Emerging Luke Levan posts up, helps send Bulldogs into Berks semifinals
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
Luke Levan didn’t realize it at the time but his basketball career at Wilson almost ended before it got started.
He entered preseason practice his sophomore year season a gangly, inexperienced, and under-skilled 6-4 center. Bulldogs coach Matt Coldren and his staff considered cutting him.
“I knew I had potential and I knew the coaches would see that,” Levan said.
Coldren decided to take a chance on that potential. Sixteen months later Levan ended up as the focal point of the Bulldogs’ game plan against Exeter Monday in the opening round of the Berks Conference tournament and came through with a big-time performance.
The 6-5 center hit seven straight shots in the first half and finished with a career-high 22 points and a game-high eight rebounds as the fourth-seeded Bulldogs beat the fifth-seeded Eagles 74-51 at West Lawn to return to the league semifinals.
Wilson plays top-seeded Berks Catholic, a 61-38 winner over Antietam, Wednesday at 7 in the third of four games at Santander Arena.
The Berks I runner-up Bulldogs (15-8) stumbled into the postseason with three losses in their final four games but totally revamped their offense over the past week and ended up with their third-highest scoring output of the season and their best all-around game since a 61-50 win over Central York a couple days after Christmas.
Levan was a big part of that game plan. The Bulldogs knew they had a mismatch in the pivot against an Exeter team without a true center and they went to work on that right away. Tommy Hunsicker and Wilson’s perimeter players looked inside from the outset and Levan produced, scoring his team’s first two baskets and four of their first five.
He had nine first-quarter points and 15 by halftime – nearly double his scoring average.
“We found him, and he was finishing around the rim, and we needed that,” said Cam Zullinger, who had a team-high six assists, most of them to Levan. “That was huge for us, to keep us in it early.”
The Berks II runner-up Eagles (15-8) came out fast and led by as many as five points in the first quarter. They were still up 23-20 in the second minute of the second quarter before the Bulldogs sprinted ahead with a 15-0 run. Levan, not surprisingly, started that run, with Hunsicker finding him on a cut to the basket.
A few minutes later the Bulldogs were ahead by double digits for good.
“Having played them a few weeks ago, we knew they don’t have a dominant big inside,” Levan said, “so getting the ball to me, whether I’m scoring or kicking it back out, was definitely a strategy.”
Bulldogs coach Matt Coldren has talked throughout the season about taking better advantage of Levan, one of the few true post players in the league with offensive moves. Levan, working with former Wilson coach Jeff Ebner, developed a hook shot in the offseason and he’s highly effective with it. He entered the tournament shooting a team-best 63.6 percent from the field.
Coldren said changes in the offensive structure over the last week were a key to getting Levan so many good looks Monday.
“We changed our motion offense so that guys were in better position to get him the ball, and he was in better position to receive it,” Coldren said. “The kids did a great job; they gave him the ball in good spots. It works when everybody’s on the same page.”
Wilson’s work on the defensive end was just as important. It held the league’s highest-scoring team to its lowest scoring output of the season, in large part because it stopped the Eagles’ outside game.
Exeter was on a near-record pace, averaging almost 10 3-pointers per game, but couldn’t get that going. It finished just 4-of-27 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, hit their first six 3’s; they didn’t miss one until after Coldren cleared the bench with a couple minutes left.
“That’s a dangerous team,” Coldren said of Exeter, “and we did a pretty good job defensively.”
The Eagles were hot at the start, hitting 8-of-14 shots in the first quarter for a 19-18 lead. They missed six of their first seven shots to open the second quarter and everything unraveled quickly after that.
“We started missing shots,” said Exeter coach Jeff Van Gorder, “and like most young guys do, that affected defensive rotations and defensive mentality a little bit, and that spiraled a little bit.”
Levan’s success in the early minutes helped open up Wilson’s entire offense. It shot a sizzling 68 percent from the field in the first half to build a 39-27 halftime lead. Correll Akings had 11 of his 19 points and Madyx Gruber nine of his 17 for Wilson in the first half.
“When the offense flows through (Luke) it makes things so much easier (for us),” Coldren said.
“He still has a way to go, but he did what we needed him to do tonight. He’s just gonna keep getting better and better and better.”
Levan helped Wilson’s JV team go unbeaten last season, with a pair of wins over Reading High. In the summer he was the first one in the gym each morning, working on his footwork and developing his post moves. He was named the Most Improved Player in the Ron Krick Memorial Summer League.
Van Gorder didn’t know any of that background about Levan. He just knows what he’s seen from a guy who’s given his team fits this season. Levan scored 15 points in a win at Reiffton in late January. Monday he was a low post scoring machine.
“That’s a college basketball player,” said Van Gorder, a former college coach. “He’s very skilled.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Exeter | 19 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 51 |
| Wilson | 18 | 21 | 19 | 16 | 74 |
| Eagles (15-8) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Kelsey | 4-9 | 3-3 | 1-2 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| Saenz | 2-7 | 4-4 | 1-4 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| Garvin | 1-8 | 2-2 | 1-7 | 21 | 2 | 5 |
| Murray | 2-6 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Dauble | 3-12 | 2-2 | 0-6 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| Nester | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Ware | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Flanders | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Redding | 1-3 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Gwitira | 2-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Totals | 16-52 | 14-15 | 5-27 | 8 | 25/31 | 51 |
| Bulldogs (15-8) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Gruber | 5-9 | 5-6 | 2-2 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| T. Hunsicker | 0-3 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| McFadden | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Akings | 6-9 | 5-6 | 2-2 | 2 | 7 | 19 |
| Levan | 10-17 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 8 | 22 |
| Etim | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Zullinger | 1-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| C. Hunsicker | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Woods | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Greene | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Twiford | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Houck | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 27-49 | 14-17 | 6-8 | 17 | 29/30 | 74 |
Turnovers: Exeter 9, Wilson 6. Team rebounds: Exeter 6, Wilson 1.
