Top-seeded LaBrae, No. 5 Berkshire will meet again

March 1, 2012 at 12:06a.m.

By DOUG CHAPIN

HOWLAND

A rematch of last year’s championship game in the Howland Division III boys basketball district tournament is assured.

But that return engagement will take place Monday in the semifinal round.

Top-seeded LaBrae, ranked second in the state in Division III in the final Associated Press poll, will face fifth-seeded Burton Berkshire Monday at 7 p.m. at Howland High in a district semifinal. The Badgers won a 55-52 decision over the Vikings a year ago to advance to the regional tournament.

Both advanced to the 2012 semifinal round following very different victories on Wednesday. Berkshire (16-6) won its 11th consecutive game, a 55-54 triumph over third-seeded Brookfield on a last-second shot by junior Tim Ludlow. LaBrae (22-0) rolled over unseeded Champion, 73-39.

“Both teams are familiar with each other. We played earlier this season, so both teams know each other pretty well,” LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. “It’s not like Newton Falls, say, who we play all the time, but we have a pretty good idea what they run and they know what we run. It will be a battle.

“The teams match up well. You can pick out guys on either side that are very similar. It’s going to be a matter of execution come Monday. The team that executes and plays at both ends of the floor, I think that will be the difference.”

Brookfield (17-4) saw its outstanding season come to a bitter end when Ludlow swished a 12-footer from the right baseline as the clock wound down. He slipped as he drove down the right side of the key but maintained his dribble while down on the floor. He was able to get up, take two more dribbles toward the basket and then step back for his jump shot.

Earlier in the final minute he had missed a similar shot but the Badgers got another opportunity after the Warriors’ Preston Sirochman missed two free throws with 18 seconds remaining.

Brookfield led 34-22 a minute into the second half but Berkshire gradually came back.

“I think defensively is where it all starts,” Berkshire coach Pete Moran said. “We could talk about the shot Tim Ludlow made but I think the key was only giving up 24 points in the second half. They are a much bigger, stronger and faster basketball team than we are but I think our kids’ hearts showed tonight in how much we wanted this victory.

“My hat is off to Brookfield’s coaching staff. They did a phenomenal job scouting us. The main thing is we took their punch in the first half and I think our kids responded. We have a good senior group, a bunch of seniors who have gone through close games.”

The Badgers tied the game at 41 with 2:07 left in the third quarter and led 44-43 at the quarter break. Neither team led by more than three points in the final quarter.

Jeremy Quinlan led Brookfield with 16 points and eight rebounds and Sirochman added 11 points and eight rebounds. Jimmy Hawley dished out four assists to go with eight points and Collin Harkulich also scored eight.

Ludlow had a game-high 24 for Berkshire. Tim Goff, a 6-foot-7 senior, was held to five points and five rebounds by the Brookfield defense.

LaBrae scored the first 16 points of the game against Champion (5-16) on the way to quarter leads of 18-7, 30-14 and 47-20.

Matt Szorady, Peyton Aldridge and Nathan Middleton all scored 10 points for the Vikings and Carrington Herron had nine points and seven rebounds. Szorady also recorded four assists.

Champion got 15 points from Chris Miller and nine each from Ryan Miller and Mitch Weaver.