City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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HERSHEY — Chris Whitaker felt he owed his teammates.

They’d gotten him to the second half with a flourish — with the 6-3 senior struggling before the break and in a bit of foul difficulty — so Whitaker figured it was his turn to make something happen since the outcome remained unresolved.

And, down the stretch, that’s exactly what he did.

Scoring four of his 16 points in the final 30 seconds, Whitaker’s late surge helped propel Harrisburg to a 61-58 victory over top-seeded Reading in a District 3 Class 6A semi that had everyone tucked inside Hershey’s Giant Center on the edge of their seats.

“That’s how I felt,” admitted Whitaker, who scored 14 second-half points. “Me being in foul trouble and not playing too well, they really stepped up and they carried me to the second half. As a team, we always look to pick up each other and have each others’ backs — and they did a great job of that.

"So coming out at half, I felt as though I really had to get going.”

Quintyn “Tito” Flemister played exceptionally well throughout for Kirk Smallwood’s club (18-6), collecting 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor while dishing out six assists. Tony James also cracked double digits for the ‘Burg, banking 12 points.

Harrisburg’s bigs — Micah Parsons, Damion Barber and Elijah Barrett — added a combined 17 points and 17 rebounds to the Cougars’ splendid collective effort.

“Everyone stepped up today,” Flemister said. “From the last man to Chris. We all stepped up. We all played well as a team. We all shared the ball. And at the end, it just helped us.”

Tuesday night’s victory pushed the No. 4 Cougars into Saturday’s Class 6A championship game opposite Hempfield. Hempfield downed Lebanon 53-40 in the other semi.

Miami (Fla.) recruit Lonnie Walker dialed up 19 points for Rick Perez’s Red Knights (24-3), who had their 21-game winning streak brought to a halt. Reading, which will play in Thursday’s third-place game, also picked up 17 points from Tyrone Nesby.

While the Cougars led by 14 points (39-25) with 5:15 left in the third on a James stickback, Reading was able to pull within seven (46-39) by the end of the third. They weren't done, though, as an 11-2 spurt to start the fourth capped by Hector Dixon’s stickback had the Knights up 50-48.

Just 4:35 remained.

Walker swatted away Whitaker’s layup moments later, but a goaltending call on that play made it 50-all. Nesby pushed the Knights back in front (53-50) with a conventional three-point play, but James answered with a mid-range jump shot.

And when Jose Genao canned the front end of a two-shot look at the 1:43 mark, Reading’s lead sat at 56-52.

Harrisburg, however, refused to buckle.

“We just knew we had to stay confident and not let them get to us,” Flemister recalled. “We just had to keep fighting and keep fighting helped us win the game.”

“I just thought our kids kept fighting,” Smallwood said. “We don’t always do things correctly, but our kids play with a whole lot of heart and fight.”

Flemister buried his fourth trey from deep on the left wing to pull the Cougars within one. Then, after a Walker miss, Zion Patterson sank both ends of a one-and-one to put the ‘Burg back in front — and initiate some see-saw action in the final minute.

While Walker gave Reading its final lead with 58 seconds remaining with a pair of free throws, that merely set the stage for Whitaker’s productive finish. Although Whitaker’s runner with 29.2 to go put the Cougars back in front to stay, Wesley Butler missed a pair that could have tied the game or returned the lead to Perez’s bunch.

Whitaker had a chance to stretch the lead, but missed a front end. Moments later, Patterson forced a held-ball situation near the stripe — and with the arrow pointing in Harrisburg’s direction — the Cougars regained possession.

A second or so later, Whitaker buried a pair to push the lead to three (61-58). And once Nesby’s trey from the right wing glanced off the iron and Parsons grabbed the rebound, the Cougars were on the way back to a District 3 final for the first time since 2013.

“Legs,” Whitaker said of his thoughts going to the line late. “Legs, fatigue and get the ball up. That’s all I really felt was get the ball. I felt like I had the city on my back, that I had the team and the city on my back and I just wanted to put the game away.

“I knew I was built [for that] and I prepared for that moment, so it felt good.”

Obviously, a wild celebration ensued.

“It feels good,” Smallwood admitted. “Any time you knock off the No. 1 seed and it’s a historical rival for us as a school district [it’s a huge deal].”

While few outside the Cougars’ locker room may have given Smallwood’s fourth-seeded outfit a chance to knock off the highly regarded Knights, the ‘Burg played with confidence, poise (despite turning the ball over 23 times) and shot 58 percent (24-for-41) from the floor.

Flemister was exceptionally effective running the show, slipping past Reading’s determined efforts to trap him and getting the ball to the right spots. He also pestered the Knights with his ability to knock down big shots from distance.

“I just knew it was a big game,” Flemister admitted. “So I just knew that I had to stay confident as a senior guard, so I just took a couple shots early and they were just falling for me.”

“That’s what Harrisburg point guards are,” Whitaker added. “Harrisburg point guards have a tradition of providing the glue and being the guy that keeps the team together. And Tito did a great job. As the point guard/leader, he’s the coach on the court.”

James — the Cougars’ Mr. Fundamental — was one player who stepped into the breach when Whitaker struggled before the break as eight of his 12 points arrived as the ‘Burg constructed a 32-21 halftime lead. Barrett, meanwhile, added six of his seven.

“He’s a big brother to me,” James said of Whitaker. “So, I knew I had to step up and I could just knock down the mid-range jumpers. I worked on it a lot and I could shoot it. Before the game, I was feeling it so I knew I was gonna come out and hit the shot.”

Harrisburg also flashed a number of defensive looks throughout — man, some 1-2-2 three-quarter court pressure and a compact 3-2 zone — that really forced the Knights to ponder their next step since they were unable to flash into the paint at will.

“That was an idea of our coaching staff,” Smallwood said of the 3-2 zone. “We ran our kids through it, they felt comfortable with it, we taught them the ins and outs of it and they picked up on it. … We decided to bring it on to the floor today.”

“We watched a lot of film on these dudes,” James added. “We knew the 3-2 could slow them down because Lonnie just can’t barrel down the lane and get buckets easy.”

What followed was a 4-for-21 effort from the arc.

Another factor that helped the Cougars was playing in a number of tight games throughout the regular season, and those down-to-the-wire affairs paid off handsomely on Tuesday night against a Reading side that hadn't been tested in quite some time.

Now, Harrisburg is headed back to a District 3 title game.

“We’re finally back, it feels good,” Whitaker said. “We can’t harp on this win, so we need to go right back to work tomorrow and prepare for Hempfield in the district final.

“It feels good to take Harrisburg back where it needs to be.”