Snip Esterly-Berks Catholic

Getting down 12-0 to one of the top Class 6A teams in District 3 wasn’t exactly part of Snip Esterly’s game plan. “I calmly told them in the huddle that it’s just where we want them,” joked Esterly. The longtime head coach with 783 wins over 34 seasons is well known for his intense demeanor on the sideline. Berks Catholic rallied for a 49-44 victory over Wilson in front of a packed house at Lloyd Wolf Gymnasium. A 3-pointer by Seamus Breslin put the (12-4, 5-2) Bulldogs up by a dozen. The (14-1, 7-1) Saints were scoreless for four and a-half minutes. They entered Thursday night averaging 64 points, second-highest in the Berks Conference. Aidan Melograna hit a triple from the top of the key to make it 17-5. The 6’3 senior finished with a team-high 14 points. Berks Catholic trailed 19-10 after eight minutes. “We knew it was too early that the game was over. We wanted to chip away. We had great spurts [and] our transition game got going,” noted Esterly. Jack Miller’s layup gave the Saints a 24-23 edge midway through the second quarter. Wilson led 32-30 at halftime thanks to a drive by Cam Jones before the buzzer. The all-division point guard appeared in his fourth game after missing time with an injury. Jones is a two-time, all-state football selection who’s headed to Holy Cross. A breakaway dunk by Ryan Koch (10 points) put Berks Catholic in front 40-37 with just less than two minutes left in the third quarter. That remained the score entering the final period. Josh McKoy, a 6’2 transfer from Antietam, drilled a key trey from the left corner with four and a-half minutes to go. His brother Kingston McKoy, a 6’1 freshman, made a layup about 90 seconds later for a 47-41 lead. Josh contributed ten points. “He’s starting to feel more and more comfortable. I want him to shoot more. He can flat out shoot,” remarked Esterly. The Bulldogs were limited to 12 points in the second half. They were 4-of-5 from the foul line, while the Saints went 8-15. Esterly wasn’t pleased with the free throw shooting, but he’s thrilled with the defense from Kingston McKoy. JayJay Jordan provided a team-high 14 points. The 5’11 senior point guard is up to 1,041 for his career. Meanwhile, Wilson’s four losses have been by 15 points combined. Their four-game winning streak came to an end. Esterly is (241-80) during his twelve years at Berks Catholic. We talked about the days when he had long hair and his favorite TV show.