Saturday nights are filled with exciting times and important events in life. This was a perfect night for Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis to square off before the New Year and get a taste of what they have been waiting for all season.
Since the first game was wiped out due to the Blue Devils strength in the football playoffs, the game was switched to December 30th, where both teams would have seven games under their belts. An unusual occurrence, but it may have been the best thing both teams could ask for since they always have the rivalry game at game one. After a slow-moving first half, due to mistakes aplenty by both teams, Tyrone won a nail-biter 43-40 after the teams traded hot third and fourth quarters.
Tyrone came into the battle Saturday night with a 2-6 record, fresh off a win against Bishop Carroll, and bound to keep a winning streak for the first time this season. Bellwood-Antis, on the other hand, received their first loss of the season to a championship type ball club from Central Cambria, who lit up the scoreboard against both Bellwood-Antis and Tyrone in their Christmas tournament. Both teams were well evenly matched up and each had a different style of play as they finally squared off midway through the 2006-07 season.
Bellwood-Antis struck first in the clash of ‘06 as Ben Hatch and Paul Christner knocked down a lay-up and a trey to go ahead 5-0, but Tyrone wasn\’t about to give up so soon.
The Eagles would go on a 6-0 run within the next two minutes, taking the lead behind a coast-to-coast steal and bucket from Johnny Franco to swing the momentum back to Tyrone.
Hatch, however, quieted the crowd, taking the next five points himself, totaling his first quarter to seven points. It was an evenly played first quarter, Bellwood-Antis leading the way at 12-10.
The second quarter was filled with mistakes from both ends of the court, missing open shots and turning the ball over. Both teams managed to trade buckets most of the way through, but Tyrone did end up scoring two more points, tying the game at 18 a piece as they went into the locker room.
The turnover ratio led 8-4 in the Blue Devils’ favor. The Eagles forced several turnovers outside the perimeter, forcing bad passes and getting pressure on the ball, but managed to score just 18 points at the break.
“Well, there was a lot of screaming at halftime,” stated the head coach of Tyrone, George Gripp. “When its 18-18 at halftime, that\’s just unacceptable. I don\’t think we were giving all the defensive effort we decided to give in the first half, but they really stepped it up for us in the third quarter.”
With the disappointment in the Eagles locker room, Tyrone came out blazing in the second half. Catich led the route in the third with eight of the 16 points. Tyrone ended the third on a 12-0 run, and gave up only three points in the third alone. Catich was in total control, giving Tyrone a big momentum swing when he took a bad pass and skied up for the easy bucket, putting Tyrone ahead 28-21 at that point. Catich would then score the next four points, and added a sweet pass through the lane to Etters with time running down, putting Tyrone ahead 34-21 after three quarters and in total control of the game.
“I felt we left a lot of points on the floor,” coach Tim Keech stated. “I felt there were too many times when we forced a Tyrone turnover and we turned it right back over without getting anything out of it. We just really needed to be patient in that situation. When we get the ball on a turnover, that\’s a shot that they don\’t have. I don\’t think we took our time offensively in the third quarter. We got in somewhat of a rush when Tyrone took a little lead, and then let them get into a fast break and run the floor. That gave them the momentum they needed and they handled that quarter very well against us.”
With the score now 34-21 going into the fourth, Tyrone looked to keep the pressure on by keeping up the great defensive work they showed the entire game, holding Bellwood-Antis to just 21 points after three.
The Blue Devils gave Tyrone all they could handle in the fourth quarter. After trading buckets to start off the fourth quarter, Tyrone still led 40-28 with 6:35 to go in the game. This was where Bellwood-Antis made their run. With an Alan Wertz “and one”, the Blue Devils began their 8-0 run including a couple of steals from Hatch and some fast break points.
Catich quickly ended the run with two free throws after being fouled hard going to the rack, making the score 42-36 with 2:43 to go in the game. It was either team’s game at this point, but Bellwood-Antis kept pushing back as Wertz, their 6-5 center, knocked down a three point field goal, cutting the lead to just three points.
