That is exactly why Saturday evening\’s basketball game between Bellwood-Antis and Juniata Valley will go into the Blue Devil’s win column. The Blue Devils defeated the visiting Juniata Valley squad by the score of 41-27. Bellwood-Antis now moves to 8-2 (7-0 JVL) and Juniata falls to 2-10 (1-7 JVL).
Juniata Valley came out to compete in the first quarter, while the Blue Devils looked as though they were standing around waiting to react to what Juniata Valley would run. A summation that Bellwood head coach Tim Keech agreed with after the game. “I give Juniata Valley a lot of credit. They came in here at 2-9 but were ready to compete tonight. We did not show up to compete tonight,” said Coach Keech.
Bellwood-Antis must have thought that someone had put a lid on the offensive basket, as the Blue Devils were only able to shot one for fourteen in the first quarter for a dismal seven percent from the floor.
Juniata Valley would keep the Blue Devils scoreless for the first 6:58 of the first quarter. Unfortunately for JV, they were not doing much better and were only up 7-2 after Bellwood finally broke their scoring draught.
The first quarter would end with Juniata Valley up 7-2.
The second quarter would prove to be the same story for the Blue Devils, as cold shooting and turnovers continued. The best thing of the first half for the Blue Devils was that Juniata Valley squandered away every opportunity that Bellwood-Antis provided them to lengthen their lead.
Bellwood-Antis hit their first three-point shot of the game at the 6:35 mark of the second quarter to pull within two at 7-5.
Alan Wertz then rejected a shot and Paul Christner grabbed the loose ball and drove the length of the floor for a layup to deadlock the score at 7-7.
After a foul shot gave Juniata Valley an 8-7 lead, Bellwood\’s Blaze Winterstein hit a three-point shot to give Bellwood their first lead of the night at 10-8.
Juniata Valley would then go on a nine point run to take the lead back as the first half mercifully came to an end for the Blue Devils. The halftime score was Juniata Valley seventeen, Bellwood-Antis ten.
The Blue Devils were lucky to be down by seven, as they were only able to shoot fifteen percent from the floor for the first half. Juniata Valley was able to shot forty-seven percent from the floor. However, they would turn the ball over numerous times dashing the chances they had to take control of the game.
The third quarter brought more of the same. Missed shots and turnovers by both teams. Bellwood-Antis however began to chip away at the Juniata Valley lead. Alan Wertz tipped in an offensive rebound with 2:43 left in the third to pull Bellwood-Antis to within one at 19-18.
Bellwood-Antis would then swing into what would prove to be the end for Juniata Valley. Full court press and lots of pressure. Juniata Valley had all sorts of trouble with the Blue Devil press and when Ben Hatch hit for three, Bellwood would take the lead at 21-19. The Blue Devils would never relinquish that lead the rest of the evening. The Blue Devils would outscore Juniata Valley in the quarter twenty-one to six to take a 31-23 lead after three quarters of play.
The fourth quarter was where Bellwood found the three point shooting range, as Ben Hatch, Tyler Elvey and Blaze Winterstein each hit for three\’s. Combine that with the fact that the Bellwood-Antis defense would hold Juniata Valley scoreless for almost three minutes of the fourth, you have the result of Bellwood taking control and building and eleven point lead at 36-25.
While Juniata Valley held Bellwood to just ten points for the entire first half, Bellwood would return the favor in the second half. They would hold Juniata Valley to just ten points for the half.
During the post game comments Coach Keech was asked if the coaches delivered a wake up call at half time.
“No, there was no yelling and screaming at halftime. We just challenged them to pick it up and play. We needed to get internally motivated to come out and play,” said Keech.
When asked to explain the ten point first half, Coach Keech offered, “Maybe we are feeling the pressure a bit. I don\’t think so, but the kids would know better. Our pressure defense won the game for us tonight,” added Keech.
When asked to comment on the troubles that seem to be following the Blue Devils when they try to penetrate to the basket Coach Keech offered, “We are working on that part of our game. Right now we are just not comfortable with it.”
Finally when asked to comment on the slow starts that the Blue Devils have been delivering Tim Keech replied, “We need to compete to win. We need to come out and start to attack. It seems as though we are standing around and reacting to what the other team is doing. I am sure our kids saw that Penns Valley jumped out on Williamsburg the other night 22-6. We are going to have to learn to attack and not react and learn it quickly,” concluded Coach Keech.
Game notes: Bellwood shot thirty-three percent from the floor for the game. Juniata Valley shot thirty-two percent. Juniata Valley out rebounded Bellwood 26-19 for the game. Juniata Valley would not hit one three point shot. Bellwood would can seven three’s for a total of twenty-one of their forty-one points. Winterstein, Hatch and Wertz would all have nine points to lead the Bellwood scoring. Ethan Devore was game high with ten points for Juniata Valley. Bellwood-Antis won the junior varsity contest 36-35. Nate Gray led Bellwood-Antis with fifteen points. Bellwood\’s J.V.\’s improve to 4-3 on the year. B-A travels to West Branch today to play the Warriors.
Bellwood-Antis 41 Juniata Valley 27
Bellwood-Antis: Christner 1 0-0 2, Winterstein 3 1-2 9, Hatch 3 0-1 9, Wertz 4 1-2 9, Elvey 2 2-2 8, Jenkins 2 0-0 4 Totals: 15 4-7 41.
Juniata Valley: Irvin 1 0-0 2, Walker 2 0-0 4, G. Devore 3 1-2 7, E. Devore 4 2-2 10, Peterson 1 0-0 2, Oldham 1 0-0,
Juniata Valley 7 10 6 4 – 27
Bellwood-Antis 2 8 21 10 – 41
Three Point shots: Juniata Valley: None
Bellwood-Antis: 7 (Winterstein 2, Hatch 3, Elvey 2).
