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No. 8 Berkshire upsets No. 1 LaBrae in Div. III
By Karl Henkel
HOWLAND
Burton Berkshire thought it should have earned a higher seed when the district playoffs began two weeks ago.
After Saturday’s 55-52 victory over Leavittsburg Labrae in the Division III district title game at Howland, the eighth-seeded Badgers proved their point, holding off a pesky Vikings squad and surviving a wild fourth quarter to earn its first district title since 1990.
“Our kids took that personally,” Berkshire coach Pete Moran said. “Ever since the first game against Liberty, they’ve been playing with a chip on their shoulder.”
Labrae had a shot to send the game into overtime with five seconds remaining, but Matt Szorady’s 3-point attempt twice bounced off the rim.
Berkshire flipped the script from last year’s tournament, when Labrae defeated the Badgers, 54-45, in the district semifinal. Labrae played in its third-consecutive district final but lost its second in a row.
Berkshire (15-8), which led by as many as seven in the second half, relinquished the lead in a back-and-forth four-plus minutes to end the game. In that time, there were four lead changes and a tie, beginning with Jacob Jaros’ putback off a Peyton Aldridge miss that gave Labrae (20-3) a 48-47 lead — its first since the opening quarter.
Berkshire answered back with a three-point play from Travis Smetana before Szorady, who led the Vikings with 19 and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the line, cut inside and tied the score at 50.
Following a pair of missed Berkshire free throws, Aldridge hit a jumper to put LaBrae back up, but it was the last time the Vikings scored; they had three turnovers and committed an offensive foul before Szorady’s last-second shot.
“It was just a matter of execution down the stretch,” Labrae coach Chad Kiser said. “They were able to get the loose balls.”
Berkshire ended the game by making 5-of-7 free-throw attempts and scored 15 from the free-throw line total, in part due to 42 combined fouls. Labrae committed 23.
“We thought, ‘district finals, they’re gonna let us play,’” Berkshire guard Kyle Blair said. “It was a little uncalled for.”
The fouls quickly mounted for Labrae leading scorer Jaros, who played 11 minutes but still managed seven points before he fouled out in the fourth.
“That took a huge part of our offense out,” Kiser said. “That’s a guy who can post up or pull out and shoot a 3.”
Berkshire outrebounded Labrae 22-14, including a 14-7 advantage in the first half. The Vikings gave up many second-chance scoring opportunities. Tim Ludlow, who led Berkshire with 20 points, finally buried a 3-pointer that gave the Badgers a 25-22 lead at the break. Tim Goff led Berkshire with 11 rebounds.
“Any time you can outrebound a team, especially a team that’s a little bit bigger than you, you’re going to put yourself in a situation to win at the end,” Moran said. “We just wanted to come out [and play] physical.”
Labrae started the game hot and led 11-8 near the end of the first quarter, but quickly saw its lead evaporate as Berkshire went on an 11-2 run. The Vikings then regained the lead with a 9-2 run of their own.