Reading freshman Jeremiah Camara only getting started in his championship run
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Reading High freshman Jeremiah Camara admits he was a little nervous when he first stepped on the court at Santander Arena Wednesday night for warmups.
Big house. Big floor. Bright lights.
“It’s very different,” he said.
If the 14-year-old had any anxiety about playing on the biggest stage in Berks County sports he kept it to himself. He ran the floor, handled the ball, and took it to the basket with the same grace and assuredness he’s shown throughout his first varsity season.
He scored a game- and season-high 20 points as the Red Knights ran past Muhlenberg 69-47 in a Berks Conference semifinal to set up Friday’s championship rematch against Wilson, back at Santander.
Camara came here as a kid, to watch Lonnie Walker IV and the Red Knights’ take home three straight Berks titles. And a couple years later, to see Ruben Rodriguez score his 1,000th point against Vertical Academy. Like the other 9- and 10-year-olds in the stands he was in awe of the big guys down below.
He felt that way, too, the first time he suited up for Reading in its season-opener 10 weeks ago at Central York.
“I was very apprehensive,” he said. “It was my first time being on a big stage. It was hard for me to fit right in.”
Half-a-dozen games into the season Camara was in Reading’s starting lineup, growing right along with the rest of his young teammates. His growth, along with that of sophomore point guard Weshly Rosario and new starters Nick Chapman and Yadiel Cruz, is the reason the Red Knights’ path has looked much like the stock market in recent weeks: up, up, up.
The Red Knights (17-7), after some early growing pains that saw them sitting with a 7-6 record after an 18-point loss at Coatesville in mid-January, emerged as the team to beat with a late-season rush.
They claimed eight of their final nine regular season games to grab the No. 2 seed, then dispatched Schuylkill Valley and Muhlenberg in the opening rounds of the county tournament.
Camara was considered at the top of the Berks freshman class before the season tipped and he has more than lived up to that billing. He’s third on the team in scoring at 9.9 per game and has produced 33 points in two playoff games.
He was right in the middle of the key moment of Wednesday’s semifinal win when he was fouled, and then the Muhls were hit with a technical foul. Tempers were flaring between the two rivals; there was some minor bumping, stare-downs, and the expected trash talk.
Camara stayed above the fray; he stroked four straight free throws, part of a game-turning seven-point possession and 15-2 run that sent the Red Knights hurtling toward their fourth straight Berks championship game.
“Jeremiah is super-fearless,” Red Knights coach Francis Camara of his son after seeing him score 16 points at Wilson. “He loves the big moments. He’s a kid who enjoys the adversity, and he thrives in it, and you need guys like that who you know are gonna step up in big moments.”
Friday will be a big moment: For the Red Knights, for the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (16-8), and for what has been the most entertaining and competitive basketball rivalry in Berks over the past four decades.
Wilson, first under Reggie Weiss and now under Matt Coldren for the past 23 seasons, has been one of the few local programs (along with Berks Catholic) that has consistently been able to compete with Reading on the biggest stage.
The Bulldogs own 41 wins against Reading, more than anyone else on the planet. They’ve met the Red Knights five times in the Berks championship game. Most will be surprised to know Wilson leads that series 3-2, with wins in 1993 and 1994, when Shane Stafford was knocking them down for the Bulldogs, and in 2021, when Steve Mitchell was at the helm.
Lately it’s been one-sided: The Red Knights have taken eight straight since Mitchell left for Marquette. They won the game before that, too, ending Mitchell’s high school career with a stinging Covid-year District 3 Class 6A championship victory that prevented the Bulldogs from chasing a state title they had a legit shot to win.
Neither of these teams is on a par with those teams but that doesn’t mean it’ll be any less of a championship game Friday night. They’ve met twice this season and each was the same: A taut, knock-down, drag-out that went to the final minute.
It’s safe to say the Bulldogs, who turned back their first two playoff opponents by 23 and 13 points, are playing much better right now than they were when they lost to the Red Knights two weeks ago.
Then again, so are the Red Knights.
A year from now you might be saying the same things about the same teams. Wilson’s top scorers – Correll Akings, Madyx Gruber and Luke Levan – are all underclassmen. Coldren losses just one starter to graduation. The Red Knights will lose four key rotation players to graduation but Jeremiah Camara and Rosario return and they’ll be good enough to carry their team back to this point.
Asked about playing at Santander, home of Berks championship games for more than two decades, Camara said he plans to grow comfortable there.
“I look forward to coming back here a lot,” he said. “I want to make sure I do all the things I can do to make sure my team can come back more.”
