MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - Berry opened the 2022-23 men's basketball season season Tuesday night by claiming a victory over Huntingdon, 86-66, in the Cage Center. The win is the first under new head coach staff Mick Hedgepeth.

"Overall I was pleased with how we performed for this being our first outing, and after three and a half weeks of practice. We were without our backup center, so we had to adjust and play a little differently than we've been practicing. I thought our guys did a great job with making the adjustments on both ends of the floor," said Hedgepeth.

Riley Costas got things going for the Vikings hitting a three to give his team the lead 5-4. From there, Berry went on a 13-0 run. Robbie Rusciano netted three three pointers, followed by a Braxton Benham dunk to fire up the crowd and give the Vikings a 29-12 lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half. The Huntingdon offense was unable to keep up with the scoring pace of the Vikings as Berry kept a consistent 15 to 20 point gap between itself and the Hawks for much of the remainder of the game, holding a 45-30 lead at the half. Rusciano scored all 16 of his team-high in points in the first 20 minutes thanks in large part to four three-pointers.

Chase Ellis extended the Viking lead to 49-32 to begin the second half.  Benham then put the Vikings up 21 points later in the period, which would be their largest lead of the night.

Benham was among the standouts in the season opener going 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from long range.

The Vikings will be back in action this weekend in Montgomery, Ala., for the Huntingdon Classic, taking on LaGrange College first on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.