Indians unable to protect lead

The Berkeley Springs High School Boys Basketball Team led Musselman 23-20 at the half in Bunker Hill on Tuesday, February 21, but Musselman exploded for 42 second half points to beat the Indians, 62-51, in the regular season finale.

"It wasn't our best game, but Musselman had something to do with that," said Indian Coach Jeremy Horvat. “They have a lot of size and kind of wore us down. Our ‘bigs’ got into some foul trouble and we had to play with four guards on the floor for much of the game. We also did a poor job of protecting the basketball and struggled from the free throw line, especially in the first half. This is one game we would like to have back."

Musselman got four points each from Jacob Bare and Tylor Baker in the opening quarter to grab a 12-8 lead.

Berkeley Springs got balanced scoring in the second quarter, with Richard Recio, Zach Wise, Jared Spielman, Michael Kearney, Mike Twigg and Kaleb Athey all scoring at least two points, as the Indians outscored their Berkeley County opponent, 15-8, to take a 23-20 lead into the halftime locker room.

Musselman came out of the half with a renewed effort to take advantage of their size. Working the ball into the paint, Musselman started to click on offense and turned a three-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead, 39-32, after three quarters of play.

"At the beginning of the second half they really started to exert themselves down low," said Horvat. “As I said, their size made a big difference. The third quarter was really the turning point of the game."
Jared Spielman and Michael Kearney scored seven points each in the final quarter, but Musselman's Trevon Wesco scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the final eight minutes, and Musselman pulled away for the 12 point win.

"We did a good job of containing him for most of the game," Horvat said of Wesco. “He is big and he is athletic; one of the better players we've seen this year. Our kids showed a lot of heart, but it just wasn't meant to be."
Kearney led the Indians with 11 points, Recio added 10, Jared Spielman nine, Brady Spielman eight, Derrick Cowles four, Zach Wise three, Dylan Whipple two, Twigg two and Athey two.

Berkeley Springs, 11-11, hosted Petersburg in the opening round of the Region II, Section 1 Tournament yesterday, February 28. If the Tribe defeated Petersburg, they will host the winner of Frankfort/Keyser in the sectional title game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 2.

"We ended up with the top seed in the section," said a happy Horvat. “Even after we lost to Petersburg and Keyser early, we knew that if we took care of business that we would probably get at least one home game. It actually turned out better. I am really proud of the way our kids battled back from a slow start. It really tells you something about this team. Now we need to finish things off."

The Berkeley Springs JV came up just short in their final game of the year, losing to Musselman 62-58.

Brandon Malone had a terrific game, leading all scorers with 27 points. Brandon McCumbee added 10 points, Chris Kees seven, Bailey Mills six, Tyler Zinzow five and Cameron Johnson three.