REVENGE IN READING
Reading Rebels earn first win, defeat Albany in home opener
LOCAL BASKETBALL
After being eliminated by the Albany Patroons in the first round of The Basketball League playoffs in 2023, the Reading Rebels got the revenge they were looking for during their 2024 home opener on Thursday night at Alvernia’s Jack McCloskey Court.
Playing under first-year coach and former assistant Mick DiBenedetto, the Rebels came away with a 114-104 win over the Patroons in a TBL Northeast Division matchup.
“It’s been stressed every practice and at every training camp that everything is grit, tenacity, never giving up and just playing as hard as you possibly can for 48 minutes,” said DiBenedetto, a Fleetwood grad. “That’s exactly what they did.
“It’s almost like there’s a monkey off our back a little bit, especially against the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year. It’s a statement with the rest of the conference, so I couldn’t be any more proud of those guys.”
Quadir Welton, a 6-8 forward from Philadelphia and graduate of St. Peter’s University, scored a teamhigh 28 points for Reading, with 19 coming in the second half. Welton was 8-for11 from the foul line.
The Rebels held a 55-46 lead at halftime and then controlled the tempo for much of the second half.
Albany (2-1) cut Reading’s lead to 70-64 midway through the third quarter and later to 99-93 with four minutes left in the fourth, but would come no closer as Reading’s offense responded every time the Patroons started to make a run.
Welton scored four consecutive points in the fourth to reestablish a commanding 103-93 lead with 3:12 remaining in the game.
“We knew we were gonna come out gritty and had to play defense,” Welton said. “We knew they had tough guards and solid bigs so we were gonna play gritty and play our game. Once we figured out stuff, we were just rolling. It was just rolling.”
Several other players put in double-digit performance for the Rebels. Wali Hepburn, a 6-4 shooting guard and Neumann-Goretti grad scored 21 points off the bench. In addition, Anthony Lee, a 6-2 guard and Kutztown University graduate, scored 19 points and made three 3-pointers while 5-6 point guard Aquille Carr scored 17 points.
Hepburn scored 15 points in the second half and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.
“Coming off the bench, and after not getting a lot of minutes in the first game, Wali Hepburn was amazing,” DiBenedetto said. “When he and Justin Thomas (who scored eight points off the bench) came in the game in the first half, we kind of saw a light switch where we started to make a run and really started playing. I give the bench guys a lot of credit.”
After trailing 25-23 to start the second quarter, Reading opened up with an 11-4 run during which Welton scored three points and Hepburn scored four.
Albany started to mount a comeback, cutting the Rebels’ lead to 38-35 before Reading closed out the first half with a stronger run. Thomas scored five points down the stretch in the second quarter to help Reading establish a ninepoint lead at the half.
“Because this game is so long and it’s a game of runs, you really have to just lock in mentally,” DiBenedetto said. “When you know they just made two buckets in a row, now we really can’t let them take over. So you just gotta dig down deep and just fight.”
Wilson grad Travaun Coad scored nine points and went 3-for-4 playing in his home debut for the Rebels. For Coad, earning the win after falling on the road to the Frederick Flying Cows in the season opener was special.
“It feels great, especially to bounce back after a tough loss out in Maryland,” Coad said. “To come out here and beat the team that won (the Eastern Conference) last year is amazing. We got good energy and a good fan base, and we just played hard and played with passion to pull out that win.”