By Jordan J. Michael

BERNE –– David Sikule wanted to make his last game in the Bulldogs’ gym a memorable one.

Scoring 50 points will not soon be forgotten.

Sikule, a senior, finished his three-year stint on the BKW boys’ basketball team with a 50-point effort against visiting St. Johnsville on Monday night in Berne. It was the last basketball game ever to be played in the old gym. It’s getting remodeled for next season.

“There couldn’t have been a better way to say goodbye to the old hardwood,” said Head Coach Andy Wright on Tuesday. “He’s one helluva player and it really showed last night. I’ll try to get him a piece of the floor.”

Sikule was 19 for 29 with nine three-pointers in the 68-to-43 win. He had 20 points after the first quarter and 33 points at halftime. He broke Craig Houck’s school record of 46, set back in 2004.

“I felt kind of guilty because I told Houck that I would protect his record from being broken,” Wright said. “But, Sikule was on a roll and you can’t stop something like this from happening.”

Scoring 50 points wasn’t a random act. Sikule told The Enterprise that he had planned to break Houck’s record before the game even started on Monday. Sikule’s older sister, Kim, who is one of four players in the 1,000-point club for BKW, brought up the idea.

“My sister, who I owe a lot of success to, mentioned the 46-point record last week and it got me thinking,” said David Sikule. “I told Coach Wright that I was going for the record before the game. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he told me to go for it.”

Sikule hit his first five shots to start the game and he knew something special was about to happen.

“There was nothing normal about the game; it had a different vibe,” Sikule said. “I got a look from Kim when I hit my first three. That’s when I knew something big was happening. The shots kept falling after that.”

Sikule made all eight of his shots in the first quarter and was six for nine from the floor in the second quarter. He had only three turnovers in the game, after sitting out the final six minutes of play.

“Opponents were all over him and he was going in and out all over the floor,” said Wright. “He’s not a selfish player. He knew he was the best scoring option against St. Johnsville. It was his night from the beginning.”

A true scorer

“St. Johnsville was not a pushover team at all, but we were expecting to win,” Sikule said. “They had two big kids in the middle, so I really couldn’t go through the lane much. I pulled up jumpers and put up floaters in the lane. The transition scoring was helpful.”

Sikule is a player who is capable of big numbers. He has scored over 20 points in a number of games and has had a couple of 30-point showings in the past. “You have to be serious about guarding him. He’ll shoot right in your face,” said Wright.

“He had some really deep threes and sometimes he would put on the breaks and drain a three out of nowhere,” Wright said. “I looked around the gym and people were shaking their heads because his play was unbelievable.”

“The defense was trying to keep the ball out of my hands, but my teammates were constantly looking for me,” said Sikule. “I had to come off of all sorts of screens to get the ball. My teammates were very supportive and I couldn’t have done this without them.”

Sikule’s 50 points were a high point for a Bulldog team that has had a tough season. BKW finished the regular season 5-7 in the Western Athletic Conference and 8-12 overall. The team is locked in as the 11^th seed in a field of 12 in the Class CC sectionals.

Sikule and Ryan LaBelle have been the only true scorers for the Bulldogs this year. The team has dropped many close games due to inexperience.

“My own personal definition of getting beat is losing by 10 or more points, so that means we only got beat twice,” said Wright. “We’ve let games slip away too many times. Our lack of size has hurt us. We give up a lot of rebounds.”

“I still see much room for improvement on this team,” Sikule said. “A team has to learn how to win games. We’re young and really don’t know how to close games out.”

Wright told Sikule that he would be taken out of the St. Johnsville game when he hit 50 points and that’s what Wright did with six minutes left in the contest. “I didn’t want to be seen as a coach that runs up the score,” said Wright.

“I found out after the game that the Section II record was 60 points,” Wright said. “I wish I had known that because I might have kept him on the floor.”

“The kid can run for days and days because he’s so athletic,” said Wright. “He is very methodical and gifted. He can read players and defenses right on the spot and change his game accordingly. I’ve enjoyed coaching him and he’ll be dearly missed.”