Practice makes (almost) perfect for Saints’ Jack Miller
Some of the guys at Berks Catholic call him “Radar” or “Logo” because of his ability to shoot so accurately from beyond the 3-point arc.
A better nickname for Jack Miller might be “Backbreaker,” because that’s the role he plays with the Saints.
They’re loaded with offensive threats. Ryan Koch and Aiden Sands are dangerous from 3-point range and have to be accounted for. Then there’s Josiah Jordan, who’s in constant attack mode; he’s relentless taking the ball to the glass.
Trying to lock down all of them is a demanding chore. As you do the 5-10 Miller lurks on the wing, ready to launch a back-breaking 3-pointer at any moment.
“It’s pretty special,” Saints coach Snip Esterly said of Miller’s shooting ability after watching him drop three 3’s as part of an overwhelming attack in an 80-64 Berks Conference crossover win against Muhlenberg Thursday at Wolf Gymnasium.
“He’s got perfect form,” Esterly said of the junior off guard. “It’s so quick, but yet he gets everything right. Sometimes when you speed your shot up you get out of sync. He’s got a quick release, and it’s gone.”
Miller has worked tirelessly on that shot. He spends an hour or two every day in the offseason working on 3-pointers and free throws. He’s shooting over 82 percent from the foul line, and probably 50 percent from 3-point range.
“That’s all I practice,” he said. “I love to shoot, that’s my thing. I try to get it down and help this team win.”
He’s done that. He’s got 23 of the Saints’ 102 3-pointers. They easily should break the program record for 3’s in a season.
Esterly said before the year that this could be the best shooting team he’s ever coached and they showed it again; they’ve hit more 3’s than any team in the Berks Conference.
They were firing on all cylinders Thursday when they hit 9-of-16 shots from beyond the arc; five different guys hit one.
“It puts tremendous pressure on when you’ve got a guy like ‘Jay-Jay’ that can penetrate and find these people,” Esterly said of Jordan. “I mean, you’ve got Ryan, he can shoot 3’s; Jack can shoot 3’s; Aiden can shoot 3’s; Aron (Reinhart) can shoot 3’s off the bench; Parker Nein coming off the bench can shoot 3’s.”
The Saints (6-2 Berks I, 13-2) had no answer for Edwin Suarez in the opening quarter and trailed by a point after watching him score 11 points for the Berks II-leading Muhls (5-2, 11-4).
The second quarter was a different story. The Saints cranked it up a notch on defense, held Muhlenberg without a point for more than 4 1/2 minutes and zoomed ahead with a 12-0 run that gave them a double-digit cushion they maintained the rest of the way.
Jordan capped the run and put Berks Catholic ahead 29-18, scoring in transition off a pass from Miller. The junior lead guard finished with a career-best 27 points, 17 in the second half when the Saints pushed the lead to 20 at one point.
Suarez finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds but sat out 6 1/2 minutes of the second half after drawing four quick fouls in the third quarter. Even when he returned his team never made a serious run.
Jordan was good on 12-of-20 shots, had five assists and nine rebounds. He, like his team, is getting better with each passing week.
The Saints were at their best at times Thursday, rapidly moving the ball down the floor, finding open shooters and aggressively taking it to the basket. They look like Reading High’s biggest challenger for the county title and a top contender for the District 3 Class 4A championship. They entered the night ranked No. 1 in 4A power rating.
They handed Muhlenberg its worst loss of the season. The Muhls’ three previous defeats came by a combined 11 points.
“We wanted to take this team out,” Jordan said. “(We know) they’re a team we have to beat.”
The Saints endured their first losing season a year ago. It’s been a different story this year.
“I love the improvement we’ve had since last year,” Jordan said. “Everything’s really starting to come together. We’re going to be a team to beat.”
Miller is a big part of that. He had 14 points Thursday, one shy of his career high. He took just four shots, all from beyond the arc, and hit three of them. He was also good on 5-of-6 free throws.
He had an open look from the corner early in the second half but it didn’t go in. He wasn’t the only person in the building surprised when it didn’t drop.
“I thought that was going in, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I think it’s going to go in every time. It feels good off my hand every single time.”
Esterly admits he didn’t have much hope for Miller when he first showed up at Berks Catholic. He was small and not in great shape. Esterly didn’t envision him getting on the floor much.
Miller worked hard to get stronger and quicker. He worked to refine his shooting form with his dad Joe, a guard on Central Catholic’s 1985 PIAA championship team. Jack started getting minutes last season and came on strong last summer.
“When he came up as a ninth-grader, I had no idea that he’d be starting (some day),” Esterly said, “no idea, because he was small, and he wasn’t very strong. Now he’s strong. He’s got decent quickness. And he knows how to play. He’s a coach on the floor, that’s what he is.”
These photos and others from the game can by purchased from PhilMarphoto.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Muhlenberg | 18 | 6 | 21 | 19 | 64 |
| Berks Catholic | 17 | 18 | 25 | 20 | 80 |
| Muhls (5-2, 11-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Suarez | 11-23 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 14 | 27 |
| Mosquera | 3-9 | 2-2 | 1-5 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Alexis | 2-9 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Tomlinson | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Robertson | 2-7 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Valentin | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adonis | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Branch | 4-7 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| Alcantara | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Reyes | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Collado | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Zaorski | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 24-62 | 7-8 | 7-22 | 2 | 28/37 | 64 |
| Saints (6-2, 13-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Sands | 6-13 | 2-3 | 2-3 | 0 | 9 | 16 |
| Jordan | 12-20 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 5 | 9 | 27 |
| Koch | 3-8 | 4-6 | 1-3 | 1 | 7 | 11 |
| Miller | 3-4 | 5-6 | 3-4 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| Givens | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Reinhart | 2-3 | 0-1 | 2-3 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Nein | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Geddio | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gaffney | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Doyle | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lawlor | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cacchione | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 28-53 | 15-23 | 9-16 | 11 | 29/32 | 80 |
Turnovers: Berks Catholic 7, Muhlenberg 12.
