Had a call earlier in the week from Jerry Johnson at La Academia Charter School, his basketball team had a game on Friday night and he asked if I'd be available. LA has no home gym but they manage to play a few "home" games at facilities around the city, in December I worked one of them when they played at a local college gym. The game on this night was scheduled the very week it happened, both teams had an open date and needed an opponent. It was played at a sports complex about ten miles west of the city which has been in business for about a decade or so, I've been there before but not anytime recently. There are ten hardwood basketball courts in the building located almost literally side-by-side, it made for an experience very different from the usual high-school gym atmosphere. The benches and scorer's table were flush against the wall on one side of the court, there was a row of chairs for spectators on the other side and many others were watching from the second-floor walkway/overhang at the one end of the floor. It was La Academia's Senior Night, before the game we recognized Luis Marinez and Jonathan Orr as the team's graduating seniors. The game itself started shortly after 5:00 and all went well except for the final score, LA lost to Pottstown 66-56. Saturday night was hockey night in downtown Reading, the Royals hosted the Worcester Railers in the back end of a home-and-away series. This was Affiliation Night, the club wore orange and black Flyers-themed sweaters which were later auctioned online. The Royals had lost in Worcester in overtime on Friday, on this night the club took another one-goal loss in regulation time. Goals by Charlie Gerard and Devon Paliani gave the home team a 2-0 first-period lead but the Railers replied with a single score in each period and took it 3-2, Nolan Maier was goaltender of record. The loss ends a four-game standings-point streak and drops the record to 25-12-2, 13-6 at home. The next home game is on February 4 when the Adirondack Thunder visits. Take care, thanks for reading.
