by Ryan Mosher
The Berlin boys basketball team entered this past weekend’s Class C sectional tournament as the #3 seed, looking to advance to the Glens Falls Civic Center for the first time in school history. In their way stood the # 6 seed Warrensburg Burgers of the Adirondack League.
The quarterfinal game, played at the College of St. Rose on Saturday, would determine which team would head to the Glens Falls Civic Center to play in the Class C semifinals. The Burgers jumped out to the early lead with a three-point play by sophomore Ryan Belden. The Mountaineers would not stay down for long, as senior Chris Zema nailed a three-pointer just over a minute into the game to tie the score. Warrensburg would score six straight points before Zema scored again to make the score 9-5 with two minutes left in the quarter. The Mountaineers’ Cody Blain came in off the bench and immediately hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to just one point. With :02 left on the clock, Zema found a wide open Drew Webster under the hoop to give Berlin the 10-9 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter had the teams matching each other on the offensive and defensive ends of the court. Neither team could establish a lead of more than six points and shake the opposition. With two minutes to play in the half, the Burgers’ Brendan Frye knocked down a three-pointer to break a tie and give Warrensburg a 22-19 lead. Zema responded with a basket, cutting the lead to one point, but seconds later the Burgers added two more points, giving them the 24-21 lead. The Mountaineers answered with a Zema three-pointer to tie the game, and a basket by Blain to give them the lead with just under a minute to play. Unfortunately Berlin could not hold that lead as the Burgers scored with just one tick left on the clock to tie the game going into the half.
The third quarter would be all Warrensburg as the Mountaineers struggled to get rebounds and could not hit their shots. The Burgers’ Mike Perrone scored 10 points of his own in the third quarter as Warrensburg equaled their entire first half output of 26 points. Berlin only managed 11 points in the quarter, putting them in a 52-37 hole with only eight minutes to play.
The Mountaineers did manage to cut the lead in the fourth quarter against the Warrensburg bench, but it would not be enough. The final score was Warrensburg 64, Berlin 55.
The difference in the game was rebounding. In the first half Berlin had little problems on the boards, out-rebounding Warrensburg 13-10. After the break it was a completely different story. The Burgers out rebounded the Mountaineers 17-1 in the second half of the game and used many of those rebounds to score second chance baskets.
Chris Zema led Berlin with 19 points, including 3 three-pointers and added three assists and three rebounds. Drew Webster added 5 assists for the Mountaineers The Mountaineers finished the season 10-11 overall, and 10-6 in the CHVL.