Parker, brothers, spark Berks Packing to another West Reading championship

Berks Catholic got a huge boost late last summer when the McKoy brothers, Josh and Kingston, transferred in from Antietam.

It gave the Saints two talented, young players and helped put them over the top in their bid to repeat as District 3 Class 4A champs.

The arrival of the McKoys also took a big chunk out of Parker Nein’s playing time. The rising junior had worked his way into the Saints’ starting lineup with a strong summer; he hit the biggest shot of the of the Ron Krick Memorial League championship game – a tiebreaking 3-pointer in overtime – as Berks Catholic edged Marrella Financial.

At this point a summer ago he figured he’d be in the starting lineup come December. Josh McKoy’s arrival bumped him to the bench. Midway through the season Kingston, a rapidly developing freshman, became Snip Esterly’s sixth man and Nein slid one spot further down.

“Getting pushed to the bench, it didn’t hurt my feelings at all,” said Nein, “it motivated me.”

Nein provided an inspired effort Thursday night in the Krick championship game as he helped carry Berks Packing to a third straight title with a game-high 18 points in a 46-29 victory over Lamm & Witman Funeral Home.

The 6-2 rising senior got all the inspiration he needed when he was yanked early in the game for missing a defensive assignment. Berks Catholic coach Snip Esterly, who won’t tolerate mental breakdowns, gave Nein an earful as he made his back to the bench.

Nein didn’t flinch; he’s been around Esterly long enough to know that Berks’ all-time winningest coach may bark but doesn’t bite.

“I’m pretty used to Snip by now,” Nein said. “When I was coming up, I never had any coach talk to me that way. It would affect me, but not anymore. I’ve grown into it.”

Lamm & Witman, comprised of Conrad Weiser players, made a storybook run to the championship game, winning three straight playoff games – or one more game than they won in the entire regular season.

The Scouts went up 10-6 in the early minutes Thursday, hitting their first four shots, three by Donovan Gingrich, who finished with a team-high 16 points.

A free throw by Kingston McKoy in the final seconds of the first quarter gave Berks Packing the lead for good; Nein helped the Saints pull away early in the second. He followed a three-point play with a 3-point shot to make it 22-15.

Nein’s 3-pointer early in the second half gave Berks Packing its first double-digit lead and took the starch out of the Scouts.

“I was getting yelled at for not playing good defense,” Nein said. “When I came back to play defense, the offense came with it. (The points) all came through defense.”

Kingston McKoy finished with 13 points; Josh McKoy had six.

Nein played in all but one game last season for the 23-5 Saints but hit double figures just three times and never topped 12 points. He’ll be expected to produce points consistently this season.

With 1,000-point scorers Josiah Jordan and Ryan Koch graduated, and the league well aware of what the McKoys can do, Berks Catholic will need a third option.

“We’ve gotta get more scoring out of these (other) guys,” said Esterly, “and Parker’s gotta be the one. He can flat-out shoot.”

Baseball is Nein’s No. 1 sport. He was an all-division pick after going 3-2 with a 2.28 ERA as a junior. Last week the right-hander pitched for Pennsylvania in the Big 26 Classic.

He spends most of his summer playing baseball. As soon as he was recognized Thursday as a finalist for the Woozy Smith Most Improved Player Award following the championship game he rushed off to practice with his Evolution Baseball traveling team.

Still, he manages to make time for basketball. He makes sure he gets plenty of shots up on the playground to stay sharp and was able to make all but one summer league game this season.

He easily could put basketball aside and concentrate on just one sport but he’s not about to. He wanted to be part of a third straight summer league championship team and wants to get a three-peat when the district tournament rolls around, too.

He looks forward to playing a larger role this season, and alongside the McKoys.

Despite losing playing time he was anything but upset when they arrived last year.

“I loved it,” Nein said. “We won districts because of them. If we didn’t have them we might not have won it all.”