Berks Catholic a little too much for North Catholic in state semifinals

By: David Bohr
Friday, March 21, 2025 | 10:15 PM

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MERCERSBURG – North Catholic’s boys basketball team knew that in order to advance to the PIAA Class 4A championship game, it would have to control “that guy” from Berks Catholic.

Make no mistake, “that guy” was not a dismissive phrase when head coach Jim Rocco used it after the Trojans’ 67-59 semifinal loss to the Saints on Friday at James Buchanan High School. He meant the player that had the potential to take over the game — in this case, Kingston McKoy.

And while there were stretches during which North Catholic did assert its own faster style of play, in the end, it was too much McKoy, who finished with a game-high 24 points.

“They have that guy,” Rocco said. “The teams are evenly balanced otherwise. The difference is when they have that guy, he plays the game like a seasoned vet. … We just didn’t have anybody who has the physical presence to stay in front of him.”

To counter McKoy, the Trojans had hoped that a double-team would be effective — sometimes it was, sometimes not — and that their own quicker style would neutralize him.

“We just couldn’t impose our will,” Rocco said. “We thought we would get on the run, pass on the run, but we couldn’t keep that up.”

When North Catholic had its ball movement working, the scoring spread out. Jason Fredericks led the Trojans with 20 points, Owen Maddalon added 17 and Joe Waskiewicz contributed 12. Fredericks had 12 in the first quarter, while Waskiewicz had all 12 of his in the second half.

The contest featured four ties and 10 lead changes, but unfortunately for North Catholic, the last of those lead changes went to the District 3 champs in the last two minutes.

The last lead for the Trojans (22-7) came with 5:08 left in the fourth quarter, when Maddalon scored on a layup for a 53-52 advantage. A 3-point basket by Carmelo Harper put the Saints (24-4) up 55-53. Though Jude Rottmann made a basket to even it 55-55, North Catholic never recovered the lead after McCoy answered with a pair of free throws with 1:47 on the clock.

Berks Catholic will play the winner between Devon Prep and Valley View for the state championship at Hershey’s Giant Center at 8 p.m. Thursday. The other semifinal was delayed by traffic holding up a team’s bus.

The high point for the Trojans in the first half was an 11-0 run that included the end of the first period and the beginning of the second. Fredericks scored seven of those points, and Maddalon scored the other four. But after Maddalon’s layup with 5:41 left in the second that put the WPIAL runner-up ahead 22-16, North Catholic did not score again in the half.

That opened the door for a 12-0 run by the Saints to take a 28-22 lead into the break. McKoy scored seven of those points, including a layup with seven seconds left just after picking up his third foul on a charge.

Despite the ending, Rocco was pleased overall with the season.

“We’ve got a lot of resilient players,” Rocco said. “In the beginning of the year, we weren’t seen as the best in Western Pennsylvania, but now we are the best in Western Pennsylvania.”

Tags: North Catholic