Hornets Hold Off Rival Mansfield To Regain Berguson Memorial Trophy

By: Ed Weaver  /  December 24, 2025  /  Photo: Ed Weaver

The Wellsboro Varsity Boys Basketball team defeated rival North Penn-Mansfield, 49-43, to regain the Margaret (Peg) Berguson Memorial Trophy Tuesday evening.

Wellsboro evened up the series at 6-6, and also swept the trophy games against their rivals for the season. The Hornets won the Morton F. Jones Memorial Trophy to close out the football team's regular season and the Lady Hornets beat North Penn-Liberty in the Chuck Tameris Memorial Trophy on the volleyball court.

"Everybody knows this is our rival," head coach Ron Doughtie said after the game. "There's 10 miles, 11 miles between us, and it means a lot. We wanted to win. We wanted to win the trophy back.

"That was that was a talk before the game," Doughtie continued. "We wanted to make sure it came back. They really handed it to us last year so we felt like there's was a little payback that needed to be done."

And win the Hornets did, but it wasn't easy.

The Tigers took the game's early lead on back-to-back baskets by Jason Harer. It took until midway through the opening quarter before senior Luke Rothermel scored the Hornets' first basket. Wellsboro fought back to tie the game up at 4-4 all, then later take the lead with 8 seconds remaining in the quarter on a pair of foul shots by junior Gideon Lawton to make it 15-13. Wellsboro increased their lead as they went on an 8-4 run in the second. North Penn-Mansfield got an early basket by Harer to tie the game up, but then Wellsboro went on a 8-2 run to lead 23-17 at the break.

North Penn-Mansfield dominated the third quarter. Wellsboro got early baskets from Rothermel and sophomore Griffin Morral, but fouls started catching up with the team. Tough baskets by Harer and Andy Hermansen erased Wellsboro's six-point lead. North Penn retook the lead on a foul shot from Kevin Clemente-Vazquez (28-27) with 2:03 left. Lawton scored the final two baskets for the Hornets, one with 1:46 remaining to put the Hornets back in front, and the other with 3 seconds left in the quarter, making it a 31-28 game in favor of Wellsboro.

"Gideon's a hustler. He's a player," Doughtie added. "He may he finds ways to get things done. He's done it for me. He did it all summer for us. You know, I know there's been nights he hasn't been particularly happy with his playing time, but tonight he obviously showed that he deserved it. And like you said, he finds ways to finish at the basket, the smallest guy on the court, and he, even with the trees down there, he was finding ways to finish, and it was, it's a testament to who he is."

Lawton picked up where he left off to start the fourth quarter, putting in a layup after cleaning up a missed shot. Morral did the same thing on Wellsboro's next trip down the court to extend the lead to 35-28. Baskets by seniors Jonathan Carl and Marek Mascho eventually pushed the Hornets' lead to double digits at 41-30 with under four minutes remaining.

North Penn-Mansfield made a rally in the closing minutes, cutting the Hornets' lead down to six points twice, but never fully recovered as Lawton hit three foul shots to make sure the Hornets held their lead.

"We did everything we could, let them back in at the end, but Gideon knocked down some huge shots at the end. And we played enough defense to do the job. I thought our defense all night was pretty solid, especially on Jason and Andy, who are really talented basketball players. The thing I'm most proud of tonight was we won the hustle plays all night, and that's something we have to do. I love the way that our kids were getting on the floor all night long."

Mascho (12) and Lawton (11) led the Hornets on the night while Rothermel finished with 8, Carl added 7, Morral chipped in six, and junior Colin Fletcher finished with 5. Carl grabbed 8 rebounds to go along with 3 steals and two blocked shots. Rothermel grabbed six boards, Mascho made six assists and also had 3 steals.

Harer led all scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds on the night while Hermansen finished with 14 points and 5 assists for the Tigers.

Wellsboro swept the evening with a 54-31 win. Freshman Braylen Jessup finished with 11 points to lead the Hornets while sophomore RJ Doughtie added 10.

The win improves the Hornets' record to 4-3 (3-1 NTL Large School Division) heading into the Christmas break. The team is back in action against Jersey Shore on January 2.