Wilson might play the best defense in District Three boys' basketball, but they aren't quite as good as Warwick made them look Saturday.

The Warriors couldn't make a shot in an unpleasant 44-23 loss to Wilson in the quarterfinals of the District Three Class AAAA tournament at the Giant Center.

Warwick had impressed mightily in a win over Mechanicsburg in the tournament's play-in round.

It impressed even more in a 20-point defeat of Solanco, which it had lost to twice in the regular season, in a first-round game Wednesday.

Against the Mules, Warwick played with tremendous energy and fire, and got points from their defense.

The same energy and fire seemed to be there against Wilson, but the well-drilled Bulldogs don't make mistakes, so nothing was coming easy.

And Wilson plays such superb half-court man-to-man that nothing was coming hard, either.

"It was a tough matchup," Warwick coach Jeff Landis admitted. "They're very good, and we're a perimeter-oriented team. When we aren't making perimeter shots or even medium-range jump shots ..."

Wilson is allowing less than 36 points per game, second-best in District Three and by far the best in Class AAAA.

It has allowed 50 points only twice, both to monstrous, undefeated Berks County rival Reading.

The Bulldogs (22-3) are missing their best player, 6-foot-5 junior Zach Zweizig, which makes Tuesday's third meeting with Reading, in the district semifinals, a dicey proposition.

But Wilson will make Reading, and everybody else, work for what they get.

 "This has got to be one of [Wilson coach Matt Coldren's] best defensive teams," Landis said. "They may not be the most explosive and athletic, but they get it."

Warwick led 5-0 two minutes in, and managed an 11-point flurry over the game's last four minutes. In the roughly 30 minutes of intervening game time, the Warriors managed three field goals.

They shot 3-for-20 from the field, and 0-for-7 from the three-point arc, in the first half.

They scored one point in the second quarter and three in the middle two quarters. In a stretch of about 22 game-clock minutes, they put the ball in the basket from the field one time.

 "I thought the energy and the hustle were there," Landis said. "When you're not scoring at all, it seems like they're scoring every time but, really, our defense was pretty good."

Indeed, in this game, 44 points seemed like 88. Wilson had only one double-figure scorer, 6-7 senior post man Jereme Good, who's come on lately in Zweizig's absence, did a lot of things well Saturday and scored 15.

Warwick's future is brighter than Saturday made it look. Its postseason roster includes nine juniors, two sophomores and a freshman.

And this season isn't over. The Warriors (16-9) can sneak into the state tournament with a win over Daniel Boone (21-6) at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Milton Hershey or a win in a seventh-place game, against another quarterfinal-round loser, at a site and date to be determined this week.

"Our kids are mentally tough," Landis said. "I think they'll bounce back.

"Warwick hasn't been to the state tournament in 20 years. That's our goal, and it's still out there."