Red Knights: 23 District 3 titles, and counting (updated with boxscore)
HERSHEY — No. 23 wasn’t quite as easy as anticipated.
When Reading High returned seven of its top nine players from a PIAA championship team, some were conceding this year’s District 3 Class 6A title to it.
It seemed to go smoothly enough Saturday night, when the Red Knights rolled up a double-digit first half lead and went on to beat seventh-seeded Warwick 68-43 at Giant Center.
Getting to that point wasn’t easy. There were some early season suspensions to three players in the rotation, a confidence-shaking loss at Muhlenberg late in the regular season and then the ground-mover: a season-ending injury that took All-State pick Daniel Alcantara out of the picture.
The Red Knights (25-3) have rallied around that loss, letting their added emotional fire fill in for the scoring and rebounding they’re no longer getting from Alcantara, a senior and three-year starter.
Once again, Berks Player of the Year Ruben Rodriguez was at the forefront, scoring a game-high 23 points. The district championship was the third in as many years for the junior guard: He won a 5A title with Muhlenberg as a freshman and two more since transferring to Reading High.
“Ruben, he’s a tireless worker,” said Reading coach Rick Perez. “He prepares for these moments. He loves playing basketball, and you can see that in the way that he plays.”
“I don’t know what it is, that’s just what he does somehow,” said Reading’s Myles Grey of Rodriguez. “He came out very, very hot today. That’s just who he is.”
The Warriors (20-6) didn’t go down easily: They were within 41-36 in the final minutes of the third quarter. Then the Red Knights lowered the boom. They cranked up the defensive intensity, scored the final nine points of the third quarter and the first six of the fourth to officially turn this one into a rout. They led by as many as 28 at one point in the fourth quarter.
The Red Knights gave up some easy baskets the in the first quarter, when they allowed 15 points, but started applying fullcourt ball pressure in the second — that’s when they began to expand their lead.
Joey Chapman, again wearing Alcantara’s No. 21, started a 16-5 second period closing run with a feed inside to Xavier Davis. He scored twice during the run, taking an inside feed from Ruben Rodriguez and then scoring off the glass. Chapman finished with 19 points.
“Oh my goodness, he played great today,” Grey said of Chapman. “There’s a lot of emotion for all of us. Joey, he came out here and played at a high level. Lot of experience he has. He’s a true leader. He leads with his emotions and his actions. I expect nothing less from him.”
Ruben Rodriguez opened the first half on fire, with a dunk for the first score of the game following shortly thereafter by a pair of 3-pointers.
District 3 championship No. 23 was special for other reasons: It marked the first time in 45 years the Red Knights have won back-to-back titles. You’d have to go back to 1976-77 to find the last one, and back to the mid-1950s to find the one before that.
Just getting back to the title game was special: This fifth straight trip to the district finals for the Red Knights. You’d have to back to the 1970’s, when Jim Gano was on the bench, to find the last time they did that.
Also, this is the eighth year in a row they have played at Giant Center. Last year’s district title game was played at Berks Catholic, the Red Knights’ COVID home, because Giant Center wasn’t utilized for districts due to the pandemic.
Twice in recent years, including last year, Reading High celebrated a PIAA championship in Hershey.
“Clearly they’ve been to the Giant Center a few more times than we have,” Warwick coach Chris Christensen deadpanned earlier this week.
Alcantara broke his hand against Wilson Feb. 25; he had surgery Thursday. The Red Knights played without him for the first time in Tuesday’s semifinal, a 46-39 win over Cedar Cliff.
They missed his scoring, outside shooting ability and his length — at 6-5 he was the tallest player in the rotation — but made up for his loss with increased passion, if that’s possible for a group that always leaves it all out on the floor.
“We understood that, yes, he’s no longer with us,” said senior center Xavier Davis after the Cedar Cliff win, “but with or without him we have to continue to reach the next level. We want to maintain that level of intensity, we want to maintain that work ethic.”
“We still hope he comes back,” said senior Joey Chapman, who took Alcantara’s spot in the starting lineup, and wore his No. 21 jersey, “but right now we’ll go play with the team we have right now and play with a different intensity.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Warwick | 15 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 43 |
| Reading High | 17 | 18 | 15 | 18 | 68 |
| Warriors (20-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Landis | 3-9 | 3-5 | 3-6 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Evans | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Sapp | 4-7 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Horst | 3-7 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Fink | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnson | 3-3 | 4-6 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Krall | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hoag | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 16-38 | 7-11 | 4-17 | 7 | 17/20 | 43 |
| Red Knights (25-3) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Burdine | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| R. Rodriguez | 8-13 | 4-4 | 3-6 | 4 | 4 | 23 |
| Grey | 3-12 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| Davis | 4-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| Chapman | 9-12 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3 | 5 | 19 |
| A.Rodriguez | 2-9 | 1-1 | 1-5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Walker | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
| Wilson | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osumanu | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 28-55 | 7-9 | 5-16 | 12 | 28/30 | 68 |
Turnovers: Warwick 13, Reading High 10.