship at Hampton, Va., last week.

It was the KTB program’s second world championship in as many years.

“We had a good team last year, but we were a couple guys short,” said Merriweather. “We felt confident going down there this year; we thought we could and make some noise.”

The KTB squad ended up winning five of its six games; its only loss came by one point, to Team United of North Carolina.

“They were so ecstatic (after they won), you’d think they won NBA championship,” Merriweather said.

The team includes Jendry Castillo, Cameron “Bron Bron” Jones, Brandon Dunn Jr. and Kaiden Grant, who attend school in the Reading School District; Luke Suski, who attends Holy Guardian Angels; Rhyon Hutchinson and Javon Merriweather, who attend school in the Muhlenberg district; and Efren Ramos of Allentown.

Luke Hall, Jojo Jarvis and Noel Irrizzary are also members of the team but could not make the trip.

This group has had success throughout the spring and summer. They won a pair of tournaments at Alvernia University and claimed the Battle of the Beach championship at Ocean City, Md., in June. They have traveled throughout the East Coast, playing tournaments in Massachusetts and Maryland, as well as throughout Pennsylvania.

Merriweather said the core of the team has been playing together since third grade.

“We added a couple pieces this year that put us over the hump,” he said. “It was good to see them get to that level.”

The key, he said, was a relentless 1-3-1 trapping defense that drove opposing players — and their coaches — crazy.

“The whole purpose of that defense is to force teams into turnovers or bad shots, and it seems to work pretty good,” Merriweather said.

Last year a KTB team led by Myles Grey of Reading High and Josiah Jordan of Berks Catholic won the AAU 16U/10th grade Division II World Championship in Orlando, Fla.

KTB — which stands for “Kids That Ball” — has proven to be a superb feeder system for the Reading Basketball team, producing players such as Lonnie Walker IV, Moro Osumanu and Ruben Rodriguez.

“This means a lot,” Merriweather said of last week’s championship. “It’s a stepping stone for the program, and it does a lot for the city, too. The boys work hard all year long; they really deserve it.”