Several fans noted before the game began Friday night in Huskies Gymnasium that this contest would be the last as members of the Chagrin Valley Conference for next door neighbors Berkshire and Cardinal.
Game photos click here.
Several fans noted before the game began Friday night in Huskies Gymnasium that this contest would be the last as members of the Chagrin Valley Conference for next door neighbors Berkshire and Cardinal.
The Huskies will head to the Northeastern Athletic Conference next season.
That said, when these teams meet, no matter the records, efforts never come into question.
That’s how this game played out as well, but the Badgers used full-court pressure most of the night to thwart anything the Huskies tried as Berkshire claimed a 72-44 decision.
Berkshire started the game on a 12-0 run that began with a pair of free throws by Michael Constantini.
Only Cardinal’s Carter Tucker jumper in the lane interrupted the Badgers’ first quarter explosion.
The Badgers’ pressure on defense forced four early Huskies turnovers, each one leading to Berkshire baskets as they opened an 18-10 lead after one quarter of play.
Senior guard Cal Ciminello hit three straight shots to narrow the gap, including a pair of 3-pointers, as the Huskies showed they would not back down.
Depth also came into play for both teams.
The Badgers missed their starting point guard, Jake Patterson, for the game. Also top Berkshire senior Gavin Hipp is still not yet ready for full time duty due to an injury which has bothered him all season from football. Hipp has also dealt with illness.
The Huskies were also affected as Cardinal was without top players Landon Gallagher and Blake Strever.
That put depth decidedly in favor of the Badgers, and that’s basically how the game played out.
Paced by a 15-point first half from sophomore Alex Bowman, the Badgers moved to a tenuous 37-23 lead at halftime.
The Huskies battled, but the third period saw seven turnovers for Cardinal (3-18) that led to a 19-8 third period difference that blew the game open.
Balance was huge for the Badgers (4-16), as well. Bowman hit for 23 points on the night, with nine of 12 shooting from the floor.
Cameron Beam was right there, too, with 15 points to go with 12 rebound and six assists as Berkshire made the Huskies pay for every turnover with good shooting.
Berkshire hit on 28 of 52 shots from the floor while also hitting all nine free throws they took. The Badgers had assists on 20 of those 28 buckets, with Luke Stute also dishing for six helpers, and the Huskies just could not keep up the pace.
They ended up turning the ball over 21 times overall, which Cardinal Coach Kyle Deckerd had hope to avoid before the game started.
“We’ve had issues at times turning the ball over in games,” he said pregame.
“We just didn’t take care of the ball well in the first half,” he said afterward. “If we do that, we can play with anybody, but once we knew Landon Gallagher also would not play due to a knee injury, we didn’t have the manpower to hang in there with them.”
Berkshire coach Joe Montanaro agreed with the illness part of the equation for his team as well.
“It’s been a tough year for both of our teams this year,” he said. “Gavin can’t go full speed yet, we also were without Jake Patterson tonight due to illness, and Cardinal has had the same issues too, so with hard practices for us, we have also played hard and are finally getting to be a little more healthy as the season winds down. That should help us in tournament, I hope.”
The Badgers haven’t had their entire team together for two games in a row yet this season, but signs are improving.
Beside the efforts of Bowman and Beam, Billy Verbic tallied 11 points for Berkshire, and Stute stepped into the playmakers role and tallied 10 as well.
Zach Caldwell managed to get open enough for the Huskies to score 19 points on eight of 15 shooting. Cardinal will win many games shooting 44 percent from the floor, but the turnovers — which became more often in the second half, many of the unforced variety as they pushed a tad beyond their limits — kept them from coming back. Ciminello added 17 points, but nobody else had more than three.
