By MICHAEL BOYTIM
Daily Herald Sports Writer
Leading by five with 5:53 left to play Wednesday, Paul Christner missed two free throws, and Claysburg Kimmel made a quick jumper to pull within three points in a game Bellwood-Antis had once led by 13.
“No question about it, I started thinking about Mount Union right there,” Bellwood-Antis Head Coach Tim Keech said referring to a 66-61 double overtime loss Monday in which the Blue Devils let an eight point lead slip away in the final minute by missing free throws.
Two Bellwood-Antis baskets countered a Bulldog layup to give the Blue Devils a 43-38 lead, but with 1:13 left Christner again missed a free throw, this time on the front end of a one-and-one.
Claysburg-Kimmel failed to take advantage, and when Blaze Winterstein came away with the ball and looked to be heading for an easy layup, he was thrown to the court on a hard foul.
Winterstein looked flustered, but regained his composure after some words from Keech and made both free throws, which led to a string of seven straight successful free throws that locked up the game for Bellwood-Antis.
“I think if you start to miss a few free throws, then kids naturally put more pressure on themselves when they go to the line, and the same is in reverse. I think Blaze made those two, and we end up hitting seven in a row with guys stepping up to the line and relaxing,” Keech said.
Both teams were hot early as the Blue Devils knocked down three 3-pointers in the first quarter, but Claysburg hung in the game with a 3-pointer of their own from Anthony Musselman, and Kyle Nale was fouled while making a layup and added the free throw.
Bellwood-Antis took their largest lead in the second quarter using a 7-0 sparked by a Winterstein 3-pointer to take a 26-13 lead. The Bulldogs broke the spurt just before halftime and entered the break down 27-17.
The Blue Devils kept the lead at nine or above until Chad Iachini made a jump shot with only seconds left in the third quarter to cut the lead to seven.
Two straight Bulldog baskets to open the fourth quarter made the score 37-34, but with 4:32 left Winterstein stopped the bleeding temporarily with a 3-pointer.
The teams traded baskets until the scoreboard read 43-38 with 58 seconds left, but Winterstein and Alan Wertz both made two free throws each, and Christner redeemed himself by making three to make the final score 50-38.
“I thought we were a little heavy legged, and the kids are looking forward to having Saturday and Sunday off; I know I am, and with these six games in 11 days, I think coming down the stretch, this is that middle game in the final week, and coming off as many minutes as we played against Mount Union, I\’m not sure we had our legs,” Keech said.
The Blue Devils will complete their tough stretch of games Friday when they host Moshannon Valley. The junior varsity game will tip off at 6 p.m.
Junior Varsity
Tyler Elvey led Bellwood-Antis to a 45-16 win in junior varsity action. Elvey tallied 15 points and made one of Bellwood-Antis\’ six 3-pointers in the game. Claysburg-Kimmel did not score more than seven points in any quarter and trailed 22-4 at the half. Michael Claycomb led the Bulldogs with seven points.
Bellwood-Antis 50 Claysburg-Kimmel 38
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Hatch 4 0-0 10, Winterstein 4 4-5 15, Christner 3 5-10 12, Seidel 2 0-0 4, Wertz 3 2-2 8, Elvey 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, McCrum 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 16 12-19 50.
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL – Nale 3 1-1 7, Iachini 4 0-0 8, Musselman 3 0-0 8, DeHoff 4 1-1 9, Den. Weyandt 3 0-1 6, Sybert 0 0-0 0, Dev. Weyandt 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 2-3 38.
Score by Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 15 12 10 13 50
Claysburg-Kimmel 10 7 13 8 38
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 6 (Winterstein 3, Hatch 2, Christner). Claysburg-Kimmel 2 (Musselman 2).
(JV) Bellwood-Antis 45 Claysburg-Kimmel 16
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Elvey 7 0-0 15, Miller 2 2-2 6, DeGol 2 2-3 7, McCrum 0 0-0 0, Wertz 2 1-1 5, Hostler 2 0-0 6, Cook 2 0-0 6. TOTALS 17 5-6 45
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL – M. Claycomb 3 1-2 7, Z. Claycomb 1 0-0 2, Dev. Weyandt 2 0-0 5, Dively 0 0-0 0, Kittle 0 0-0 0, M. Musselman 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 7 1-2 16.
Score by Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 11 11 11 12 45
Claysburg-Kimmel 2 2 7 5 16
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 6 (Hostler 2, Cook 2, Elvey, DeGol). Claysburg-Kimmel 1 (Dev. Weyandt).
