Red Knights face another milestone, another test, in PIAA Tournament
Reading High is on the threshold of a 30-win season.
That’s an achievement not to be taken lightly. There have been only a dozen in Berks boys basketball history, and none over the last dozen seasons.
The last time the Red Knights reached 30 wins Lonnie Walker IV was soaring above local rims.
Reading has a chance to hit that milestone again Saturday when it faces New Castle in a PIAA Class 6A quarterfinal at Altoona High School at 2.
“That’s outstanding,” said Red Knights coach Rick Perez when asked about his team’s 29-1 record, the program’s best after 30 games since the 2007-08 opened 30-0. “It’s crazy. Just count your blessings. We’re just watching people growing and watching greatness.”
A 30th win will send the Red Knights into the state semifinals for the second time in three years and fourth time in eight years, since Walker’s junior season. Reading has won more than 85 percent of its games over that span, going 204-35.
New Castle is the Western Pa. version of Reading High. The Red Hurricanes (24-3) have had similar success in recent years, though usually as lower classifications. They have won better than 86 percent of their games during Ralph Blundo’s 13 seasons as head coach.
That includes seven WPIAL titles and nine title-game appearances. They lost to Pittsburgh Central Catholic 61-52 in the district championship game March 4. It was their first loss of the season with senior guard Isaiah Boice on the floor.
Boice was leading the team in scoring at 18 points per game and New Castle was 10-0 when he was lost for a month with a broken foot Jan. 6. The ’Canes lost a pair of games without him, to Central Catholic and Mars.
“He’s one of the best players in the WPIAL,” Blundo told the New Castle News, “one of the greatest players to play here, so it makes a difference. No high school team can afford to lose one of the best players. You just can’t.”
New Castle is 17-1 when Boice, who averages 16.5 points, is in the backcourt with 5-9 senior point Jonathan Anderson, who averages a team-best 17.4 points.
“Great guards are gold,” Blundo said. “I think, in high school basketball probably more than any other level of basketball, really good guards and a great point guard go a long way.”
That makes Saturday’s match-up intriguing because the Red Knights have some pretty good guards, too.
Ruben Rodriguez is a two-time All-State pick committed to play at Rider University; he has scored 1,953 points, eighth all-time in Berks, and leads Berks in scoring at 22.1 points per game. Grey is an All-Berks point guard, averages 13.5 points and is one of the top 3-point shooters in program history. He knocked down eight in a first-round win over Haverford.
Reading has been one of the state’s top big-school programs over the past decade, with PIAA championships in 2017 and 2021.
This is New Castle’s first season in the state’s highest classification. The ’Canes played in Class 5A the last two seasons. Last year they reached the state title game, losing to Imhotep Charter. Previously, it played in Class 4A and won a PIAA championship under Blundo in 2014, beating La Salle College.
New Castle was bumped up one classification for this cycle due to the PIAA’s Success Formula. The school has a male enrollment, grades 10-12, of 361. Reading High’s male enrollment is 2,222, highest in the state. Blundo took a jab at that.
“Reading is a similar school as New Castle,” he said after his team’s latest win, 65-56 over a Downingtown West team the Red Knights beat by 18 in January. “They’re just seven or eight times our size.”