PIAA sets Tuesday’s Final Four sites for Reading High, Wyomissing

Boys BasketballGirls BasketballReading HighWyomissing

By Mike Drago Last updated Mar 17, 2024

Reading's Nico Sosa scores against Coatesville Saturday at Martz Hall. (Johnathan Paroby photo)

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Reading High’s trip to its PIAA semifinal will be a short one . . . Wyomissing’s won’t.

The Red Knights will meet Central York Tuesday at 7 at Warwick in a Class 6A game.

The Spartans hit the road for a trip to Altoona to play Blackhawk at 5:30 in Class 4A.

The Red Knights (22-10) and Panthers (27-3) opened the season against each other more than three months ago in York. Central prevailed 90-73, scoring more points against the Red Knights than any team in nearly a decade.

Francis Camara, after his first game as Reading coach, vowed it would never happen again – and it hasn’t. The Red Knights took their lumps early in the season, then took a spill in the District 3 Tournament, losing its final two games.

They’ve rebounded in the state tournament, beating Chester on the road, taking out District 10 champ Erie McDowell, then turning the tables on Coatesville – a team it lost to by 18 points earlier in the season – for a 62-44 win Saturday at Martz Hall.

Now the Red Knights are back in the state semifinals for the third time in four years and fifth time in nine years. They have made 16 trips to the Final Four but this is the first time they’ve done it in back-to-back seasons.

Central York, the top seed in the district tournament, finished fifth after a quarterfinal loss to No. 8 Red Lion – the same team that beat Reading in the third-place game. It advanced Saturday with 71-60 win over Upper St. Clair. It avenged its loss to Red Lion one round earlier.

Wyomissing exacted some revenge of its own Saturday with its 61-46 win over Pittsburgh North Catholic, the team that ended its season last year.

Now the Spartans (31-0), the only unbeaten team in the state – girls or boys – faces District 7 runner-up Blackhawk (25-3), which advanced with a 43-19 win Saturday over Fairview.

The PIAA championship games are Saturday at Giant Center: The Classs 4A girls game is at noon, the 6A boys game at 8.