“Alan [Wertz] made it a couple of times last year and a couple of times in the summer. He feels confident from behind the arc when we set up a fake lob and he comes out and shoots the three point shot. We got the defender to cheat hard, which he did, and knocked down a clutch three-point field goal in the end of that game. Coach Hayes moved him to wide receiver this year and I feel it has improved his footwork that much better to achieve some of the plays we set up around him to score,” Keech stated.
With 1:57 remaining, the scoreboard read 42-39 in favor of the Eagles. Paul Christner added a foul shot with 1:40 to go, cutting it to just two points with time ticking down. Tyrone took the next possession passing the ball effectively until Bellwood-Antis committed just their fifth foul of the quarter with 33 seconds left. The Eagles then turned the ball over on the next possession as Brandon Gehret stepped back court while being trapped in by Blaze Winterstein and Hatch, giving the ball back to Bellwood-Antis and a chance to tie the game up for the first time since the half.
With 13.3 seconds remaining, Winterstein was fouled, giving him a one-and-one attempt to tie the game up. Gripp knew it was a clutch situation and quickly called timeout to \”ice\” him.
“These guys just don\’t know how to finish games. We blew games this season that should have been wins this year, but we just couldn\’t close out the games when we had the chance. This game was ours, but we gave up a lot in the fourth quarter to let them back in the game. It should never come down to two free throws at the end of a game when you have that big of a lead, but that\’s something we have to get better at before the next game,” Gripp stated about the end of the game.
The icing worked out as planned as Winterstein rimmed out a potential chance to tie the game up and quickly fouled Doug Morrow, which gave them just six team fouls for the half. Gehret quickly received the inbound and was fouled immediately, as he went to the line with 10 seconds left and a two point lead. This was Tyrone\’s chance to seal the game, but foul shooting has always been a problem down the stretch for Tyrone this season.
After knocking down the first free throw, Gehret missed the “icing” attempt when Winterstein grabbed the rebound and took it up the floor. Maybe an early attempt to tie the game up with six seconds left, Winterstein fired a trey, missing the mark as the ball bounced around and time expired. It was a valiant effort, but Tyrone managed to suck out the victory despite almost giving up a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
Tyrone stayed alive, winning a close one at home, 43-40 with no room to breathe at the end of the game as everyone in the stands probably held their breath for the remaining 10 seconds of the game.
Tyrone created their first win streak on the year, getting back-to-back wins over Bishop Carroll and Bellwood-Antis before the New Year. Catich led the way for the Eagles, scoring his lowest this season with 12 points. Tyrone managed all three wins with 51, 45 and 43 points this year, proving their defense can win some games for them, but the offensive challenge is still up for grabs as Tyrone could not get any type of rhythm going throughout the game and this season. Tyrone improves their record to 3-6 and will go into the New Year on a two game win streak.
Bellwood-Antis lost their second straight game, but still remain at the top of the Juniata Valley League at 5-0. Hatch continues to show his ability to score in each game as he led the Blue Devils with 12 points. Christner added 10 in the loss at Tyrone, Saturday night.
“Where we go from here, we\’re in control of it. We\’re sitting atop the Juniata Valley League at 5-0 through the halfway mark. Central Cambria knocked us back on our heels, and I felt we didn\’t compete well at all in that game. We really came out here tonight and competed well tonight and a couple more games with that mentality, we\’ll be just fine going into the next half. They just have to come out and play that hard every single game,” Keech stated in his final comment on the game.
Tyrone 43 Bellwood-Antis 40
Bellwood-Antis – Hatch 5 1-2 12, Christner 4 1-2 10, McCrum 3 3-4 9, Wertz 3 0-1 7, Jenkins 1 0-0 2, Winterstein 0 0-1 0. Totals 16 5-10 40.
Tyrone- Catich 3 6-6 12, Franco 4 0-2 8, Brooks 3 0-0 6, Gehret 1 3-4 5, Dane 2 2-2 6, Updyke 1 0-0 2, Etters 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 11-14 43
Bellwood-Antis 12 6 3 19 – 40
Tyrone 10 8 16 9 – 43
Three-point goals: BA-3 (Christner-1, Hatch-1, Wertz-1)
