Reading High’s latest win over struggling Harrisburg hardly a Classic

For many years Harrisburg and Reading High battled for supremacy in District 3 big-school basketball.

They’ve met four times in championship games, three times in semifinals, and often the Cougars inflicted some real pain on the Red Knights.

The once-mighty Cougars have fallen on hard times. They opened the season with a dozen straight losses and Saturday were on the short end of the most lopsided game the 51-year-old series, falling to the Red Knights 77-35 in the final game of the Geigle Classic.

Ruben Rodriguez had 30 points and Myles Grey 22 for the Red Knights (17-1), most of the damage inflicted in the first half as Reading piled up a 55-21 lead by intermission. Rodriguez and Grey combined for 45 first-half points.

The loss left the Cougars, who underwent a coaching change in the offseason, at 2-14.

The win was the fifth straight for Reading in the series, which began in 1971-72. It’s Reading’s longest winning streak in the series since taking 13 in a row from 1978-85.

It was just four years ago that Harrisburg beat Reading for the District 3 Class 6A title at the Red Knights’ home away from home, Santander Arena. Two years before that they stunned Lonnie Walker IV’s senior team in the district semifinals, 61-58 — Reading’s last loss before regrouping to win the PIAA championship.

It was never close Saturday. Rodriguez scored 12 points and Grey 11 in the first quarter as the Red Knights raced to a 24-10 lead.

The win gives the Red Knights a 34-18 lead in the series. The Cougars still have the upper hand in the playoffs, 9-7; that figure won’t change this season. While the Red Knights are positioned to be the top seed in the tournament the Cougars won’t come close to making the 12-team field.

Kirk Smallwood resigned as Harrisburg coach in March after 39 seasons and 680 victories, including a pair of PIAA titles and nine district titles. The Cougars went 5-17 in his final season.

Smallwood was replaced by former Cougars standout Demone Maxwell, who played on the 1998 state championship team. Maxwell was a 1,000-point scorer and the first Cougar named first-team All-State.

Saturday’s closing match-up was originally supposed to be against Archbishop Wood, but the schedule was changed several weeks ago.