PARK SLOPE, BK- The game intensified in the final quarter with Evangel Christian charging hard to even take the lead after the Varsity host Berkeley Carroll had led by seven. But now, it was a feisty road opponent with clear momentum looking to comeback and steal one.

Only Giancarlo Hirsch wouldn’t let it happen. The senior guard took over down the stretch scoring 10 of his game high 23 to lead the host Lions past Evangel Christian 63-59 at the BC Athletic Center in Park Slope.

“Well, that feels great,” the sarcastic Hirsch remarked while taking to the spotlight with plenty to look forward to this Thanksgiving Break. “We comeback and we play Lawrence Woodmere on Wednesday. So that’s going to be a good game. And then we get started in our league [ACIS].”

Unlike the previous day when his team led from start to finish before holding off Calhoun to post a nine-point triumph, Hirsch and the Lions got a bit more of a challenge from Evangel Christian in what amounted to a seesaw contest of runs.

Following a strong third quarter in which the BC defense limited their opponent while cashing in at the offensive end to build close to a double digit lead, things quickly tightened up when they got a little sloppy at both ends allowing the road foe to run off seven straight during a run which eventually saw BC fall behind by a point on a three-point play.

But just when the wheels seemed to be falling off, the speedy co-captain Hirsch setup the biggest hoop finding senior running mate Phil Seay in the corner for a go-ahead trey to help slow down their opponents and regain momentum. He finished with 15.

The two weren’t done converting twice in a row off steals widening the margin while also making enough free throws in crunch time to help Berkeley Carroll stay undefeated winning for a second consecutive day on their home floor.

“Sometimes at the end of the game, we kinda come out of our element,” Hirsch pointed out of the momentary lapse. “We don’t run the full offense and we don’t stay in our positions and everybody kinda collapses on the ball. And so by the end of the fourth quarter, we had to righten our ship and worked everything out.”

“Anything to get the win really. We all had some big shots at the end of the game,” he added giving proper credit to teammates who supported him including grinning energizer John Shaughnessy who did his usual grunt work underneath altering shots, crashing the boards and scoring on putbacks.

Aside from Shaughnessy who has continued to make strides in his second year of Varsity, Hirsch also referenced a couple of other new faces up from JV making the most of their opportunities.

“After last year, with losing Jason [Lewis]. That’s a big loss for the team. A lot of the ballplayers are the players that last year rode the bench have really stepped up like Sean Cunningham and Joe Longo. Joe really fills his position at point guard and everything’s been good. It seems like everything’s gonna go well.”

He also heaped praise for first-year coach Mike Kubera with a wide eyed grin adding:

“I love playing for the new coach. The coach is the man!”

So far, so good for Hirsch and his teammates in 2008-09.

JV Falls To Evangel Christian: Before the entertaining second part of the doubleheader, the Berkeley Carroll JV fell to Evangel Christian by six in a high scoring entertaining game which took over an hour and a half to play. Former Girls Varsity coach Walter Paller ran the ship which featured two prominent players who could have bright futures.

But despite the improvement of a year ago where the JV won just twice, they committed too many mistakes falling behind before a late rally just fell short.

They were without starter Rob Paller who took part in a school swim meet.