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92 in 92: Reading (Pa.)

09/20/2014, 12:15pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Though Reading won 18 games last season, it’s four losses that stand out.

Four times, the Red Knights went up against archrival Wilson, and four times they came away on the losing side. The first two times were during the regular season, a 59-48 home loss and 64-49 road loss. Then it was a 49-46 Wilson win in the Berks County semifinals, before a 60-54 defeat in the District 3 AAAA playoffs playback round.

That sent Reading to the 7th-8th place game, where a loss to Carlisle kept them just out of the state tournament.

“I thought we did a good job winning the games we were supposed to win,” Reading coach Rick Perez said. “We let some games drop with some 50-50 games, unfortunately we didn’t handle business during those, and it’s never good when you lose to your rival four times.”

The Red Knights do graduate their three leading scorers in guards Zhykier Burdine (14.1 ppg) and Gilberto Benz (13.8 ppg), a three-year starter at point guard, plus forward Isael Abreu(13.4 ppg). Benz will play his college basketball at D-III Albright (Pa.), while Abreu is headed to D-II Mansfield (Pa.), and the trio’s combined production is going to be a lot to replace.

But where the excitement starts for 2014-15 is with the return of the fourth-leading scorer, sophomore guard Lonnie Walker. Walker, a 6-foot-4 slasher who averaged 8.1 ppg, looks primed for a breakout season after a huge summer on the AAU circuit with Nike-backed Team Final.

“We wanted him to be more assertive, but being a 14, 15-year-old freshman, he was a bit hesitant to do some things,” Perez said. “But we liked what we saw out of him, he has an ability to learn, he’s a very coachable young man, and he was a great teammate. The experience he had, as the season progressed, he was the best player on the floor.”

Schools like Temple and Villanova are now heavily interested in the young prospect, who received his first D-I offer recently from Holy Cross.

Perez has seen Division I players in his 14 years at the school as both a head coach and assistant, including former Rider forward Jermaine Jackson, but he said that Walker is “the best” freshmen they’ve had “in terms of skill set and overall package,” and he’s still only scratching the surface of his talent.

“Lonnie is going to be given a lot of different experiences in life. Lonnie just has to stay grounded and just make sure that he’s focusing on Reading High basketball, [and] all of those things will fall into place, especially for a great young man like him,” Perez said. “Making sure that he’s staying focused on his books and his fundamental work and his teammates and everything else will fall in place. He’s done that to date, and he continues to get better. If he follows that same script, the sky’s the limit.”

This is a team that’s got good size across the board, with the 6-4 Walker joining 6-3 senior Tyree Gibson and 6-0 Khary Mauras in the backcourt. Another 6-3 wing, Daniel Boone transfer Keyon McCutchen, just joined the program and will bring some serious athleticism to the court as well.

Then there’s senior forward Justin Kellman, a 6-5, 225-pound bruiser who’s only been playing organized basketball since his freshman season and is primed for his first major varsity experienced. Based on some summer events, Perez is hoping for big things from Kellman inside.

“We’re excited about him,” he said. “He rebounds it extremely well, defended extremely well over the summer. So he’ll be the force in the paint.”

“I didn’t really play last year but Coach P always told me ‘when your time comes, just make sure that you do right and you can make sure that you’re still on the court,’” Kellman said. “When my time came this summer, I took it and I ran with it. I told him I’m going to make sure that I stay on the court, and I just do what I have to do and now I am where I am.”

One other player that has impressed Perez of late is 5-11 junior guard Damon Stern, who the fourth-year head coach said had an “excellent” summer.

“Defensively, I haven’t seen a defender like him in quite some time,” Perez said. “And given his role on the team, Damon has the ability to score points and get to the rack whenever he wants, but he defers also because he knows guys like Lonnie, guys like Khary, need to have the ball in their hands.”

With all the athleticism, size and now some potential high-major talent in the mix, Kellmen and the rest of the team have their sights set on a Berks County championship.

Which would mean, of course, getting a win against Wilson.

“I really want to get a county championship, that’s my dream right now, just to be able to have that experience before I leave high school, to bring a championship [home] and feel good about doing something like that with my team,” Kellman said. “The fact that [Wilson] did beat us four times last year, that’s more than enough motivation for us. If we do what we go out there, we beat them, then that’s great.

“You never know what can happen.”