KEVIN D. ROBERTS/Register Citizen

The fans who jammed into Thomaston High School on Thursday night saw an incredible Berkshire League Boys Basketball Tournament final between No. 2 Gilbert and No. 1 Northwestern.

The Yellowjackets (18-4, 17-3 BL) defeated the Highlanders (18-4, 17-3) in overtime, 93-84, after being down by as much as 15 in the third quarter and 9 with 2:32 left in the fourth quarter.

Three different players reached the 30-point mark, led by Gilbert's Robert Skinner, who had 32. Austin Brochu added 30 for the Yellowjackets while Northwestern's John Stevens led his team with 30.

You cannot forget the efforts of Luis Cordova for Gilbert. Without Cordova's banked 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in regulation, the Yellowjackets may have been watching the Highlanders celebrate a BL tourney title. Cordova had 17 points in the game. You can watch Cordova's 3-pointer here.

Gilbert played mostly just its starting five of Skinner, Brochu, Cordova, Dan Williams and Devon Molway, but head coach Mark Douglass felt his team was ready at the end because of its strong conditioning.

Northwestern gave a great effort and led by 9 late in the fourth quarter, but Gilbert took advantage of a couple costly turnovers to tie the game. The Highlanders still had a chance to win, but two missed free throws with 2.2 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime.

There was no shortage of fouls in the game. The teams combined to shoot 65 foul shots in 36 minutes, almost an average of two attempts per minute. 

Gilbert was 34-of-42 from the line, including an astounding 12-of-12 from Skinner and a nearly perfect 16-of-18 from Brochu. Northwestern was 13-of-23 from the charity stripe. The Highlanders did make 11 3-pointers in the game, including 5 from Stevens and 3 from Arthur Lefevre (11 points).

With the BL tournament over, both teams look ahead to the Class S state tournament, which begins on Monday for No. 8 Gilbert and Wednesday for No. 5 Northwestern. You can read more about both teams and the rest of Class S in our tournament preview.

- Kevin D. Roberts