by Jen Burhans
The Berlin boy’s Varsity basketball team will go into the two week winter break with a CHVL record of 2-1 after beating 2-2 Waterford 51-27. After getting a week off from games because of weather, Berlin was ready to get back at it. Fans from past years have been witness to a rough and tumble rivalry between the two teams, but Waterford wasn’t up for it this time, and Berlin jumped out to a strong 17-7 first quarter lead.
Berlin needed to protect home court in this match up as they compete for the Central Hudson Valley League championship this year. The Mountaineers looked to their bench since they were missing two senior starters from their lineup.
Getting the nod to start for the first time this year, junior Aiden O’Brien’s near triple-double got the Mountaineers rolling. The 6 foot 7 inch O’Brien led Berlin in scoring, finishing with 13 points. He also had 10 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. Senior Jeff Curtis scored 8 of his 12 points in the second half to help pace Berlin’s offense and maintain the lead. Juniors Matt Rokjer and Greg DePaolis chipped in with 9 points and 8 points respectively.
Contributions from many of Berlin’s role players in this game kept up the steady play and enabled Berlin to outscore Waterford in 3 of the 4 quarters. This game showed that Berlin has depth and doesn’t just rely on a few key players. This should translate into a strong team down the road.
Third year Varsity Senior Cullen O’Brien will miss the remainder of the season with a broken leg, and Coach Sauer had this to say, “We came into this game knowing of Cullen’s season ending injury, and the team felt down, but we were not out. Our mindset did not change. There are many times during a season where you have to rise to challenges laid out in front of you and our ability to play well through adversity was a great sign of our hard work and focus. Cullen’s recovery will be in our thoughts throughout the remainder of the season and I know nothing would make him feel better than a run at the CHVL league title.”