Coming into Friday night’s game, Tyrone looked to dump the Bald Eagles at home after being out-played in Bald Eagle Area earlier this season. With a 6-7 record, Tyrone had a shot at becoming .500 for the first time this season, but the Bald Eagles were also looking for their 10th win and second straight against Tyrone.
After a battling first quarter, Tyrone and Bald Eagle were knotted at 12-apiece. Trey Brockett started Tyrone off, scoring on a back door feed from Leonard Wilson as Tyrone tied Bald Eagle’s Josh Etter’s jumper at two. After two minutes of silence, Tyrone’s Byron Kost netted his first of his four treys, putting Tyrone up 5-2 with 4:42 to go in the first quarter.
Tyrone looked as though they were going to bust up the extended 3-2 zone of Bald Eagle, but the B. Eagles didn’t allow Tyrone much lead way in the paint with the 6’8” Boone twins. They were tenacious when Tyrone drove to the basket as they swatted shots left and right.
Connor McGee cut the lead to 5-4 with 4:23 to go in the first quarter as he put back a missed jumper from Pat Roygeux. After a missed shot from Tyrone, Josh Etters netted a foul line jumper to take the lead with 3:58 to go in the first (6-5).
On the ensuing possession, Tyrone knocked the lead over to their side with an unusual triple from Wilson. Tyrone would not hold the lead for long, however, as Cody Boone put up his first points of the game to tie the game at eight apiece with 2:11 to go.
Tyrone looked frustrated on offense. They had trouble getting the ball down low and most of the shots looked as though they were altered because of the two giants’ presence.
With 2:34 to go, McGee was on the boards again, cleaning up another missed shot to give Bald Eagle a 10-8 lead. They were controlling the boards on offense, getting second shots most of the first half.
After a timeout from Tyrone, Steve Catich jumped into the action as he hit a long 15 footer to tie the game at 10 with 1:12 to go. Cory Boone answered his shot with a lay-in that put Bald Eagle back on top 12-10 with :49 to go in the first.
With less than a minute remaining, Tyrone worked the ball around until Catich found a sweet bank shot from a tough angle to tie the game at 12.
The first quarter ended in a deadlock, and the momentum really was up for grabs. Bald Eagle’s defense denied Tyrone most of the game and put pressure on the guards to make shots. With one Boone at the top and the other cleaning house underneath, Tyrone really had no room for missed shots throughout the game.
The second quarter was rough for Tyrone as they were held to just six second quarter points. Tyrone had a really slow second quarter, but their defense helped their cause as they held Bald Eagle to just 10 second quarter points.
The Boone’s were held to just six points in the first half, but their defense allowed the Bald Eagles to keep a four point lead at the end of the first half.
Tyrone scored first in the second half as Steve Catich jumped into the action with a short jumper from the baseline to make it 22-20 in favor of Bald Eagle. Tyrone tried to work off of this bucket, but neither team scored for another minute and a half as Josh Etters knocked down a long trey to put Bald Eagle back up five with 6:13 left in the third.
Shane Barr answered quickly with a sweet up and under lay-in over the swatting Cory Boone as Tyrone cut it to three points on the next possession. It was an offensive struggle the entire game for both teams as another minute ran off the clock before Roygeux went to the line where he sunk both free throws, going back up 27-22 (4:59).
Tyrone answered back as Wilson drove hard and scored over the outstretched arm of Cory Boone, cutting it back to just three points.
Tyrone just couldn’t keep the Boone’s off of the glass on defense as Cody Boone took control of the crowd as he put back another missed Bald Eagle shot which put them up five once again. It was a game of advantages and Bald Eagle answered every Tyrone shot, keeping their distance throughout the entire game.
After working the perimeter, Kost finally rid the passing game and fired up a trey to cut the lead to two, 27-29 with 3:32 to go in the quarter. He was firing all night, and finally found some space to hit his second trey of the game.
Tyrone snatched a defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the floor on the fast-break transition. Catich received a sweet pass from Wilson as he was fouled hard to the floor. Catich would only make one of two, cutting the lead to just one-point, 29-28 with 3:00 to go in the third.
After almost two minutes dragging off, Josh Etters knocked down a jumper, followed by a Tyrone three from Kost to tie it at 31 apiece with 1:03 to go. The game finally knotted up, but Wetzel hit two of his game high 15 points with :39 seconds remaining in the third.
Tyrone’s gas ran out in the fourth quarter, however, as Bald Eagle took total control of the game as they poured out a vicious 20-6 run with 1:20 to go in the game. Tyrone struggled for shots and sent Bald Eagle to the foul line 18 times in the fourth quarter alone. It was a frustrating fourth quarter as Tyrone put up a meaningless 8-4 run to end the game as they lost a tough one at home, 57-45.
“We missed a lot of easy shots,” Tyrone coach Mike Harris stated. “Once again, their size caused us problems. They blocked our shots and the guys got tentative. I\’m proud of the way we battled against their size. We were only out-rebounded by seven against a much larger team. That shows effort and determination that these kids can play with the tallest and still play as tough as they did.\”
Tyrone dropped to 6-8 after Friday night\’s loss at home. The Golden Eagles had some trouble shooting, but played great defense despite the loss. Kost led Tyrone with 14 points, 12 from which were treys. Catich chipped in 12 points as well.
Bald Eagle Area 57 Tyrone 45
BEA – Cody Boone 2 4-6 8, Cory Boone 2 0-0 4, Rouygeux 1 4-4 6, McGee 2 0-4 4, Etters 4 0-0 7, Resto 1 0-0 2, Schall 3 1-1 7, Wetzel 4 7-10 15, May 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 18-27 57.
Tyrone – Wilson 3 2-5 9, Corle 1 0-0 2, Catich 5 2-4 12, Kost 4 2-2 14, Barr 2 0-0 4, Brockett 1 0-0 2, Hoover 1 0-0 2, Franco 0 0-2 0. Totals 17 6-13 45.
Score by Quarters
BEA 12 10 11 24 – 57
Tyrone 12 6 13 14 – 45
Three-point goals: BEA-1 (Etters)
Tyrone-5 (Kost-4, Wilson)
Levinson lights the Bald Eagles up for 27 in JV action
Tyrone\’s Jamie Levinson was completely in the zone Friday night as he lit Bald Eagle Area up for 27 points. With five treys and going 8-8 from the foul line, Tyrone cruised on in a thriller, 60-52. Tyrone led by as much as 36-16 at halftime, but BEA made a run that was not enough to complete the comeback.
Tyrone 60 Bald Eagle Area 52
BEA – Moyer 5 0-0 12, Corle 1 0-0 3, Kader 3 2-2 8, Wetzel 7 3-6 17, Fayman 0 2-2 2, Pilot 3 4-6 10. Totals 18 11-16 52.
Tyrone – Branstetter 0 0-1 0, Levinson 7 8-8 27, Gehret 3 5-6 11, Stover 2 0-0 4, Brooks 3 1-27, Hampton 3 1-1 9, Tuskavich 0 2-22. Totals 18 17-20 60.
Score by Quarters
BEA 14 2 19 13 – 52
TYR 14 22 9 15 – 60
Three-point goals: BEA-3 (Moyer-2, Corle)
Tyrone-5 (Levinson-5)
