BERNE — Berne-Knox-Westerlo basketball player Rick Ragone stepped to the free-throw line.

In order to give his team a chance for a win, he had to make the first of his one-and-one attempts.

After whispering a few words to himself, Ragone sanked the first shot and even more calmly made the second free throw to give the Bulldogs a 56-52 lead with only 47 seconds left in the game en route to a 59-54 win over Schoharie on Friday night.

Schoharie got a basket by Wade Schaffer to cut the lead back to two points but could not score in the final 30 seconds.

A foul shot by sophomore Josh Skinner and a basket off a rebound of Skinner’s missed second shot by Ragone put the game away for good and made up the final difference.

The win was big for the Bulldogs as they were playing without their coach, Andy Wright, who missed the game because he was ejected from the game against Canajoharie for receiving two technical fouls. Section II rules state that any coach or player ejected from a game has to miss the next game.

Wright made an appeal to the Section II committee but said the appeal was not upheld. Wright also said that the superintendent of Canajoharie wrote a letter on Wright’s behalf.

Junior-varsity coach Brian McCoy and girls varsity coach Tom Galvin ran the team in Wright’s absence.
"If anything in a new situation," McCoy said, "there are a couple things that can happen. A team can fall apart or rise to the occasion. They wanted to win for Coach and after the beating down I took in the junior-varsity game, they wanted to win for me."

McCoy had a junior-varsity game prior to the varsity contest on Friday.

Early lead

In the varsity game, Schoharie led, 13-12, at the end of the first quarter. BKW had taken the lead on an inside basket by Skinner and added six more points on a Skinner jump shot and two inside buckets by Ragone.

But Ragone and BKW’s other big post player, Andrew Elderd, had to sit on the bench because of fouls and the Bulldogs looked to be in trouble.

Schoharie fought back from a seven-point deficit to cut the lead to one, 21-20, with 2:30 left until halftime.

But BKW, using a line-up of smaller players, pushed the tempo and went on a 11-3 run in the last two minutes of the second quarter to take a 31-23 halftime lead.

Tom Houck scored on a drive to the basket and then on an inside basket after receiving a great pass from Skinner. Houck added a three-pointer to put the Bulldogs up 27-20.

Schoharie got a foul shot from Robert Foland with 53 seconds left to end the run.

Matt Lounsbury scored on a drive to the basket for BKW and was fouled. He converted the free throw.

Two more free throws by Foland cut the margin to eight at the intermission.
"When both guys came out," McCoy said of Ragone and Elderd, "we went to a man-to-man defense. We usually don’t have early foul trouble. I made a mistake of leaving the two big guys in. We went with a smaller line-up and we were able to build an eight-point lead at halftime."

Hanging on

Schoharie chipped away in the third quarter outscoring the Bulldogs, 16-10, in the stanza, leaving BKW with just a two-point lead.
"I gave Brian the game plan and he followed it to a tee," Wright said on Wednesday after he reviewed the game film.

BKW was led by Skinner’s 17 points. Lounsbury scored 12 points and Ragone added nine. Houck scored nine points and Elderd chipped in with seven points.

Schaffer led Schoharie with 17 points. Sean Hazzard scored 14 points and Alex Cumming added seven.

The Bulldogs now have a 4-10 record, but they have won three out of their last five games.
"It’s a big win for our program," Wright said. "We’ve set our mark for six wins. We went 5-15 my first year and we went to the sectionals. I told the guys that if we win six games that I would do it for the seniors. Not to mention the great experience it would be for the sophomores. We start two sophomores and they showed up big."

Next up for BKW is a contest Wednesday against Schenectady Christian. The Bulldogs then host Sharon Springs on Feb. 3 and wrap up the regular season at Middleburgh. The Bulldogs beat Middleburgh and Sharon Springs earlier this season.
"I’m seeing some good things from this group," Wright said. "If we start playing our game, we can upset anybody. The sectionals are like the NCAA basketball tournament; It’s anybody’s ball game."