City of Basketball Love

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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Trailing by nine points at halftime, Reading wasn’t concerned about ramping up its offensive effort in order to keep pace with Conestoga.

Instead, the gritty Red Knights resigned themselves to the fact that it would need to be their defense that would get them back into the matchup of traditional PIAA Class AAAA powers.

“We weren’t talking about what we were gonna do on offense,” senior guard Khary Mauras said. “Defense is our key, so when we came in at halftime, we were talking about what we were gonna do on defense to stop them. Once we stopped them, the offense comes to us and we just score.”

Utilizing a full-court press to smother Conestoga’s guard-heavy attack, Reading got itself back into the game before ultimately toppling the Pioneers, 68-61, in overtime at Philadelphia University.

Leading the way for the Red Knights on both ends was Mauras, a three-year starter in the backcourt. The 6-foot-1 speedster got loose for a career-high 24 points and was constantly pestering opposing ballhandlers all over the court, coming up with seemingly every loose ball to help his team seize momentum in front of a pro-Reading crowd.

Performances like that have become commonplace for Mauras, and head coach Rick Perez knows he can count on his senior leader to bring the same passion to every game.

“That’s Khary every single day. That’s him in practice, that’s him in the games, that’s been him since tenth grade,” Perez said. “We know that and we appreciate that. He plays with that same energy and that same grit every single game.”

Even on somewhat of a quiet night, five-star 2017 prospect Lonnie Walker posted a well-rounded line of 17 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists for the Red Knights.

Like most of Reading’s opponents tend to do, Conestoga came in with a gameplan designed to limit Walker and force someone else to step up and score. Mauras did just that, scoring 15 of his points after halftime when his team need them the most.

“[Walker] looks like somebody who is very unselfish as a player, and a very good player. And we tried to do, as the game went on, we tried to limit his touches, and I thought we did a very good job of that,” Conestoga head coach Mike Troy said. “If you watch film on them, they have three or four guys that can have that kind of game. It just so happened that it was [Mauras’} night.”

Led by senior Darryl Caldwell’s 16 points, the Pioneers were able to find moderate success with their three-point-heavy offense.

They shot a white-hot 13-of-25 (52 percent) from deep for the game, with Caldwell knocking down three treys and backcourt mates Scott Shapiro and Andrew Larkin hitting two each en route to also finishing in double figures.

Their hot shooting propelled the Pioneers to a 31-22 advantage at halftime, and they stayed in front from the midway point of the first quarter until halfway through the third.

“[Conestoga] is a good team. Very well coached, share the ball, and they knock down those open shots,” Perez said. “Our first half, we weren’t all in mentally or physically. They were just faster than us… They ended up hitting 13 threes for the game, so for us to be able to gut it out and almost come out with a double digit win was good.”

It was a 9-0 run in the middle of the third quarter that got the Red Knights back in it, with a layup by Walker in transition tying the game at 35. Mauras’ three-pointer just before the buzzer sent Reading into the quarter break with all the momentum, albeit while trailing by one point.

The fourth quarter looked like it would be all Red Knights when Walker’s thunderous slam sent the crowd into a frenzy and took a 46-43 lead. Just as they did almost all night, however, the Pioneers answered with a three-pointer to silence the crowd.

At the end of regulation, Reading ran the clock down before Mauras was called for a charge with three seconds left; Conestoga’s ensuing miss from half-court sent the game into overtime.

Midway through the four-minute extra session, an 8-0 Red Knights spurt broke a 57-57 tie to all but seal the outcome. On what would turn out to be the game’s decisive play, Mauras’ full-court drive was followed by Walker stealing the inbounds pass for another layup, capping Reading’s valiant second-half comeback.

“I just saw the lane and I went,” Mauras said. “After I got that, we were hype on defense. We’re taught that as soon as we score, it’s find your man and get on defense. No celebration. That’s what Lonnie did: he found his man, he was there, he stole the ball, and got a bucket.”

The win moves Reading to 13-3 on the season. CoBL’s seventh-ranked team in Class AAAA, the Red Knights look primed to make a state tournament run out of District 3.

Matching up with one of District 1 AAAA’s perennial contenders, some may have seen this as a “measuring stick” game for Reading. Instead, Perez and his squad chose to focus solely on the team staring back at them in the mirror.

“We play every game the same way, because our biggest competition is ourselves,” Perez said. “We didn’t come in here to play Conestoga, we came in here to challenge Reading and see whether the best form of ourselves could come in here.”

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Academy of the New Church 69, St. George's (Del.) 52
Led by a trio of sophomore's that's emerging as a force to be reckoned with in the Friends League, the Lions dominated from start to finish against one of Delaware's top teams.

Second-year players Justin Anderson and Matthue Cotton both scored 15 points for ANC, while classmate Marcus Littles posted 13 points and 13 rebounds inside.

Junior guard Kyson Rawls, a Division I prospect, led St. George's with 18 points.

The win gives the Lions some momentum entering the heart of their Friends Schools League schedule; they're currently tied atop the league standings with Westtown and Friends Central, with all three teams holding undefeated marks in FSL play.

"Keep the momentum rolling, right into Tuesday [against Friends Central]," head coach Kevin Givens said. "All the top teams are undefeated right now, so it's gonna come down to a war. We really need to play smart and execute and start to mature from this point on."