Jack Miller-Berks Catholic

Jack Miller was held scoreless in the District 3-4A semifinals against Octorara. It was just the second time all season that the 5’10 senior failed to score. Miller was determined not to let that performance carry over into Thursday’s District 3 Championship versus #2 seed Fleetwood. “I knew I needed to come into today confident and even if I miss the first shot, I’m gonna keep shooting,” he said. It’s a good thing for the Saints that Miller did keep shooting. He nailed five 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 17 points in a 73-44 rout. Top-seeded Berks Catholic won its second straight District 3 title and fifth in twelve years. “It feels great. Not a lot of teams get to go back to back, so to be able to do that is crazy,” replied Miller. After just four minutes, the (23-4) Saints had built a 12-4 lead. It was 17-7 at the end of the opening period. “The intensity on defense helped us get that [lead] and on offense we moved the ball really well. JayJay dished to us on the outside,” explained Miller. Berks Catholic didn’t commit a turnover until nearly three minutes into the second quarter. The Saints only had five turnovers all afternoon. They connected eleven times from beyond the arc in undoubtedly one of their best efforts of the season. Ryan Koch had a team-high 20 points. The Pitt-Johnstown commit splashed four treys. The 6’3 senior is 18 points shy of 1,000. Jordan added 16 points to increase his career total to 1,197. He’s the program’s all-time leading scorer. Fleetwood was searching for District gold for the first time since 1990 when the Tigers beat Central Catholic 43-40 in the Class A Final. The (22-4) Tigers trailed 36-22 at halftime and 50-33 entering the fourth quarter. Jake Karnish, Fleetwood’s all-time leading scorer, poured in 23 points. The 6’2 senior is a two-time all-county selection. Karnish is headed to King’s College. 6’7 junior center Hunter Svoboda provided a dozen points. The Tigers entered the game allowing just 41.5 ppg., but they weren’t able to slow down Berks Catholic. The Saints put up 23 points over the final eight minutes. Miller has made 108 3-pointers in his career. He’s one of four seniors in Snip Esterly’s starting lineup. Esterly has won 14 District 3 championships over 34 years. His record improved to (792-216). I asked Miller to compare this year’s club to last year’s team which crushed Middletown 60-37 in the District 3-4A Final. Miller was understandably reluctant to comment, but eventually gave an answer. Berks Catholic returns to action next Friday when the PIAA playoffs get underway. If the Saints shoot like they did at the Giant Center, they’ll be tough to beat.