READING -- Disrupting Hempfield's ball-handling and arc dominance, host Reading High edged the visiting Black Knights 56-48 Saturday night at the Geigle Complex to cap Reading's three-game Play-by-Play showcase.
Meme Burdine led Reading High (10-6) with 15 points off the bench, and Tyree Gibson added 13 for the Berks County side that Friday night fell by double digits to Wilson.
Dylan Bleacher, a night after popping a career-high 40 points in an overtime win over Ephrata, finished with 15 for the Black Knights (12-3), who saw their six-game winning streak come to a close. Bleacher's personal streak of hitting a 3-pointer in 13 straight games also ended, as he was 0-for-7 from deep.
Reading High, in fact, defended the arc well, limiting Hempfield to four makes on 15 tries. The Black Knights' forwards, though, found success, as Brandon Criswell totaled 12 points and seven boards, and Ryan Wilson compiled four points and a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench.
The Red Knights led by as many as nine points, 32-23, early in the third quarter after a 3-ball by Gibson.
But Hempfield, who coughed it up 12 times in the first half, settled, began attacking the rim, and fought all the way back to take a late lead.
PIVOTAL SEQUENCE
Danny Walck's club cut its deficit to 40-38 after three quarters, then tied it, 44-44, on a 3-pointer by Tyrell Wickersham midway through the fourth.
Two free throws by Bleacher with exactly three minutes left gave the Black Knights' their first lead, 46-45, since the second quarter. But Reading would outscore the Lancaster County club 11-2 the rest of the way.
A driving layup by Gilberto Benz-Puente put the Red Knights ahead to stay moments after Bleacher's go-ahead freebies.
Benz-Puente would score on another layup, and Burdine sank two free throws to make it 51-46 with 1:05 left.
Bleacher made two more freebies to cut the deficit to three, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 30 seconds left, and Reading was able to close it out.
STAT FRENZY
Reading made eight of nine free throws in the final quarter after sinking just one of six over the first three frames. ... Hempfield finished 19-for-44 from the field compared to 22-for-49 for Reading High. ... The Black Knights owned a 37-21 advantage on the glass but turned it over 18 times vs. 10 for the Red Knights. ...
Benz-Puente and Lonnie Walker scored nine each for Reading, with Israel Abreu adding eight points and a team-high seven boards. ... Bleacher and Wickersham had five assists each for Hempfield, with Jordan Hagel sinking three 3-pointers for nine points.
COACH'S COMMENTS
DANNY WALCK, Hempfield head coach
-- on turnover troubles in the first half: "You can have turnovers that don't lead to points, and then you have turnovers that lead into easy buckets. And I think we had four turnovers that led to easy buckets. And in a game like this, you're talking a matter of possessions."
-- on feeding the post when the 3-pointers weren't available: "We adjusted and made a run, made a game. We got to the rim a few times. We just have to clean up some of that [turnover] action. But we did a decent job defensively, and we'll be OK."
-- on what caused the turnovers: "I thought we had an off night. They played [Friday] night, and we played [Friday] night, so I'm not going to read anything anything into that. I thought we made some lackadaisical passes, especially in the first half. We didn't fake a pass to make a pass. What can be deceptive is their length, where they got a few deflections out of the traps. But that's what you got to learn from."
OTHER GAMES
In the opener, Berks Catholic downed state-ranked District 1-AAAA power Penn Wood by a 50-40 margin. ... Harrisburg raced past Freedom 73-61 in the middle contest.