BERNE — In an up-and-down season, the BKW boys’ basketball team has finished strong as it prepares for the next round of competition.

The Bulldogs won both of their Western Athletic cross-over games and are now preparing for the Class CC Section II playoffs. The Bulldogs are seeded 11th and will play on Tuesday at Cambridge High School.

BKW beat Fort Plain, 57-56, on Saturday and then Galway, 57-47, on Monday night.
"We’ll be all right," said BKW Coach Andy Wright. "I think we can surprise someone in the first round. We were up 17 against Fort Plain and we played to defend the lead, not to add to the lead, and they came back in the third quarter. You can’t play teams like that. You have to play and continue to take it to them and not hold onto the lead."

Lenny Coons led the Bulldogs with 20 points against Fort Plain. Rich Geist added 16 and Matt Lounsbury scored eight.

Against Galway on Monday, BKW was led by Lounsbury’s 20 points. Coons added 13 points, and Josh Skinner chipped in with eight.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Bulldogs. They wrapped up the regular season with wins over Sharon Springs and Middleburgh.

Hanging tough
"This is an athletic group and they can get on a roll," Wright said. "They are consistently building confidence. We’re executing and also correcting things. Not at any point this season has anyone blown us out. We can hang tough with anyone. I can play everyone on this team. They are sharing responsibility and not hanging on one guy’s shoulders."

The Bulldogs have two South Division all-stars. Coons was named to the first team in the division and Lounsbury is a second-team all-star.
"There are seven teams in the south and, if you add up all the players, there are 80 to 90 players from top to bottom," Wright said. "There were co-MVPs, so we have two of the top 12 players in the division. They come with it consistently."

The Bulldogs do not have to rely just on those two guys. They go much deeper.
"I can put four guys in double figures any night," Wright said. "We’re a tough team to play defense against."

The Bulldogs’ only recent losses have come from South Division champion Schenectady Christian. Due to an early-season cancellation, the Bulldogs and Falcons played twice in one week at the end of January.
"It was a closer score the second time we played them," Wright said. "If we played them a third time, I don’t know if that would happen, but I like our chances against them. It’s tough to play a team three times. Any coach that pays attention to their opponent for an entire two games, can really figure the team out and get a victory.
"In the first game, the difference with the second loss was that our big guys struggled," Wright added. "We didn’t play as tough in the second half as we needed to."

"Good teams at every level"

Wright was hoping that the Bulldogs would land a 10 or 11 seed for the very tough Class CC sectionals.
"The CC’s are the most difficult bracket in sectional boys’ tournament," Wright said. "There’s no disputing that. There are good teams at every level. There is the most talent in any of the small-school brackets. It’s dispensed evenly. There will be upsets; I predict that there will be upsets."

Wright thinks that his Bulldogs could be one of those teams that pulls off an upset.
"I’d say we have a real good chance, where we are at, to surprise somebody in the first round," the coach said. "We have a better shot at winning sectionals than in years past. I have a point guard, a two-guard, and big guys. If we play well and execute plays, we’ll be tough to beat. Schenectady Christian is ranked 11th in the state and we were within six points of them. We didn’t play a great game of basketball. If we play all four quarters, we would win the game against them."

With wins in their two cross-over games, Wright feels his team is playing its best basketball.
"I think if we have a convincing win tonight," Wright said on Monday afternoon, "it will lead to a first-round win. We need to get something going tonight. It can’t be a small margin; we need to win by 10 or more."

The Bulldogs got the big win against Galway on Monday and now the sectionals are here.
"I would say the sectionals have been a priority ever since we knew we were not going to win the league title," Wright said. "We don’t want another first-round loss. We want to play in the second round. We have a goal here to win every game. We want to get on a roll and play a few more. We have the ability, but the big question is our application."