Whitehall sports round-up, Mar. 3, 2022

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Whitehall coach Keith Redmond instructs his team during a timeout in Saturday’s Class C quarterfinal against Berne-Knox. (Photo by Keith Harrington)

Whitehall boys’ loss caps good season

By Keith Harrington

The Whitehall boys basketball team had been playing their best ball of the season down the stretch but on Saturday they ran into a buzzsaw Berne-Knox team led by high-scoring Mark Edwards. The Railroaders hung around for a half, but the Bulldogs and Edwards heated up over the final 16 minutes as the six-seed Railroaders fell, 73-57, in the Section II Class C quarterfinals at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park.

“They are a great team,” Whitehall coach Keith Redmond said of the Bulldogs. “They communicate well. They trap well. And they play great defense.”

Both teams struggled to get acclimated to the surroundings early on. Neither scored a point for the first 3:30 of the game. Berne-Knox finally jumped out to a 6-0 lead but a 7-0 spurt gave Whitehall a one-point lead after a 3-pointer by Brandon Bakerian. Another Bakerian trey gave the Railroaders their biggest lead of the afternoon at 12-8. Edward responded with a 3-pointer to make it 12-11 Whitehall after a quarter.

Edwards began to impose his will in the second, scoring the first five points of the stanza to give the Bulldogs a 16-12 lead and they never gave it back. Berne-Knox went on to outscore the Railroaders 24-9 in the quarter to lead 35-21 at the half. Edwards scored 16 of the Bulldogs’ points during the spurt.

Even facing the double-figure margin, Redmond felt his team was still in the game based on past experience.

“Only being down 14 we still had a chance,” Redmond added. “We’ve done this before. But they’re just a better basketball team.”

Berne-Knot put the game away early in the third, ripping off a 9-0 run to begin the second half to lead 44-21 and gradually extending the margin from there.

Edwards finished with 40 points for the Bulldogs, scoring in a variety of ways. Post player AJ Wright was a force in the paint, contributing 13 points.

Bakerian paced Whitehall with 13 points. Latrell Evans chipped in 12.

Despite the loss Redmond had a lot positive things to say about his squad’s effort.

“Our kids gave everything they had,” Redmond said. “They didn’t quit. They continued to battle through this and that’s what we’re proud of them for. We could have hung our heads. Got back on the bus and went home at halftime. But we didn’t.”

The future is bright for Redmond’s team as several key players will return for the 2022-23 campaign.

“We’ve got some young kids that gained some great experience this year, and now they see what it takes to be a good basketball team,” Redmond said. “We’re not disappointed. There were a lot of hugs and handshakes in there (the locker room). We’ll miss them.”

Berne-Knox is 15-6. Whitehall ends the season 13-8.

Whitehall advanced to the quarterfinals earlier in the week by pulling away in the second quarter to defeat Cambridge 63-53 in the Class C opening round at the Whitehall gym.

Whitehall led 14-12 after a quarter but a 19-10 second quarter ended up being decisive.

Burgey paced the Railroaders with 24 points. Evans added 17 and Bakerian 12.

Cambridge got 13 points from Jackson Thomas and 12 from Logan Richetter.