By Doug La Rocque
A pair of double-doubles by sophomore’s Roark Slattery and Ryan Willis helped the Berlin Boys basketball squad to its second Central Hudson Valley League win in as many tries this past week. [private]
Slattery led the scoring for the Mountaineers with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Willis used a strong second half to produce 14 points and 12 rebounds. Coach Kasson Sauer also praised the effort of Junior Ryan Gosse, who came off the bench to pour in 13 points. Senior Ryan Shumway contributed 8 points to go along with 4 rebounds, 6 assists and five steals. Berlin jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the first quarter of play, played the Hornets even in the second and built on their led the rest of the game to post the 53-37 victory.
A match up against the undefeated and defending Section II Class D champions from Germantown did not turn out so favorable for the Mountaineers. Berlin fell behind early in the game, and despite scoring most of their points in the third and fourth quarters, were handed a 72-39 loss by the Clippers. Sophomore Josh Hendricks came off the bench to lead Berlin in scoring with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Junior Ryan Gosse threw down 10 points, with Roark Slattery adding 9 and Ryan Willis another 7 points. The loss runs the Mountaineers CHVL record to 2-1 and overall game count to 3-2.
The young Mountaineers wrestling team has yet to post a win in this young season, but has experienced a few highlights. Michael Hice, Josh Kluck and Chris Hoole have all recorded pins in their various weight classes. Berlin traveled over the state line Saturday to neighboring Mt. Greylock in Williamstown, Massachusetts for a scrimmage matchup with the Mounties and four other Western Massachusetts schools. Coach D.J. Connolly hoped the time on the mat with some more experienced grapplers would add to his teams skill level and confidence. [/private]