by Ryan Mosher
Thanks to the weather, most area high school sports teams missed a whole lot of practice time over the last week. The Berlin boys basketball team was no exception, having not played together in five days, the Mountaineers hosted Doane Stuart in a CHVL contest on Tuesday, and their rustiness seemed to show early on.
Despite taking a small lead in the beginning Berlin could not seem to shake the visiting Thunder Chickens, who stayed within a few points the entire first half. Casey Gilbert led the Mountaineers in the first quarter with six points. Berlin led just 13-12 after the
first. In the second the Mountaineers stepped up a little bit, with tougher defense, and forced more turnovers. Midway through the quarter Berlin went on an 11-2 run, including 7 straight points from senior Chris Zema. Six of those points came on assists from Drew Webster. At halftime Berlin had extended its lead to 30-22.
In the third quarter the Mountaineers seemed to come together a little more, stepping their defense up as the Thunder Chickens tried to battle back into the game. Berlin got help off the bench from Cody Blain, who had four points in the quarter as well as several steals. Entering the final quarter Berlin led 48-33.
Despite the 15 point lead, the game felt much closer. Doane Stuart would not give up and continued to look to turn to their center, 6’ 7” Lucas Wagner. As he was last year, Wagner was a thorn in Berlin’s side all night. Not only was he making it hard for the Mountaineers to rebound, but he was also swatting away numerous shots. In the second half he went 6-9 on foul shots to help keep his team in the game. Berlin took advantage of the tiring Thunder Chickens, who only had six players in uniform, and began to run the ball more. Finally, with around two minutes left, Chris Zema buried two free throws to put the Mountaineer lead at 20 points, and the home team could breathe a little easier. The final score was 67-48.
Berlin is now 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the CHVL. Zema led the Mountaineers with 19 points. Casey Gilbert and Eric Remington helped out with 12 points each, and Brent Demick chipped in 10 points to go with his 10 rebounds. The Mountaineers play next at Heatly on Friday night, and at Loudonville Monday before the holiday break.