What’s it gonna take to stop the Red Knights?
Matt Coldren’s been coaching against Reading High for over 20 years. His Wilson team has played the Red Knights nearly five dozen times in that span: League play, county playoffs and at nearly every stage of the District 3 Tournament.
He’s beaten Reading more times than any other coach in the last two decades, but not this year. Not even close.
“That’s a crazy monster to deal with,” Coldren said after the top-seeded Red Knights overwhelmed the Bulldogs 68-45 in a District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal Friday at the Geigle. “They just keep coming at you.”
The teams were equally matched a season ago, waging one of the greatest season-long basketball battles ever seen in Berks. They met four times and split the series down the middle, each claiming a championship. The Bulldogs won the county title, the Red Knights the district crown.
With All-State guard Stevie Mitchell on the floor it was always a close battle. Stevie’s at Marquette now and the Red Knights (23-3) are in a league all their own. Their three wins over the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (15-9) this season came by a combined 95 points.
Friday’s match-up, at least by the final count, was the closest of the three, but it was never close.
Reading’s fullcourt defense was relentless. The Bulldogs struggled just to get the ball across the halfcourt line, and once there they struggled to find a shot.
They turned it over a staggering 21 times in the first half and played much of the opening without their best player and top ballhandler Cameron Jones, who was in constant foul trouble.
“When Cameron went out with his fourth foul (in the second quarter), we went 100 (full court) with our press and they just kept giving us the ball,” said Reading junior Amier Burdine, just one of a corp of terrific on-ball defenders at coach Rick Perez’s disposal.
“That’s that their main ballhandler,” Burdine said of Jones. “When you take their main ballhandler away, you force other guys to make plays and I feel we just stopped them from doing that.”
The Red Knights ran off 12 straight points in the first quarter to lead 17-5. They were up 26-8 a minute into the second quarter. It was 39-15 after the Red Knights forced three straight turnovers and got three easy buckets late in the second quarter. The lead was 26 at the half.
“We’re playing some high-level defense since the (start of the) Berks County playoffs,” allowed Perez. “It’s Red Knight basketball. It’s been exciting to see them really stay in front of guys, ball pressure, rebound the basketball and just get stops. They’ve been very disciplined and they’ve done a great job of executing the defense.”
Fifth-seeded Cedar Cliff, which edged No. 4 Hempfield 42-40 Friday, will have to deal with that next, in a district semifinal Tuesday at 7 at the Geigle.
The championship game is Saturday, March 5 at Giant Center at 7:45.
The Bulldogs aren’t done. They head to the playback bracket to fight for the fifth, sixth or seventh seed in the PIAA Tournament.
They will play at Hempfield Tuesday at 7. They’ll need to win one of their next two games to qualify for the state tournament.
The biggest concern for the Red Knights at this point is whether or not they’ll have senior Daniel Alcantara back on the court Tuesday, or anytime soon after.
The 6-5 senior took a nasty fall after throwing down a dunk late in the third quarter. He slammed onto the floor, hitting his lower back, where he broke a bone last summer on a similar play.
He remained on the floor for several minutes while being attended to. He walked off the floor on his own a few minutes later but appeared to be in pain and had his left wrist wrapped as he exited the court and headed to the trainer’s room. Perez said after the game Alcantara was taken to the hospital to be examined.
His teammates were obviously shaken up; one left the locker room in tears.
“It was a hard landing,” Burdine said. “It was tough to watch.”
Alcantara was out for several months in the summer and fall after breaking a bone in his back.
“He’s done that so many times,” Perez said of Alcantara falling on similar plays. “I’ve seen that six to eight times. It’s the scariest fall in basketball.”
Without Alcantara the Red Knights obviously won’t be the same team. At 6-5 he’s their tallest player and a key inside defender and rebounder. He’s also their No. 2 scorer and one of their most experienced players.
With him they’ll still be favored to repeat as District 3 champs and will have a chance to make another extended run in the state tournament — maybe all the way to another championship.
“That’s a great team,” Coldren said. “They took advantage of our not wanting the ball. We were a little scared (with the ball). They overwhelmed us.”
Burdine, Joey Chapman and Myles Grey are each elite defenders. Along with Berks Player of the Year Ruben Rodriguez, Alcantara, Xavier Davis and just about anyone else Perez throws out there they blanket the entire floor and constantly pressure ballhandlers.
They’re better, Coldren said, than the team that beat Archbishop Wood in last year’s PIAA championship game.
“One-hundred percent,” he said.
So, what’s it gonna take to stop them?
“It’s gonna take a team that’s got a guard that’s not gonna be fazed by that (pressure), and of course (also has) a big guy,” Coldren said. “There’s a few teams who could do it. (But) anyone who can’t handle that kind of pressure is not going to be able to.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 8 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 45 |
| Reading High | 20 | 25 | 6 | 17 | 68 |
| Bulldogs (15-9) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Jones | 1-10 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| Coldren | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Harding | 4-10 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| Ofure | 3-9 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 9 | 7 |
| Sillah | 6-10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| Melograna | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Breslin | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Gruber | 2-4 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Crocona | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Weitzel | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sekulski | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cieniwiecz | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rigdon | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 19-53 | 2-5 | 5-17 | 11 | 35/39 | 45 |
| Red Knights (23-3) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Burdine | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| R. Rodriguez | 8-17 | 4-6 | 0-4 | 4 | 4 | 20 |
| Grey | 3-9 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Davis | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Alcantara | 5-10 | 5-5 | 0-4 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| A.Rodriguez | 3-5 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Walker | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Chapman | 3-10 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 5 | 7 | 7 |
| Wilson | 2-4 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Osuman | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Garcia | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 27-60 | 11-17 | 3-15 | 15 | 34/35 | 68 |
Turnovers: Wilson 31, Reading High 15.