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Reading Tip-Off: Snow can't slow La Salle College HS or St. Joe's Prep

12/16/2017, 12:45am EST
By Michael Bullock

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)

READING — On a day when some untimely weather issues could have caused St. Joseph’s Prep to leave its multi-faceted game on some slow-moving bus, Darius Kinnel and his Hawks teammates weren’t about to let a late arrival get in the way of what they wanted to do on the floor.

Calm from start to finish — despite a drawn-out drive from Philadelphia to Albright College’s Bollman Center that took them some four hours to complete — Kinnel directed traffic from his lead guard spot in the backcourt and probably could have done whatever he wanted whenever he chose.

Yet Kinnel was content to get his Hawks teammates in the flow and touches when they found themselves with scoring opportunities, grab a few rebounds and even block several shots as Speedy Morris’ well-versed basketball team carved up a quality Berks Catholic side 48-25 in the delayed opening game of Hoop Group’s Reading Tip-Off Showcase.

Game 1 was supposed to start at 6:30, but didn’t tip until just before 8.

No problem.

Hey, at least the Hawks sat down for dinner before they left.

“When we finally arrived here, our coaches went over our scouting report and tried to get our minds right and tried to get us ready,” Kinnel recalled. “Then we just came in here and tried to get as loose as possible and tried to jump around and really tried to come in here ready so we could win.”

While Kinnel topped Prep (5-0) with 11 points — he also dished out four assists, grabbed three boards and blocked a pair of shots before sitting down with about two minutes to play — Jacob O’Connell tacked on 10 points and Kyle Thompson finished with nine.

Prep even played the final 13-plus minutes with La Salle recruit Ed Croswell parked on the bench with four fouls. Croswell collected seven points, seven boards, two assists and two blocks before departing.

So, the bottom line, is there was a lot to like about Prep’s latest success — despite its woes traveling on Pennsylvania’s clogged and snow-covered byways.

“It was hectic and it was so crazy,” Kinnel admitted. “We had trouble just getting out of Philly. I fell asleep and I woke up an hour later and we were still in East Falls. It was crazy. It was worth it to come out here and get a win, though. I loved how our guys played.”

While the Hawks didn’t shoot it great — just under 40 percent — they held Berks Catholic (2-1) to less than 20 percent from the floor (9-for-44) with some sticky man defense.Snip Esterly’s Saints missed all seven of their 3-point attempts and were just 7-for-18 from the free-throw line.

“I’m proud of the guys,” Morris said of career victory No. 995. “They played well.

“No complaints tonight.”

Must have been some smooth talking by Morris’ coaching staff on the bus — and after the Hawks settled into their Bollman Center digs and traded boots for sneakers.

An early 8-0 spurt also helped, as a Thompson slash, a Thompson trey from the right corner off a Kinnel dish and a Kinnel 3-pointer off a Gabe Arizin feed had the Hawks up 10-2 just three minutes into the 32-minute exercise. While Berks Catholic was able to slice its deficit to five late in the first quarter and again with some three minutes gone in the second half, they never got closer.

“We really try to get everybody shots,” Kinnel said. “We have a really talented team this year, so we really try to get everybody in the best position to score.”

Once the Saints pulled within five (21-16) the second time, another 8-0 burst featuring a nice pull-up from the elbow by Thompson, Arizin’s trey from deep on the left wing (off a Kinnel delivery) and two O’Connell freebies. Prep actually led by as many as 24 before Morris brought on the backups.

Diminutive junior Luis Garcia, Berks Catholic’s most valuable player in the game, led Esterly’s Saints with eight points and eight rebounds. O’Connell, the 6-10 junior transfer from Eastern Regional (N.J.) landed MVP honors for Prep after adding seven boards to his 10 points.

“They really are solid,” Kinnel said of the Saints. “They got a big win [Thursday] night against [Conwell-Egan], so we came in here and we had to respect them and I think we really got the job done.”

“They’re a good team,” added Morris, whose Hawks entertain St. Ignatius College of Sydney, Australia, today. “They’re a lot better than they played tonight.”

La Salle College shoots its way past Reading

Actually on hand before Prep finally pulled into the building, La Salle College shrugged off its own three-hour bus ride by coming out firing from way downtown against an unbeaten Reading squad that was playing just a few blocks down the street from its friendly Geigle Complex digs.

Connecting a handful of times from beyond the arc in the opening quarter — and eight of their 10 before the halftime break — Joe Dempsey’s Explorers bolted to an early lead and never looked back in dealing the defending PIAA Class 6A champs a 68-45 setback in Game 2.

Sean Simon topped La Salle (3-1) with 18 points, Zach Crisler checked in with 15 and Allen Powell finished with 13 to lead the Explorers. Simon buried four treys — all in the first half — while Powell canned three deep looks before the break to go with one from the 6-9 Crisler.

Matt McMahon collected both of La Salle’s second-half treys.

“We shot the ball well I’m happy we were able to do that, but I’m happiest with how tough we played,” Dempsey admitted. “Reading can be very intimidating. Their kids play so hard and it means so much to the community. They’re defending 6A champs and they play really hard.”

And it was Crisler’s deep look — many of La Salle’s 3-pointers were launched from beyond the college line — with time running out in the opening quarter that had the Explorers up 24-10.

“That’s where we practice,” Dempsey admitted.

Terrific on-court spacing against Reading’s in-your-grill man defense was a big plus, but when Explorers players located openings in the Red Knights’ D they already had their feet set and were ready to launch when the ball arrived. As a result, seven La Salle players banked assists.

Konrad Kiszka, the talented 6-6 junior, dropped four of La Salle’s 14 dimes.

“We worked to get open and that was a great test for us,” Dempsey added. “We had every reason to get beat tonight. We waited around. It took us about three hours to get up here. …”

Reading scored the first five points of the second quarter to pull within nine, but Rick Perez’s Red Knights (3-1) never got closer the rest of the way. Powell matched those five points with the last of his three deep rips and a soft mid-range jump shot that all but singed the net.

La Salle’s lead actually stood at 23 points (43-20) when the teams broke for halftime, but reached as many as 27 midway through the fourth quarter on Crisler’s conventional three-point play.

While Dempsey’s Explorers shot nearly 59 percent (23-for-39) for the game and 55 percent (10-for-18) from the arc, they were at 68 percent (15-for-22) and nearly 62 percent (8-for-13) in the first half.

No wonder a curious youngster came up to Dempsey in one of the Bollman Center’s hectic hallways and asked, “How does your team shoot like that?” While the La Salle skipper offered a thank you for the timely compliment, his ‘We work on it a lot,’ came moments before.

“Sean Simon was terrific and we were sharing the ball and nobody cares who scores,” Dempsey continued. “That’s been the trademark of my best teams, when everybody’s around 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 points. That makes it harder when you share the ball.

“When you have one or two scorers it’s easier to defend and we have five guys that we can put in at any one time that can score. When you’re selfless like that, there’s a lot of room out there.”


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