Muhlenberg sprints past Wilson, forges three-way tie atop Berks I
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Matt Flowers tried to pull a fast one Monday night, introducing seven starters for Muhlenberg’s key Berks Conference Division I showdown with Wilson.
The refs caught on quickly; they allowed only five Muhlenberg players on the floor at the same time.
Sure didn’t seem that way, though. The Muhls swarmed the Bulldogs from the outset, scored the first 13 points and went onto a 61-56 victory, forging a three-way tie in Berks I with only a couple games to go in the regular season.
It seemed at times as if they had the Bulldogs out-manned 7-to-5, especially in those dizzying early minutes when they scored on their first eight possessions, hit their first seven shots, and rolled to leads of 13-0, 16-2 and 18-4 on Senior Night.
“We told our kids about having a sense of urgency, about coming out of the gates right away and playing extremely hard, and I thought they did that,” said Flowers.
The Bulldogs (6-3, 13-6) got back in it quickly, pulled within two points late in the second quarter and were within a point in the opening minute of the second half, after Tom McFadden hit a short jumper.
The Muhls (6-3, 12-7) never lost the lead. Alex Collado made sure of that. The senior wing hit his first five shots, crammed 14 of his game-high 20 points into that opening quarter, then closed the game with four straight free throws.
“We knew we had to come out stronger this time and get the win,” said Collado, still stinging from a 57-56 overtime loss against the Bulldogs in West Lawn in their second league game, one that set the tone for the entire season.
The Muhls have been chasing ever since and have finally caught up. They enter the final eight days of the season tied with Wilson and Reading High (6-3, 12-7) for first place, each with two league games remaining.
Muhlenberg plays at Daniel Boone Thursday and at Reading High on Feb. 6, the final night of league play. Reading plays at Wilson Thursday. The Bulldogs close at Gov. Mifflin, of all places, Feb. 6. The Mustangs knocked off Muhlenberg last week; it would make their season to keep the Bulldogs from winning the Berks I title.
It’ll be about as good a finish as everyone was expecting when the first ball went up in December.
Monday’s start was about as good as anyone could expect – at least for the Muhls. They were nearly perfect in that opening quarter. They didn’t have a turnover, didn’t miss a shot for the first five minutes and didn’t give up a basket for nearly four minutes.
They seemed to be a step quicker than the Bulldogs all night, winning 50-50 balls and getting close calls the whole way. They got down the court faster and took better shots, too. Overall, they made 23-of-33 shots inside the arc, many of them in transition.
“To me, that’s just effort and hustle,” said Wilson coach Matt Coldren. “Effort-wise, they definitely outplayed us tonight, 100 percent.”
Collado scored on a couple breakouts in that early 13-0 burst and seemed like he was on the way to a monster night, hitting 6-of-7 shots in the opening quarter.
“I knew they would be watching me for my jump shot, so I had to get downhill on them,” Collado said. “We were sharing the ball, getting it to open guys, and that’s all that matters.”
The Bulldogs eventually got things straightened and went on a run of their own, scoring 12 straight in the second quarter to pull within 26-24. Correll Akings, who finished with a team-high 19 points, sparked the comeback with a 3-pointer and seven second-quarter points.
Wilson put together a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter after it had fallen behind by 16 but again couldn’t get over the hump. It closed within five on Akings’ 3-pointer with 2 ½ minutes left; it had enough time to complete the comeback but couldn’t get it done.
“We didn’t get to the rim (enough),” said Wilson coach Matt Coldren .”We just kept shooting 3’s, and we weren’t shooting well.”
The Bulldogs were good on just 5-of-23 shots from beyond the arc; they got to the foul line just nine times.
Wilson went to a fullcourt trap in the final quarter, forced seven turnovers and got back in the game but the Muhls came up with enough big plays down the stretch to maintain the lead. Kyle Archie’s three-point play with 3:15 ended Wilson’s 10-0 run; Collado bounced off a defender and scored with 2:40 to go after the Bulldogs had made it a two-possession game.
Coldren pointed to the opening minutes and said his team was never fully able to recover.
“We came in so nonchalant, like it was no big deal – and you saw what happened,” he said. “You have got to be ready to go from the time you get on that bus, and that should be your only focus, and I don’t think tonight that was our focus.”
He was disappointed by the loss and questioned his team’s leadership.
“Life goes by fast, seasons go by fast, and I don’t think they understand that,” he said. “You have to cherish every opportunity that you have to play because you never know what’s going to happen. . . Poor Kingston (McKoy) over at BC, his season’s over. You never know (what’s going to happen).
“I’m not sure how (we) weren’t excited to come over here, because we could’ve really (knocked them out); now they have a chance.”
The Muhls were excited, that’s for sure. It was Senior Night, and Flowers wanted all of his upperclassmen to get a little extra attention. That’s why he announced Drew LeClair and Juelz Martinez in the opening lineup along with classmates Kyle Archie and Collado.
“We feel great (with this win), but we still have something to prove,” Collado said. “We want to win Division I; I don’t think our school has ever won that.”
The Muhls are in position to win Berks’ big-school division title – something they haven’t done since Reading High joined the league for the 1979-80 season. They’ve won the Berks II title five times, most recently in 2021-22, Flowers’ first season.
Flowers doesn’t want to think about any of that right now. He knows how closely matched the teams are in his division and that nothing is a given. Had the Muhls not fallen at Mifflin last week they’d be sitting alone in first place right now.
“We don’t talk about the division or anything, we talk about one game at a time,” he said. “We let one slip last week but we grew up tonight. We’ve gotta get back in the gym tomorrow, have a great practice and take care of Daniel Boone; we’ve got to beat them just like everybody else.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 12 | 15 | 4 | 25 | 56 |
| Muhlenberg | 24 | 6 | 10 | 21 | 61 |
| Bulldogs (13-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Gruber | 5-14 | 2-4 | 2-8 | 0 | 4 | 14 |
| T. Hunsicker | f1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| McFadden | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Akings | 7-19 | 2-2 | 3-8 | 1 | 3 | 19 |
| Levan | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
| C. Hunsicker | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Etim | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Zullinger | 1-3 | 3-3 | 0-2 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Totals | 22-54 | 7-9 | 5-23 | 8 | 21/23 | 56 |
| Muhls (12-7) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Kantner | 5-7 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 7 | 11 |
| Archie | 5-8 | 1-1 | 0-3 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Killen | 4-7 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| A. Collado | 7-13 | 5-5 | 1-2 | 3 | 5 | 20 |
| J. Collado | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Leclair | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Armstrong | 2-4 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Hemming | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marte | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 25-43 | 9-12 | 2-10 | 5 | 24/27 | 61 |
Turnovers: Wilson 9, Muhlenberg 13. Team rebounds: Wilson 2, Muhlenberg 3.
