City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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Pietro Berghella, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from Germantown Friends, certainly plays older than his age.

Berghella turned in an impressive double-double performance against Friends League powerhouse Westtown in a 74-38 Wednesday Night loss, even while matched up against one of the nation’s top young big men in the Moose’s Mohamed Bamba.

Although the outcome wasn’t in his team’s favor, Berghella turned some heads with his game-high 12 rebounds and 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting to match, not to mention a huge block of Westtown’s Brandon Randolph, one of the Friends League’s leading scorers.

“Pietro’s a good player,” said Germantown Friends coach Shawn Werdt. “He rebounds the ball extremely well, every game you can almost bank that he’s going to be close to 10 or 12 rebounds.”

Pietro didn’t let the 7-foot Bamba affect what he’s so used to doing.

“He rebounds, he defends, he plays exceptionally hard. He’s a tough kid,” said Werdt.

The same certainly held true on Wednesday, as Berghella held the Westtown center to eight points and four rebounds, while outdoing the five-star recruit in each of those categories.

Berghella credits his great performance to a recent game against another Friends League foe.

“This game comes right after Friends Central, who has other big guys,” said Berghella. “We just played them Friday so we kind of came in with the same mentality.”

Berghella reeled in 13 rebounds and also chipped in with seven points against Friends Central, when he was matched up with another high-major recruit, DeAndre Hunter.

Berghella hasn’t gotten to where he is without facing some adversity, he suffered a broken arm that sidelined him for his whole freshman season.

“Last year, I was out my freshman year with a broken arm so I didn’t have that much improvement,” he said. “But this year, over the one or two months that the season has gone on, starting every game, playing every game I’ve improved a lot.”

Berghella isn’t the only player helping fill in for the Tigers while their star Mike Buckmire recovers from an ankle injury. Senior guard Charlie Dolgenos also played a huge role in the game against Westtown.

“Charlie has stepped up this week without Mike,” Werdt said. “Forcing him to play the point guard is gonna show dividends down the road for us.”

Those dividends began to show against Westtown (16-5, 4-0). Although the Tigers (7-8, 1-2) suffered a defeat, Dolgenos cashed in 14 points, six assists and three rebounds going up against two of the best guards in the state in Cam Reddish and Brandon Randolph.

“They’re just like us, they bleed the same blood, they’re gifted with athleticism and height, they’re just like us,” said Berghella of the talented Westtown Moose, who along with high-major recruits Mohamed Bamba, Cam Reddish and Brandon Randolph, also boast George Washington signee Jair Bolden and junior forward Anthony Ochefu, who is garnering interest from mid-major programs.

If Berghella continues to play well against some of the nation’s most talented big men, along with the improved play of Dolgenos and the return of Buckmire (17.9 ppg) from injury, look out for Germantown Friends to make some noise in the always-competitive Friends League.