Red Knights advance even without their best shot
The shots were not falling for Reading High Wednesday night in the opening round of the PIAA Tournament.
Ruben Rodriguez was not worried; he never does.
“It happens,” reasoned the Red Knights’ junior guard of his team’s 27-percent first half shooting. “We had to find different ways to attack the game and do what we do best. It was just finding other ways to score.”
Those other ways came off their defense, turnovers that led to breakouts, and the Red Knights came up with enough of those to pull away from Downingtown West for a 56-42 victory in a Class 6A game at the Geigle.
Reading’s offensive numbers weren’t pretty — 3-of-18 from 3-point range, 9-of-33 shooting in the first half, 13-of-22 overall from the foul line — but when you’re holding a team to no more than 10 or 11 points per quarter you can get away with that.
Besides, it’s the state tournament; style points don’t count. It’s survive-and-advance season. No need to read the fine print, just the headline.
“I’m not worried about that,” said Red Knights coach Rick Perez when asked about the perimeter shooting woes that have hovered since the start of districts. “We’re still finding ways to win. You don’t have to play your best game every day, you just have to play the best game that day.”
The Red Knights (26-3) were the best team Wednesday; they left little doubt about that. They held the Whippets to their lowest scoring total of the season. They kept junior guard Dylan Blair, already a 1,000-point scorer, relatively under wraps; he finished with 13 points. They faced another team that towered over their 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 front line and still battled them evenly inside.
Even with 6-10 Jake Warren, who has an offer from St. Joseph’s, and 6-6 Drew Shelton, a Penn State offensive line recruit, the Red Knights were not pushed around inside. Warren grabbed 13 rebounds but most came on the defensive end, and he scored just eight points; Shelton scored seven points, blocked a couple shots, but didn’t make a major impact.
Rodriguez was far more dominant in the open court where came up with eight steals, turning a couple into dunks. He was the beneficiary of some good outlet passes from Xavier Davis and Joey Chapman and used a couple transition baskets on his way to a game-high 23 points.
Still, the Whippets, the 12th-place finisher out of District 1, were hanging around at the end against the District 3 champs. That’s got to be somewhat concerning, no?
“With states, it’s win or go home,” said Davis. “We don’t have a guaranteed next day. And we want to play next day. So we’ve got to make sure we’re giving 100 percent of 100 percent at all times.”
It was still a six-point game when Cooper Hardin knocked down a 3-pointer for West with 1:07 left. Rodriguez followed with four straight free throws over the next 30 seconds, then threw down his third dunk off a steal, igniting an 8-0 finishing run that obscured how tight this one really was.
Reading trailed by four in the first half and didn’t have a double-digit lead in second half until the final minute.
“It was good for us to have a close game like that,” Rodriguez said, “to see what we would do in a really close game and a really big game. I was happy, actually, to see how everybody would react and how we would come together.”
The Red Knights’ broke out for a 68-43 win over Warwick in Saturday’s district title game but a lot of that offense came late.
They have not been the same offensive club since Daniel Alcantara, an All-Berks pick and three-year starter, was lost for the season with a broken hand against Wilson Feb. 25. That shouldn’t come as a surprise: He was their No. 2 scorer, a deft outside shooter and always the No. 1 or 1A offensive option, alongside Rodriguez.
Since he’s been out no one has consistently stepped up to provide that kind of consistent offense. Chapman had a career-high 19 against Warwick but had five points against Downingtown West.
Over the past four games the Red Knights have shot 20 percent (14-for-69) from 3-point range. As the competition gets tougher, as it will Saturday in the second round against Archbishop Wood, that won’t cut it.
“We’ve won in all ways (this season),” Perez said. “We can light it up for 80 or we can play it at 42-40. That’s the thing: Can you win in those ways? A lot of teams, they’re stuck, they can only win one way. We can win many ways.
“We walk out of the (first) half shooting 9-for-33 and we’re 4-for-10 from the line and we have a one-point lead. Defense is always gonna keep us in it.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Downingtown West | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 42 |
| Reading High | 13 | 10 | 15 | 18 | 56 |
| Whippets (18-10) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Hardin | 2-9 | 2-2 | 1-6 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Blair | 5-14 | 0-0 | 3-8 | 2 | 6 | 13 |
| Primanti | 2-5 | 0-1 | 1-3 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Warren | 3-5 | 1-01 | 1-1 | 0 | 13 | 98 |
| Shelton | 2-5 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Fromhartz | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bell | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Poluch | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Suarez | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aman | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 15-43 | 6-8 | 6-19 | 4 | 35/39 | 42 |
| Red Knights (26-3) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Burdine | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| R Rodriguez | 8-17 | 7-8 | 0-3 | 2 | 4 | 23 |
| Grey | 4-13 | 0-1 | 3-9 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Davis | 2-6 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Chapman | 2-8 | 1-5 | 0-1 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| A Rodriguez | 0-5 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Walker | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Totals | 20-58 | 13-22 | 3-18 | 13 | 27/34 | 56 |
Turnovers: Dowingtown West 26, Reading High 9.
These photos and others from Wednesday’s game can be purchased by clicking here:
