Muhlenberg gets defensive, holds off West York in district playoff opener
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YORK — A battle to the end in their District 3 Tournament opener was nothing new for the Muhlenberg Muhls, not after slugging their way through their rugged Berks Conference schedule.
“When you play in Berks County and play the schedule that we played, you’re not playing lackluster teams,” said Muhls coach Matt Flowers after his team held off sixth-seeded West York 42-37 in the opening round of the Class 5A Tournament Monday at York.
“(In our league) any day you can lose by 20 points, you can lose by 30 points, you can win by 10,” said Flowers, “but you know it’s gonna be a fight.”
The 11th-seeded Muhls used their best defensive effort of the season to clinch a second straight berth in the PIAA Tournament. They held the Bulldogs (14-9) to two field goals and kept them off the foul line the entire final quarter.
Muhlenberg led by two entering the final quarter and pushed its lead to six at one point. Flowers figured that was enough and spread the floor to run out the clock over the final four minutes. The Muhls turned it over twice in that span but got a key rebound and a pair of clinching free throws from senior Kyle Archie with about six seconds left to clinch it.
Muhlenberg advances to play at third-seeded York Suburban, a 64-60 winner over No. 14 New Oxford, in a quarterfinal Thursday at 7.
“We’ve been put in this situation all season,” Flowers said of a tight game to the wire.
“We played a gauntlet of a schedule, and our young men have responded day in and day out and continue to fight,” Flowers said. “Our county has helped us get here because of how strong it is ”
The Muhls went into the final game of the regular season tied for first place in Berks I, with a chance to win the division title. They lost to Reading High at the Geigle, ended up in third place, then were knocked out in the league semifinals by the Red Knights.
Jayden Kantner led the Muhls with 12 points Monday, including a pair of free throws in the final quarter. Muhlenberg went into the fourth quarter leading just 34-32.
Junior Shermar Killen, named to the All-Berks team earlier in the day, scored 10 points, nine in the second half.
Senior Alex Collado, an all-division pick in Division I, scored five points in the opening quarter to help the Muhls to a 15-5 lead. He and Kantner sat briefly with fouls in the second quarter when the Bulldogs scrambled back into the game.
West York, getting nine points from sophomore Jaedyn Kohler, outscored the Muhls 18-8 in the second quarter and sent the game to halftime tied 23-23.
Kantner and Collado each finished the game with four fouls but were able to stay on the floor in the fourth quarter for the critical final minutes.
West York got to the foul line just six times overall, making three; the Muhls went 9-of-12 from the line.
This was the first time this season Muhlenberg has held an opponent under 40 points. The 37 points matched a season-low for West York.
Muhlenberg, as the No. 9 seed, opened last year’s tournament at West York with a 46-39 win. After a quarterfinal loss to top-seeded Manheim Central the Muhls beat Warwick and Milton Hershey in the playback rounds to earn a state berth as the No. 5 seed.
Muhlenberg is in the PIAA tournament for the second time in Flowers’ three seasons and for the fourth time in six seasons.
The Bulldogs knocked down 147 3-pointers this season but got just five in Monday’s loss.
The Bulldogs went out in the opening round of the YCIAA Tournament to Littlestown, 52-37.
They had won nine of their final 10 regular season games before ending the season with two straight losses.