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PIAA 6A: Walker, Reading survive Ryan to reach state championship

03/22/2017, 12:30am EDT
By Graham Foley

Lonnie Walker (above) poured in 35 points as Reading advanced to its first state championship game in over four decades. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Graham Foley (@Graham_Foley3)
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When facing an early deficit and trying to punch its ticket to the PIAA 6A state championship game, Reading counted on senior Lonnie Walker, the player who meant the most to the team and the Reading community, to put the Knights on top.

He did not disappoint.

The University of Miami signee dropped 35 points, two shy of a career high, in front of an electric Liacouras Center as Reading took down Archbishop Ryan 57-51 in the PIAA 6A semifinals on Tuesday night.

They’ll play in the championship game on Saturday at Hershey’s GIANT Center, taking on Pine-Richland. It’s the school’s first PIAA title game appearance in 44 years.

“It’s just a relief,” Walker said about getting to the championship a year after his team lost in the semifinals. “And it makes me even hungrier to know that we are one win away from getting that ring I always dreamed about and bringing a state championship home for my city and my community.”

The Knights (29-3) suffered through a tough first half, filled with turnovers and impressive offensive possessions from the Raiders (24-5). With a little more than three minutes left in the second quarter, Reading saw itself down 27-18.

That’s when Walker took over. He hit back-to-back 3-point shots, the latter of which came past NBA range from the sideline. He then slammed a breakaway dunk and followed it with another 3-pointer, an 11-0 run by himself.

Reading, with its fans going wild, took a 27-26 lead to the locker room at halftime and never lost the lead.

“I just did not give up,” Walker said. “Last year, getting to the semifinals and getting blown out, it hurt. So I was just thinking about that game and how this game was not going to be like last year, and I just gave it my all.”

“He was courageous,” head coach Rick Perez said about Walker. “He just made a decision and said ‘this is what’s going to happen, this is what we’re going to do,’ and everybody follow me.”

Even the man he will be playing for next year was blown away.

Jim Larrañaga, head coach at Miami, made the trip north to see his recruit play on Tuesday by having a friend fly him and his wife on his private plane. He said he landed in Philadelphia at 5 p.m. and planned to return to Miami that night a little after 1 a.m.

It was certainly worth the trip.

“Lonnie was phenomenal,” Larrañaga said of his future player. “His explosion just before the half was absolutely amazing. He just went on a roll. In the second half, his poise and his leadership really led to a great victory and a chance to win a state championship.”

While Larrañaga has always been impressed with Walker’s abilities on the court, he said his presence off the court was truly substantial and unprecedented.

“He’s not just a special player but a special individual,” Larrañaga said. “He’s such an icon in his community and the Reading community has really adopted him and supported him in such a big way and supported the team.

“When we were in Reading, the number of young kids and adults that came up to him, wanting to do selfies, wanting to do autographs, and he was so polite, so mature, so mannerly, he always took time. That’s a great quality.”

Fans from Reading made the 57-mile journey in droves, filling the lower sections of Liacouras Center and making what should have been a road game against a Philadelphia Catholic League school into a home one.

After the game, dozens of kids lined the bottom stairs of the arena yelling “Lonnie!” and waiting for Walker to greet them and give one lucky fan a headband. Walker said that talents like himself often play basketball at private schools in the area. But he wanted to stay home with Reading and be a positive force in the town.

“Staying home, I wanted to see if I could bring motivation, inspire the youth, and bring back the community,” Walker said. “I was beyond proud of myself with how the kids see me.

“I see kids going from Cs and Ds going to having straight As in school. And their teachers are coming up to me saying ‘thank you’ and I say ‘I’m just playing basketball’ but just that I’m inspiring the youth and inspiring the community, it just shows there’s more to it than just basketball.”

While being such a role model to a community like Reading on and off the court can mount a lot of pressure, it’s clearly never affected the affable 18-year-old.

“I love that role,” Walker said. “I’ve never felt pressure, I don’t even know what it is. I just know that when you have a whole city behind your back supporting you like a backbone, that just makes you stronger.”

Perez said that Walker’s impact on the Reading community will be felt for a long time.

“There’s a quote from Maya Angelou that ‘people may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel,’” Perez said. “I think that’s how Lonnie Walker impacts our community. People aren’t going to remember all the details in his games but they’re all going to remember the hugs and the smiles.”

As the final buzzer sounded and Walker and his team celebrated, it marked the end of a dream season for Archbishop Ryan. After reaching the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals for the first time ever last year, the Raiders went farther into the state tournament this season than ever before.

The Raiders controlled the game for most of the first half. Senior wing Izaiah Brockington, an NJIT commit scored 14 of his total 16 points in the first half. He and Bowling Green commit Matiss Kulackovskis (13 points) led Ryan to what became a 11-point advantage.

However, Reading rode the momentum of its 13-0 run to close the half (which extended 19-0 run in the second half) and never looked back. Along with Walker, sophomore Wesley Butler scored 10 pts to help pull the load offensively. Senior Jose Genao added four points, all of which came by hitting important free throws at the end of the game

Walker said his community has been anxious for a championship and that his team has come a long way since his freshman year when they were just 15-15. He feels they will be ready to play.

“We’re excited that we finally made it,” Walker said. “We want it more than anybody else. And I know come Saturday, playing against those teams, the crowd and environment is going to be ridiculous and filled with Reading fans.”


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