Home Cooking for Royals as they knock off Berwick in overtime

The Holy Redeemer Royals are coming off a big road victory came back home on Thursday night as they hosted the Berwick Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are coming off a home victory over Lake-Lehman. Who would come out on top in the WVC crossover matchup? Let's find out! The Royals started off the game by scoring five straight points and Berwick would call their timeout. After the Bulldogs timeout, Berwick would score four straight points to cut the lead to a point. A pair of free throws by Collin Cook and a basket by Nick Prociak would increase the Royals lead to 9-4 but the Bulldogs would get a basket to cut the lead to 9-6 after one quarter of play. Prociak would score six points early in the second quarter to increase the lead to eight. However, a 7-0 run would get the Holy Redeemer lead to one. Baskets by Cook and JD Turosky would make it a five point advantage for Holy Redeemer. A three pointer by Berwick's Kenny Marshman would make it a two point game but a basket by Turosky would give the Royals a 21-17 lead at halftime. The Bulldogs would go on an 8-0 run in the third quarter to take their first lead of the game. Cook would chip at the lead with four points late in the quarter, sandwiched by an Alec Markle basket and the Bulldogs would lead 29-28 at the end of the third quarter. With the Royals trailing by one in the fourth quarter, Cook would score five straight points to give Holy Redeemer a 35-31 lead. The Bulldogs would answer with a three pointer by Marshman. Cook would answer with a three pointer of his own to put the lead back to four points. The Bulldogs would go on a 6-0 run, highlighted by a steal and layup by Damon Beckhorn to tie the game at 38 then a basket by Joe Norce to give the Bulldogs a 40-38 lead. Cook would tie the game at 40 with a pair of free throws then after a defensive stop by the Royals, Ell would get fouled and sink both free throws to give Holy Redeemer a 42-40 lead. On the ensuing Bulldogs possession, Alec Markle would hit a three pointer to give Berwick a 43-42 lead with 10.3 seconds to go. With 6.2 seconds to go, the Bulldogs would foul Joey Judge and he would sink the first free throw to tie the game at 43 and the second one would just roll off the rim and the Bulldogs would be unable to get a shot off and we would go to overtime. Judge would redeem himself in a big way in overtime. He would score all six Royals points and the Royals would lead 49-48 but the Bulldogs would have the ball and a chance to bring home the victory. The last shot fell short but the ball was loose but time would expire before someone got to the loose ball and the game would go to the Royals by the score of 49-48 in overtime.

Thoughts on the game: It was a really good game all things considered. Both teams played very well. Collin Cook had a great game with 23 points and Joey Judge had an amazing overtime period where he scored all of the Royals points. For the Bulldogs, it was very well balanced in scoring. With Markle scoring 15, Marshman with 11 and Beckhorn with 12.