Reading boys edge Pine-Richland in PIAA Class 6A final
HERSHEY — Giant Center was a rolling sea of Reading red when Pine-Richland walked into the arena, a hostile crowd ready to celebrate hometown hero Lonnie Walker's title.
And the Rams tried to send them all home unhappy.
“That would have been cool,” senior Andrew Petcash said, “to silence all those people.”
The weekend's final championship could promise a feel-good ending for only one first-time state champion, but it wasn't Pine-Richland's to celebrate. Walker, a nationally ranked senior who seemed to draw his entire town to Hershey, scored 22 points Saturday night to win 64-60 in the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball final.
The crowd of 9,531 wasn't silenced, but there were a few hold-your-breath moments for Donyell Marshall, Stu Jackson and the other Reading alums in the stands.
“Everybody expected them to crush us,” Petcash said, “expected Lonnie to just dunk all over us, expected their fans to just engulf us. But we hung in there and we were close.”
The WPIAL champion led 39-36 with 3 minutes, 50 seconds left in the third quarter on a driving layup by junior Phil Jurkovec, who had 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting. But Reading then clamped down defensively, forced three turnovers in a 40-second span and pulled away with a 7-0 run.
Pine-Richland never led again.
The Rams (28-2) relied this season on balanced scoring and again had four players reach double figures. Petcash scored 11 points on 2-of-8 shooting, but Reading held him to two points in the second half. Sean Colosimo added 11 points, and Nolan Rausch had 10.
“It was hard to score because they are pretty athletic,” Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann said, “and they really did a good job on defense.”
Pine-Richland trailed 54-52 with 3:34 left in the fourth after a 3-pointer by Colosimo and a driving layup from Evan Luellen. But after Reading's Wesley Butler answered with a layup and foul shot, Walker added a breakaway dunk and two more free throws to lead 61-52 with 1 minute left.
ESPN ranks Walker as the No. 18 recruit in the nation and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard, who already signed with Miami, was eliminated in the state semifinals by Allderdice last year.
“I've got about a million feelings that I can't explain,” said Walker, who made 9 of 16 shots and had eight rebounds. “It's just an amazing feeling. I feel on top of the world right now.”
Both teams shot well. Pine-Richland made 56.1 percent (23 of 41) and Reading shot 46.8 percent (22 of 47). Pine-Richland made 6 of 13 from 3-point range, and Reading was 7 for 16.
Reading found secondary scoring from Jose Genao Batista, who had 14 points with two key 3-pointers, and Tyrone Nesby, who added 11 points.
“We knew Walker was going to score, we were just trying to control the other guys,” Petcash said. “Some of their guys stepped up. They just hit a couple of more shots than us.”
Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.
