Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

At halftime of Friday\’s opening night rivalry contest between Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis, it looked as though the game would come down to the wire, but the Blue Devils\’ lack of depth caught up with them, and by the final buzzer, the game was a blowout.
Byron Kost nailed five 3-pointers on his way to scoring a game high 17 points, while Steve Catich added 16 points of his own to help Tyrone outscore Bellwood-Antis 45-13 in the second half.
Adam Corle put Tyrone ahead by tipping in a Josh Clark miss before a layup by L.J. Seidel and a free throw from Blaze Winterstein gave the Blue Devils their only lead at 3-2.
With Tyrone leading 5-3 midway through the first quarter, Bellwood Antis\’ Ben Hatch knocked the ball away from Clark, who was calling a play, and took it the length of the court for a layup to tie the game, but moments later Kost hit the first of his 3-pointers to give Tyrone an 8-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Hatch opened the scoring in the second quarter with two free throws, and after Corle made a jumper, the Blue Devils\’ Paul Christener made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 10.
On Tyrone\’s next possession, Corle drove to the basket and made an uncontested layup to give Tyrone a lead they would never relinquish.
Consecutive Catich baskets made the score 16-10, but four free throws allowed Bellwood-Antis to get within two points, before Tyrone scored four of the final five points of the half to stretch their halftime lead to 20-15.
\”We were so tight and nervous in the first half. Nobody relaxed, and we tried to do 9,000 things at once. I told them at halftime to just calm down as if it were practice, and the team we really are showed up in the second half,\” Tyrone Head Coach Mike Harris said.
Bellwood-Antis came out of the locker room looking like an entirely different team too. A very tired one.
Due to the Blue Devils\’ success during football season, their basketball team missed a week of conditioning practice, and many of the varsity players on the court for Bellwood-Antis also played significant minutes in the junior varsity game.
Tyrone took advantage of the worn out Blue Devils to mount an 11-0 run to start the second half. Many of the baskets during the run were fast break opportunities for Tyrone in which Bellwood-Antis was unable to get back on defense.
Hatch finally made the Blue Devils\’ first points of the second half almost three minutes into the quarter when he made a 3-pointer to cut Tyrone\’s lead back to single digits, but Catich answered with a 3-pointer of his own, and the Golden Eagles never looked back.
Tyrone used another big run, this time seven points, to take a 53-20 lead early in the fourth quarter, and Tyrone shifted into cruise control, winning 65-26.
\”We are going to have everyone but our two seniors in the junior varsity game every game, because the only way we\’re going to get better is with competitive experience. Our number one goal right now is to get in shape, but what really hurt us tonight was Tyrone\’s leadership. They knocked us back on our heels,\” Bellwood-Antis Head Coach Tim Keech said when asked if fatigue played a factor in the loss.
\”We played really unselfish and played some great defense tonight. Catich played really well, Byron Kost got hot, and Leonard Wilson drove the ball well,\” Harris said.
Junior Varsity
The Golden Eagles were victorious in junior varsity action as well, winning a tight battle 43-35. Two Justin Miller free throws pulled Bellwood-Antis within four points with 24 seconds remaining, but Tyrone made their free throws to lock up the victory.
Tyrone Area 65 Bellwood-Antis 28
TYRONE AREA – Corle 4 0-1 8, Wilson 4, 5-8 13, Kost 6 0-1 17, Catich 7 0-0 16, Morrow 1 4-4 6, Barr 0 1-2 1, Franco 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 24 10-16 65.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Seidel 1 0-0 2, Winterstein 0 4-8 4, Hatch 3 2-3 9, Christener 1 1-2 4, Boone 0 2-4 2, Wertz 1 1-1 3, Elvey 2 0-1 4. TOTALS 8 10-19 28.
Score by Quarters
Tyrone Area 8 12 26 19 – 65
Bellwood-Antis 5 10 5 8 – 28
Three-point goals: Tyrone Area 7 (Kost 5, Catich 2).
Bellwood-Antis 2 (Hatch 1, Christener 1).

By Rick