City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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CARLISLE — Continuing its early-season tour of eastern Pennsylvania — while a somewhat unfamiliar cast continues to grow more and more familiar with one another — Rick Perez’s Reading Red Knights spent Friday night growing a bit more.

Reading really had little choice, since most of the 1,400 or so looking on from Gene Evans Gymnasium’s cramped bleachers were vociferously pulling for a talented Carlisle side that rolled confidently into its cozy playpen sporting a perfect record.

What added even more fire to an already toasty December scrap was the Red Knights and Andre Anderson’s Thundering Herd were meeting for the first time since colliding in February at Hershey’s Giant Center in an epic District 3-AAAA quarterfinal claimed 78-73 in overtime by a Reading squad that picked up 37 points from Lonnie Walker.

Since both squads came in sporting lofty rankings — Reading was No. 1 in City of Basketball Love’s latest 6A poll, three rungs above Carlisle — early bragging rights on the District 3 circuit and plenty of state-wide clout would await the winner.

Well, Reading prevailed again.

While the Miami-bound Walker pocketed 15 points, Tyrone Nesby dropped in 13 and Isiah Cook chipped in 10 points — and a team-high rebounds — the Red Knights claimed a 58-49 verdict over a Carlisle squad that twice erased double-digit deficits.

Walker, in fact, sat for some 14 minutes after collecting his third foul with 2:05 remaining in the opening quarter. No. 3 actually came on the second of four technical fouls assessed during the remarkably intense 32-minute drama.

“Any time a player like that goes out, you have to be on the plus side not the negative side,” Anderson said. “I thought we finished the [first] half miserably and we didn’t take advantage of him being on the bench with him being one of the top guys in the state.

“We didn’t take advantage of that. We went into the half with a deficit.”

Carlisle, in fact, was down 31-26 at the break.

“It’s just team,” Perez admitted. “Lonnie was so supportive from the bench, keeping his team up. He’s a true leader. Isiah Cook was out there keeping the kids together. Wesley Butler had his spurt … got a lot of rebounds and steals early on.

“We’re blessed. We get to go back to the lab and enjoy our families for a little bit. We have some major tests going into the New Year and we’ll see what happens,” continued Perez, whose Knights will open their four-team holiday event Tuesday against Steel-High. “Carlisle’s an awesome program and the Mid-Penn is back.

“Everyone has a lot of work to do. December is just time to figure things out. You don’t panic, you just try to figure things out and you come out as least beat up as possible and then you move forward to the fun time of the year. It’s fun to see these kids grow.”

Ben Milligan tossed in a team-high 12 points to lead Anderson’s frosty-shooting Herd — bothered by Reading’s variety of zone defenses, Carlisle (6-1) was 13-for-51 from the floor and 6-for-27 from beyond the arc (13-for-51 from the floor) — and Ethan Houston popped a mammoth double-double highlighted by 11 points and 17 boards.

“He’s bringing it this year,” Anderson said of the 6-6 Houston. “He realizes this is his last year and he’s going out and he’s giving us everything. A couple baskets didn’t go his way down the stretch, but if we didn’t have Ethan that game would be a complete different story. If we didn’t have Ben tonight, it would have been a complete different story.

“The way those two stepped up was huge.”

As for the Herd’s DeShawn “Day Day” Millington, Reading’s zones neutralized the all-state guard for some 28 minutes. Even when the Knights switched to a man look with some four minutes to play, Hector Dixon was all over the 6-1 senior.

Millington finished with nine points — just one field goal — and three assists.

Even though Reading began the game on an 11-0 run and used an 8-0 spurt at the start of the second half triggered by Tymir Comfort and Wesley Butler that had the Knights up 41-28, the Herd shrugged off those sizable deficits and fought back in.

Comfort scored six of his seven points in a 90-second stretch. The 6-2 senior, who tacked on a free throw in the fourth, also grabbed six rebounds.

“We all got roles on our team,” Comfort said.

Butler, the nervy 5-11 sophomore, finished with six points, four boards and a half-dozen assists. He set up Reading’s first four hoops in that game-opening 11-0 run.

Plug in Dixon’s defensive work — along with four points and six boards — and some of Reading’s other guys added plenty to the Knights’ road success.

“Team win, all the way through and through,” Perez said. “Tymir Comfort, he’s a young man that has proven to us time and time again that he can play, time and time again.

“I don’t know why I had reservations of not playing him as much, but he’s the epitome of what Reading High basketball is. He worked over and over and over again, and when his opportunity came he anchored a lot of what occurred here tonight.

“He may not have lit up the stat sheet, but he did the things that keep his team moving in the right direction,” Perez continued. “We needed him in the game.”

While Milligan’s three treys in the second quarter had Carlisle within 31-26 at the halftime intermission, a 16-4 salvo fueled by 3-point rips from Milligan, Ki Barnes and Millington had the Herd down one (45-44) with six minutes to go.

Perez promptly called time.

Even though Carlisle had shucked its zone looks for a man defensive scheme, what followed was a patient offensive approach culled from the withered yet dusty playbooks ably used by former Reading coaching greats Pete Carril and Jim Gano.

Yep, some old school stirred in with the new school.

“Sometimes the old schoolers will tell you that your offense is your best defense,” a grinning Perez cracked.

Although Carlisle tied the game on a Gavyn Barnes free throw and pushed in front (47-45) with 3:21 showing when Houston canned a pair, the Knights didn’t waver. Punching back behind a go-ahead trey from Walker and another deep dig from Nesby, Reading suddenly was sitting on a 54-47 lead. Only 1:47 remained.

This time, the Herd was done.

“That first half cannot happen,” said Anderson, whose club was hindered by a pair of technical fouls as well. “You’re only going to beat a team like Reading with two solid halves. We didn’t come out in the first half.

“When you pair that with a bunch of mental errors that we had that were just goofy errors that never should have happened, you take a loss.”

Reading had weathered two Carlisle comebacks — as well as a hostile environment — before claiming a needed result following Tuesday’s 62-51 setback at Chester.

“We can grow a lot,” Comfort said. “Keep working hard every day and keep [focusing] on one game at a time.”

Early advantage to the Knights.

“We’re still a team in our infantile stages of getting to know one another and chemistry,” Perez said. “The first time every single one of them stepped on the floor was Nov. 15. So this is only six weeks of us really getting to spend all this together.

“It takes time and it’s gonna take time. We were blessed enough to make it — we played like four state-ranked teams — and you come out of here with a team that’s really only establishing their identity and we walk out of here with a huge win.”

“You give up two 8-0 runs against the No. 1 team in the state,” said Anderson, whose Herd will play La Salle College on Thursday at Chester’s Widener University. “That’s not gonna get you a win. We’ve got to come out ready.

“Credit to Reading. They had a wonderful game and they’ve got wonderful players. They’ve got some guys that I don’t want to say surprised us, but they’ve got some other guys on that team [that can play] as they did last year.

“They’re going to be a tough out.”