The big question last night was would the Blue Devils come out flat after the huge win Saturday night against Bishop Guilfoyle? After one quarter of play last evening that question was still very much alive, as the Juniata Valley club outplayed the Blue Devils in the first period to double up the visitors on the scoreboard 14–7 after one.
“I think we came out a little flat after the Bishop Guilfoyle game and I thought that we would,” said Bellwood head coach Tim Keech. “It is tough to get college kids up after a big win let alone high school kids,” added Keech. “We got on them and they responded,” continued Keech.
Juniata Valley continued as they left off in the first period by scoring the first bucket of the second period to go up 16–7. Then Bellwood began to find the groove that would bring them back from the nine-point deficit.
Ben Hatch would break the Bellwood-Antis scoring draught with a three-point basket to start a Bellwood-Antis eight-point run that would bring them all the way back to trail by only one at 16–15 with 4:24 left in the half. The Blue Devils eight point run would soon become a fifteen-point run and Juniata Valley would find themselves looking at a 22–16 Bellwood lead.
The teams then traded baskets and after a steal resulted in a two-point lay-up for the Green Hornets, the Bellwood lead was cut to just four at 24–20 with just :08 seconds left in the half.
Bellwood-Antis wasted no time in in-bounding the pass and getting down the court with Tyler Elvey letting a two point jumper go at the buzzer that found nothing but net to give Bellwood-Antis a six point lead at the half 26–20. The Blue Devils had taken control of the game, as they out scored Juniata Valley in the second quarter 19–6.
Things did not start to well for the Blue Devils in the third period. With less than one minute played in the period, Alan Wertz was whistled for his third foul. Coach Keech was forced to go to his bench and sit Wertz down. Juniata Valley would make one of two fouls and then Ben Hatch would take over for the Blue Devils by hitting two consecutive three- point shots to put Bellwood up by eleven 32–21 at the 6:32 mark of the third.
The Bellwood-Antis pressure defense then took over forcing back-to-back turnovers by the Green Hornets. Just like that, Bellwood had broken the game open by going up 36–23 with 4:33 to go. The Green Hornets gave it all they had to finish the third period but it wasn’t enough as the period ended with Bellwood up 39–28.
As the fourth quarter started both teams went cold and played slightly over three minutes without a point being scored. That is until Ben Hatch buried another three for Bellwood-Antis and the lead had rocketed to fourteen at 42–28 with just 4:22 left in the game. For all purposes this one was over.
The teams would trade baskets the rest of the way with Juniata Valley hitting their three consecutive three- point shots in a row to make the final score a great deal closer than this game really was played, as the Blue Devils would win it 54–45.
“I thought maybe we played a step slow tonight,” offered coach Keech after the game. “But hey, we are going home to the asylum for our next two home games and I think we are going to be tough, especially with the way our student body has responded,” said Keech. “This is a special group of kids and it would be great to be able to win these two games at home and bring home a twenty win season on Monday night during senior night,” concluded coach Keech.
Game notes: Ben Hatch was high scorer for Bellwood-Antis and the game with seventeen points. Blaze Winterstein led Bellwood with seven rebounds. Alan Wertz would score thirteen points even though he spent a great deal of time on the bench in foul trouble. Bellwood-Antis could have put the game out of reach much sooner by hitting foul shots. Coach Keech was somewhat pleased with the foul shooting at the end but it is an area that needs to get better. Greg Devore led Juniata Valley with thirteen points and seven rebounds. Ben Irvin put in ten points for the Green Hornets. Bellwood-Antis is now 18–3 (15–1 Juniata Valley League. Juniata Valley slides in at 4–13 (5-17 JVL). Bellwood-Antis won the Junior Varsity game 41–38. Bruno DeGol led Bellwood with seventeen points. The Bellwood-Antis J.V. record improves to 9–8.
Bellwood-Antis 54 Juniata Valley 45
Bellwood-Antis: Christner 4 0–2 9, Winterstein 0 0–0 0, Hatch 6 0–0 17, Wertz 4 4–5 13, McCrum 1 0–0 2, Elvey 2 0–0 , 4, B. DeGol 0 2–4 2, Miller 2 3–4 7, Jenkins 0 0–2 0 Totals: 19 9–17 54
Juniata Valley: Irvin 4 1–2 10, Basil 2 0–0 4, Walker 2 0–1 4, G. Devore 4 5–6 13, Mohnkeen 1 0–0 2, E. Devore 2 0–2 4, Peterson 3 0–0 8 Totals: 18 6–11 45
Bellwood-Antis 7 19 13 15 – 54
Juniata Valley 14 6 8 17 – 45
Three point shots: Bellwood-Antis 7 (Christner, Hatch 5, Wertz)
Juniata Valley 3 (Irvin, Peterson 2)
