Lions seniors go out right way
February 16, 2009 in Articles, Berkeley Carroll
PARK SLOPE, BK- It didn’t come easy. Like most of their wins this season, the Berkeley Carroll Lions Varsity Basketball team stepped up when they had to winning their final home game of the season over LREI 64-57 last Wednesday at the BC Athletic Center in Park Slope.
The win not only put them over .500 (11-10) but allowed seniors Giancarlo Hirsch, Phil Seay, Max Rainey and Alex Pierce to go out the right way in their home swan song before family and friends on Senior Night.
Much like the previous week in which Girls coach Morgan Sevigny started her three seniors in a one-point squeaker over Packer, first-year coach Mike Kubera gave the nod to all four of his senior leaders bumping Rainey and Pierce into the lineup.
Perhaps due to the occasion, it wasn’t startling that the Lions came out flat getting outscored 9-2 forcing Kubera to burn an early timeout. They finally settled down recovering quickly thanks to the scoring of Seay, who continued to have the hot hand following up a 22 point effort in a road loss to Staten Island Academy with a team best 24.
The guard helped carry the load scoring on an array of driving hoops and from the outside while Hirsch chipped in with 19. But while the two co-captains did the bulk of the scoring, the contributions of Rainey and Pierce were invaluable with both playing unselfish ball adding intangibles to offset a strong challenge from the Lions’ younger feisty opponent who never went away cutting the deficit to four by half.
With the action heating up in a seesaw third quarter that saw both teams exchange leads, Rainey had a big bucket executing a play perfectly rolling to the basket and laying one home off a Hirsch feed for two of his six points.
Still with the game up for grabs, Berkeley Carroll began to cease control early in the fourth turning up the defensive intensity while converting on their end to build a double digit lead.
Improving freshman point guard Joe Longo stepped up with timely buckets and junior Nate Barr scored in transition and made just enough free throws down the stretch to fight off LREI’s late challenge.
The victory was a nice way to finish the home part of their schedule. But even better was the halftime ceremony which saw Coach Kubera give a well thought out speech on how vital his seniors were making certain to point out how dedicated Rainey and Pierce were always practicing hard and being ready whenever called upon.
Of course, the third-year BC physical education teacher had high praise on starting holdovers Hirsch and Seay noting how when he first came on during 2006-07 and, Giancarlo was only a role player who could make shots from the perimeter. But over the past two years, he’s become a complete player able to score in a variety of ways, rebound, dish and defend always competing.
Kubera also referenced Seay’s hustle. Particularly his willingness to take sacrifice taking charges while never giving up on plays getting back on D which drew a great reaction from an emotional Hirsch who slapped his teammate five to laughter.
Ironically, that kind of committment was on display during a LREI fast break where it seemed certain they’d score but a hustling Seay ran all the way back deterring the shooter before getting a big rebound to encouragement from the coaching staff and teammates.
Capping off the festivities, all four players stood for a photo op with their proud coach taking pictures. Memories that will last a lifetime.
Lions Look To Finish Strong: With a couple of big games left later this week including a pivotal road match to St. Ann’s, the Lions will be looking to finish strong in preparation for the ACIS League playoffs.
The quarters won’t get underway until next week.
Lady Lions Face Stiff Test Thursday: While the boys will be playing for something, so too will first-year Coach Sevigny’s Lady Lions who have one game remaining when they visit league rival Dwight this Thursday.
A win would help their cause as they try to make the playoffs.
