Reading High faced a tall order Tuesday night at Geigle Complex.
Fifth-seeded Cedar Cliff had 6-9 Tyler Houser, 6-11 Justin Houser and 6-5 Mike Armamini.
Playing without the injured Daniel Alcantara, the top-seeded Red Knights didn’t have a starter over 6-2.
It didn’t matter.
Joey Chapman, Xavier Davis and Amier Burdine took their turns bottling the Colts’ big men as Reading High shut down Cedar Cliff 46-39 in a District 3 Class 6A semifinal.
The trio received help from their teammates and held the Houser brothers and Armamini to 19 points and just 12 field goal attempts.
“We had to initiate physicality on the bigs,” the 6-1 Davis said. “As long as we did that and stayed low and strong, we were going to be able to handle things.
“We knew they were oversized and we were undersized. When we have the will and the work ethic we usually have, we can prevail.”
The Red Knights (24-3) advanced to their fifth straight district final. They will meet seventh-seeded Warwick, a 74-57 semifinal winner over Central Dauphin, for the championship Saturday at 7:45 p.m. at Hershey’s Giant Center.
Ruben Rodriguez scored a game-high 21 points for Reading, including 5-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter. But it was the Red Knights’ superb defense, which forced 18 turnovers, that was the difference against Cedar Cliff (21-5).
“They were just locked in 100%,” Reading coach Rick Perez said. “They were coming up with a lot of parts of the game plan. We struggled to figure out what to do defensively with their high-low offense.
“Sunday they (the players) said, ‘Let’s deny the passes and sag on them (the big men). If it was up to me, we would have been chasing them and trying to pressure them.”
It also was an emotional win for the Red Knights with the 6-4 Alcantara sitting on the bench in street clothes wearing a cast on his broken left hand. It’s unclear how long he will be out, but he inspired his teammates.
They wore red T-shirts with his number (21) as warm-up tops as a tribute to him. Chapman, his best friend, wore his No. 21 jersey.
“I told Coach P that I was wearing No. 21 at practice,” Chapman said. “I think Daniel’s proud of us. He trusts us. He knows we’re going to be straight without him.”
Chapman started in Alcantara’s place and guarded VMI-bound Tyler Houser for most of the night. Houser scored 25 points in the first round against Muhlenberg and is averaging 20 points a game.
He went scoreless in the first half and had just two shots before he finished with just 10 points and 12 rebounds. Justin Houser, his younger brother, had nine points, all in the first half, and Armamini, a reserve, did not score.
“We just didn’t come out with the right discipline and the right focus,” said Cedar Cliff’s Tigh Savercool, the former Tulpehocken coach. “The guys we needed to make plays did the opposite. You can’t dig a hole against a team like Reading.”
The Red Knights took a 39-24 lead on Chapman’s runner early in the fourth quarter. The Colts, looking for their berth in a district final since 1997, trimmed it to five twice behind three 3-pointers — two by Ayden Frey — and a couple inside baskets by the older Houser.
Rodriguez and Justin Walker sealed it, though, by making 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute. The Red Knights overcame Alcantara’s absence and now they’re within one game from winning their second straight district title.
“We can’t think we’re going to be fine without Dan,” Perez said. “There’s doubt. There’s fear. You have to be able to embrace that. Look inward for the answers, like Dr. Neff (psychologist Rick Neff) told us.
“That’s what we did. We completely turned inward and fed off each other’s energy.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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