High school basketball: Three Berks teams going for District 3 championships

It’s been quite the District 3 basketball tournament for Berks teams with eight of them qualifying for the state tournament.

It could be a historic district tourney by late Friday night as three teams have a shot at winning district championships.

First up are the Berks Catholic boys who are playing today at 4:30 p.m. in the Class 4A championship game at the Giant Center in Hershey.

The top-seeded Saints (19-4) will be going for their third Class 4A title in four years when they play Eastern York (21-3).

Berks Catholic won the title in 2023, beating Fleetwood 73-44 in the championship game. The year before they defeated Middletown 60-37.

The Saints won the 2018 title, beating Bishop McDevitt 46-26.

The Saints also won back-to-back titles in 2012-13 in Class 3A (before the PIAA changed the classifications to six classes).

On Friday, Berks teams will play back-to-back in championship games at the Giant Center.

First up will be the Wyomissing girls, who are going for their third straight district 4A crown.

The third-seeded Spartans (21-2) advanced to the title game with a 43-39 win over second-seeded Northern Lebanon in the semifinals on Tuesday night.

They will play Lancaster Catholic at 4:30 p.m. for the district title.

Lancaster Catholic (22-4) defeated Delone Catholic 52-31 Tuesday night in the other semifinal game.

Wyomissing won the district title in 2023 with a 35-30 win over Delone Catholic and then beat Delone again last year 45-32.

After the Wyomissing-Lancaster Catholic game, the Exeter boys will play second-seeded Hershey (21-3) at 6:15 p.m. for the 5A championship.

It has been quite the run for the eighth-seeded Eagles, who have won two of their three games in the tournament in overtime.

Exeter started its run in the first round with a 60-53 OT win over Middletown, then beat 16th-seeded Spring Grove 58-50 in the quarterfinals.

The Eagles (15-10) needed overtime in the semifinals to beat York Suburban 56-52.

This is Exeter’s fourth appearance in a district final. Two years ago, the Eagles beat Manheim Township 67-53 for the title. They finished second in 1974 and 1980.

Along with the three teams playing for titles, the other Berks schools to qualify for the PIAA tournament are Wilson, both boys and girls in 6A, Gov. Mifflin boys in 6A, Antietam boys in 3A, and Conrad Weiser girls in 5A.

The state tourney begins with first round games on Friday and Saturday, March 7-8.

Source: Berkshire mont