Reading High holds off Muhlenberg, returns to Berks title game

(This story will be updated later tonight with details and postgame reaction.)

Muhlenberg flirted with another upset of Reading High, leading late into the third quarter before the top-seeded Red Knights pulled away for a convincing 70-54 win in a Berks Conference semifinal Wednesday at Santander Arena.

Reading High advances to meet second-seeded Berks Catholic in the championship game Friday at Santander at 8.

Danie Alcantara scored a game-high 27 points and had eight rebounds for Reading.

The Red Knights (21-3) took advantage of foul trouble by Muhlenberg big Edwin Suarez, who picked up his third foul late in the first half and his fourth with 2:51 left in the third quarter. Each time he went to the bench the Red Knights went on a run, the second one giving them the lead for good.

Suarez eventually fouled out with 3:12 remaining after scoring nine points and grabbing a game-high 20 rebounds. Reading scored the next nine points.

The Red Knights scored eight straight points with Suarez on the bench to take a 49-44 lead in the final minute of the third quarter.

Suarez returned at the start of the fourth but Reading gradually pulled away, building its first double-digit lead at 60-49 on Justin Walker’s steal and layup with 5:22 remaining.

J’Daniel Mosquera played another terrific floor game for the Muhls and finished with a team-high 17 points.

Muhlenberg had won seven straight, including a 63-61 over Reading last week their regular season finale. They are the only Berks team to beat Reading this season.

Reading fell in last year’s Berks title game to Wilson, 55-53; it came back two weeks later to beat the Bulldogs in the district title game, then went on to their second PIAA Class 6A championship in five seasons. The Red Knights’ last county title came in 2019, when they edged Berks Catholic 33-31.

Reading has won a record 24 Berks championships. Kutztown is second with 17. Muhlenberg has won four, the latest in 1974.

The Red Knights and Muhls had met just four times previously in the Berks playoffs; Reading won each of them.

Muhlenberg, the Berks II champ, advanced to the semifinals with a convincing 70-48 win over Berks III champ Fleetwood. Suarez had 22 points in that game.

Reading High, the Berks I champ, advanced with a romp over Wyomissing.

The teams could run into each other again in the District 3 Class 6A Tournament, if the Muhls win their first two games and the Red Knights win their first. Muhlenberg, the No. 12 seed, opens at No. 5 Cedar Cliff on Tuesday; the winner plays at No. 4 Hempfield.

The Red Knights, the top seed in the tournament, earned an opening-round bye. They’ll open at home in a quarterfinal against either eighth-seeded Waynesboro or ninth-seeded Wilson Friday Feb. 25. They beat Berks I rival Wilson twice this season.