Mount Union pulled away from a game Bellwood-Antis team in the second half Tuesday night to spoil the Blue Devils’ Senior Night season finale, 53-37.
The Trojans outscored the Blue Devils 28-14 over the final 16 minutes.
Justin Price and Danny Puchalla both tallied 13 points, Isaiah Helton 12 and Stefan Morgan nine to lead a balanced team offensive effort .
Puchalla and Helton both had 11 rebounds to complete double-double nights. Helton also had seven assists and four steals for a solid all-around game.
Shawn Weiand was the only Blue Devil in double digits with 17 points, including four treys. He’s one of four seniors on the Bellwood-Antis roster and one of two returning lettermen from last year’s 23-5 club that finished second to Mount Union in the Juniata Valley League and then upset the Trojans in the District Six Class AA title game.
B-A closed the season with six straight losses.
Mount Union took a five-point lead with 2:05 left in the first quarter when a Puchalla lay-up made it 14-9.
Bellwood-Antis had a five-point mini run and pulled even at 14-14 on a Weiand steal and lay-up with 52 seconds left. Helton drained a trey with 35 seconds on the clock and the Trojans led 17-16 after a quarter.
The Trojans took their biggest lead of the first half at 22-16 when Price made a conventional three-point play. Again, B-A fought back to close within a bucket at the break.
“We played so well in the first half,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Tim Keech. “We shot the ball well and didn’t have many turnovers. Shawn (Weiand) was carrying us offensively, he was squaring up and shooting well.”
Weiand made the second of two free throws to tie the game at 25-25 with 6:03 left in the third quarter.
Price answered with a shot from behind the three-point arc at the 5:45 mark and the Trojans never looked back. Helton had nine of his points in the third quarter as Mount Union expanded its lead to 39-28 and gradually pulled away in the fourth period.
“We stayed with them for the first few minutes of the third quarter,” said Keech. “But then Mount Union stepped it up another notch and we spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. At the half, it was a two a two -point game, but we were down by 11 at the end of the third quarter. We were pretty much able to exchange baskets with them, but we needed to make a run at them and weren’t able to.”
“Our only legitimate scored is Shawn,” explained Keech, “while they have three people (Justin Price, Danny Puchalla and Isaiah Helton) who can score who are back from a team that went to the district championship game last year. You just can’t beat experience like that and they have been the leading scorers for Mount Union all year.”
Bellwood-Antis won the junior varsity game 39-31.
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Mount Union 53 Bellwood-Antis 37
MOUNT UNION – Helton 5 0-0 12; Morgan 3 3-4 9; Price 5 1-1 13; Puchalla 6 0-0 13; Zook 2 0-0 4; Barger 1 0-0 2; Brown 0 0-0 0; Martinez 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 4-5 53.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Weiand 5 3-4 17; Greiner 1 4-5 6; M. DelGrosso 0 1-2 1; Plummer 2 1-5 5; Bell 2 1-2 5; Blazier 0 0-0 0; Edmiston 0 2-2 2; McClellan 0 0-0 0; Boone 0 1-2 1; McCracken 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 13-24 37.
Score by Quarters
Mount Union 17 8 14 14 – 53
Bellwood-Antis 16 7 5 9 – 37
Three point goals: Mount Union: 5 (Helton 2, Price 2, Puchalla).
Bellwood-Antis 4 (Weiand 4).
