Pine-Richland overcome by Reading’s sea of red
the arena.
“It helps when you literally have the whole gym with your fans,” Pine-Richland senior Andrew Petcash said. “It was like an away college game for us. That’s tough.”
Pine-Richland (28-2) lost despite shooting 56 percent from the field. Junior forward Phil Jurkovec led Pine-Richland with 14 points.
Petcash, the team’s leading scorer, had 11, but only 2 in the second half.
Walker, Reading’s standout 6-foot-5 guard-forward and a University of Miami recruit, finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. Jose Genao Batista came off the bench to add 14.
“Walker is good, but in terms of guarding him, I honestly think [Latrobe’s] Austin Butler and [North Hills’] Nick Smith were harder to guard,” Jurkovec said.
Pine-Richland played a box-and-one defense for a good part of the third quarter against Walker, who averages 17 points a game. A few other Reading players hit outside shots as Reading took the lead for good late in the third quarter.
“But I really think the difference in the game was their defense,” Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann said.
“They really clamped down on us, and the driving lanes were few and far between.”
The game was close throughout with nine lead changes. But a run by Reading late in the third quarter and early in the fourth gave the Red Knights a cushion and Pine-Richland never could recover.
Reading opened up a 51-43 lead in the fourth quarter before Pine-Richland cut it to 54-52 with 3:34 left. But Pine-Richland had two turnovers, a missed shot and two missed free throws on the next four possessions.
“I’ve never coached in a game that was that loud,” Ackermann said. “That’s why I’m proud of our guys. To be outnumbered in fans the way we were and to perform the way we did, I’m proud.”
Pine-Richland was one of 10 teams from the Western Region of the state that lost this weekend. But Petcash felt Pine-Richland proved something.
“Reading is good,” Petcash said, “but I think there are a lot of good teams around us, too, and I don’t think Philadelphia gives us the respect that I think we deserve.”