It was a joyful celebration of senior night for the Berkshire Badgers as they hosted Chagrin Valley Conference foe Grand Valley. With six senior cheerleaders introduced before the game, plus players Joey Czekaj and Apollo Percic, the atmosphere had tons of energy for everybody.
Game photos click here.
It was a joyful celebration of senior night for the Berkshire Badgers as they hosted Chagrin Valley Conference foe Grand Valley. With six senior cheerleaders introduced before the game, plus players Joey Czekaj and Apollo Percic, the atmosphere had tons of energy for everybody.
Then, under a barrage of long-range shooting the likes of which few professional teams can match, the Badgers and Mustangs went toe to toe until a late pair of big plays from sophomores sent the game to overtime.
Said sophs then made some big free throws in overtime, and Grand Valley escaped with a thrilling 57-56 CVC victory.
Berkshire had a 28-23 lead at the half. Then the Mustangs (6-15) opened the third period with a 10-0 run, fueled by senior forward Nate Boiarski’s pair of three-pointers from the left and right corners, respectively, along with a short jumper in between.
The Badgers never let that spurt stop them, but the Mustangs — with post player Jerry Schultz getting big rebounds to provide more scoring chances for his team, along with powerful inside work that did the same from sophomore Braden Hart — gradually took control of the backboards, leading to the photo-finish in regulation.
Berkshire (9-12) had a 50-45 lead with 1:17 to play as Miles Miller nailed the sixth of his seven three-pointers. Boiarski followed with a trey of his own, and after multiple turnovers and timeouts in the last regulation minute, Grand Valley sophomore Sammy Goforth took a pass from Schultz and hit a short baseline jumper with 2.1 ticks left to send the game to overtime.
“You can’t take away the super effort we gave tonight,” Berkshire Head Coach Joe Montanaro said. “It all came down to a few little things. We were out-rebounded tonight, Grand Valley got multiple shots several times, and when you look at it, rebounding has been our Achilles all season long.”
Miller had a hot hand from beyond the arc, as did the Badgers as a team. Miller hit on seven long shots for a game-high 21 points. The Badgers as a team hit on 12 of 26 three-point attempts, and finishing at the basket came up huge for both teams.
The Mustangs had 18 assists on their 21 baskets, usually a winning percentage. Berkshire also completed plays, netting 20 shots with 17 assists.
As Coach Montanaro alluded to, rebounding came up huge. The Mustangs, paced by the 14 boards for Jerry Schultz, took that battle by a 40-22 count, with 15 of Grand Valley’s caroms being of the offensive variety.
As the Badgers celebrated their seniors, a pair of sophomores made huge plays for Grand Valley at the end of regulation with Goforth’s bucket, and then in overtime as sophomore Braden Hart hit a pair of free throws with 53.7 ticks left, giving Grand Valley a 56-51 lead.
After Boiarski split a pair of freebies with 21.1 seconds left for a 57-51 lead, the Badgers got a pair of free throws from Mason Mendolara to cut the gap to four points. But after a timeout from the Badgers, a Miller three-pointer at the buzzer only accounted for the final score.
Miller’s 21 points paced the scoring for the game. Gavin Hipp added 10; Jack Hastings had eight to go, with a team-leading eight rebounds; and Mendolara was a force all over the court with seven points, six boards, seven assists and a trio of early steals. For much of the night, those steals forced the Mustangs to avoid attacking the paint.
Boiarski led Grand Valley (6-15) with 19 points and eight rebounds, and Schultz had a double-double with 16 points, 14 boards, and a trio of blocked shots. Landon Spencer added nine points on a trio of long-range shots to accompany five assists.
