There’s no stopping Jordan, Saints, from reaching Giant Center
Josiah Jordan knew right away Monday was going to be a special night for him, and for his Berks Catholic teammates.
The first time the junior point guards touched the ball he put it on the floor, blew past his defender and easily got to the basket.
“I love these (kind of) nights,” he said. “I came out knowing I had a much slower defender on me, and I took advantage of that.”
Fourth-seeded Littlestown and the big guy in the middle of its trapping defense, 6-7 sophomore Christopher Meakin, gave the top-seeded Saints fits at times with their 1-3-1 zone, but it never had an answer for Jordan.
He blew past the Thunderbolts for 21 points, sparking the Saints to a 58-46 victory in a District 3 Class 4A semifinal at Wolf Gymnasium and paving their road to Thursday’s championship game against third-seeded Middletown.
“We let Jay-Jay do a little bit too much,” said Littlestown coach John Forster. “He’s a quick kid; you’ve got to be able to be a step faster than we were tonight.”
Jordan was pretty much unstoppable on the football field last fall when he scored 20 touchdowns, averaged 8.5 yards per carries and was a terror on kick returns.
He displays the same kind of game-changing burst on the basketball court, the kind few teams can defend. Give him a slight crack and he’s through it, into the lane and in scoring position.
“Their 1-3-1 was really spaced out,” said Berks Catholic junior Ryan Koch, “so Jay-Jay attacked the splits and got to the basket.
“I could tell (he was headed for a big night). He wanted it. He came into the locker room all hype.”
Jordan made it look almost too easy at times Monday. He was in attack mode the whole time, and when he wasn’t scoring he was finding guys under the basket, open because the Littlestown bigs came out to try to stop him.
He assisted on seven of the 15 Saints’ baskets he didn’t score himself. He also had five steals.
“He did a fantastic job owning the game tonight,” Forster said. “They shoot a lot of 3’s, and a lot of it’s him getting to the basket and kicking it out.”
Those 3’s weren’t falling like they usually do and that helped the Thunderbolts scramble back into the game in the fourth quarter. Berks Catholic was up as many as 15 points midway through the third and threatening to turn it into a route.
Then Aidan Sands picked up his third foul, Forster went to the 1-3-1 and the Saints went cold.
“Jay-Jay did the right thing (with the ball),” said Berks Catholic coach Snip Esterly. “He hit our shooters at times, they just didn’t make ’em; that’s a rarity.”
The best shooting team in program history missed 13-of-15 shots from beyond the arc, including its final 11. Meakin had something to do with that. He was stationed at the top of the 1-3-1, took up a lot of space and moved quickly from wing to wing to chase the ball.
The Saints had opener shooters but didn’t get the ball to them quickly enough, and their offensive flow was disrupted. The Thunderbolts took advantage, making their move and pulling as close as 40-36 with 6:13 to go.
“We were concerned,” Jordan admitted, “but we knew what we had to do; we knew what was on the line.”
The Thunderbolts hung tough until the final minute; it was still a six-point game with 1:03 left. Then Jordan, working out of the spread offense, blew past his man and got to the hole to make it 54-48.
Koch, who finished with 15 points, and Tyler Givens closed it out with one-and-ones to make it a double-digit lead again. A minute later they started passing out Hershey bars.
After a rough couple of seasons — including their first losing record last year — the Saints are back in the winner’s circle. They’ll play for their first district trophy since Casey Jack, Tre Dabney, Luis Garcia and that crew claimed one, beating Bishop McDevitt in the 2018 title game.
“Fantastic,” said Esterly. “Think of it: They won six games last year. We’ve won 22 right now and (we’re) playing for another championship.”
Berks Catholic will play Middletown Thursday at 4:15 Giant Center. The Saints have had their sights set on being there for months.
“At the beginning of the season we knew what we were capable of,” said Jordan, one of three return starters. “We executed and now we’re here. That’s all we wanted.”
“Our goal was to get to Hershey, and to make a state run,” Koch said. “Seeing it happen is just crazy.”
To purchase these photos or others from Monday’s game game, click here.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Littlestown | 12 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 46 |
| Berks Catholic | 17 | 14 | 9 | 18 | 58 |
| Thunderbolts (19-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Thomas | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Unger | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bosley | 5-8 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 10 | 13 |
| Meakin | 3-13 | 8-13 | 0-2 | 2 | 15 | 14 |
| Herr | 4-14 | 7-8 | 2-7 | 0 | 4 | 17 |
| Riley | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 13-42 | 17-25 | 3-16 | 4 | 31/32 | 46 |
| Saints (22-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Sands | 5-10 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| Jordan | 9-19 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 7 | 5 | 21 |
| Koch | 5-11 | 3-3 | 2-6 | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| Miller | 0-6 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Givens | 3-5 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Reinhart | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Cacchione | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lawlor | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nein | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 24-56 | 8-10 | 2-15 | 9 | 28/33 | 58 |
Turnovers: Littlestown 18, Berks Catholic 9.
