Stevie Mitchell scores 31 as Wilson outlasts Muhlenberg, returns to Berks boys basketball final
Feb. 25—The Wilson Bulldogs have had to overcome big obstacles to return to the Berks Conference championship game for the second straight season, and Wednesday night they faced their biggest.
They trailed hot-shooting Muhlenberg by 14 points in the second quarter, putting a third meeting with Reading High in jeopardy.
"Anytime you get down against a talented team it's not ideal," said Bulldogs star Stevie Mitchell, "but we knew as long as we kept battling that's all we could ask of ourselves. If we're gonna go out, we're gonna go out fighting."
The second-seeded Bulldogs overcame their largest deficit of the season and got another brilliant performance from their leader in holding off the third-seeded Muhls 56-51 in a thrilling semifinal at West Lawn.
Mitchell scored a game-high 31 points and finished off the Muhls (14-3) at the foul line in the final 30 seconds, converting two straight one-and-ones.
"It's good he's on my team," said Wilson coach Matt Coldren, "because when you are up you want the ball in his hands, especially now that he's become a good foul shooter."
The Bulldogs (17-1) effectively spread the floor in the final minutes and made sure the ball was in Mitchell's hands at the end. He entered the game hitting 83 percent of his free throws and he pushed that figure even higher by going 9-for-9. He also made 11-of-18 shots from the field.
"Stevie came down, hit some good shots, helped them out a lot," said Muhlenberg coach Tyrone Nesby. "He did what he had to do and changed the game."
Mitchell, a Marquette recruit, has 1,955 career points heading into the championship game Friday against top-seeded Reading High at Berks Catholic at 8.
The way Erron Archie came out shooting, it looked like the Bulldogs would never get there. He opened the game with a 3 and hit two more in the first four minutes. When T.J. White knocked down another trey, the Muhls led 14-4.
They dominated the first 11 minutes and led 25-11 after Edwin Suarez hit a pair of free throws with 5:12 left in the first half.
Chris Vazquez, who finished with 13 points, got the Bulldogs going by answering with a 3-pointer. Mitchell sparked the quarter-ending rally when he grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast, his three-point play cutting Muhlenberg's lead to 25-17.
Wilson ended the half on a 17-7 run, setting up a second half that saw the score tied seven times.
"That's a great team we played," Coldren said, "and they have two all-county players, Archie and Suarez. They're very active and they put a lot of pressure on you. Every time they have the ball you're holding your breath."
Archie finished with 25 points. Suarez had 12 points and 13 rebounds. White had 14 points.
Muhlenberg never led after Mitchell fought under the glass, putting up three straight shots before the last settled in to make it 34-32 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
Archie tied it for the final time at 48 with a pair of free throws, but Mitchell fed Richard Wah underneath for a 50-48 advantage with 3:12 left and the Muhls were chasing the rest of the way.
"They were hitting a lot of shots in the beginning, tough shots," said Mitchell. "We knew it was gonna be a battle. We knew we had to keep playing.
"There's four quarters for a reason; you get down in the first quarter, there's three quarters to play."
