This was one of those games you just had to be there for. Ligonier Valley, the number one seed in the District, clashed with fourth seeded Bellwood-Antis in one half of the Boys Double-A semifinals. In a game that featured numerous lead changes, clutch free throw shooting, and big players stepping up their games, Bellwood escaped in Overtime with a 62-60 victory to move on to the District Championship.
“I’m speechless,” said an emotional Tim Keech after the game. “These kids worked so hard, never gave up, and pulled through in the end. The word ‘quit’ was just not in their vocabulary tonight.”
Ligonier Valley raced out of the gates and jumped out to a 16-6 lead before Bellwood even knew what hit them. By haftime the score was 27-21 Ligonier Valley. Bellwood-Antis used a nice run toward the end of the second quarter capped off by a Ryan Myers buzzer beater to give Bellwood some momentum going into the locker room.
“We’ve been down before,” noted Bellwood’s Coach Keech. “We just had to claw away at the lead and pick up our defensive intensity.”
Bellwood-Antis came out in the third quarter ready to get back in this game. Behind the play of their two senior captains, Ryan Myers and Steve Crider, Bellwood surged back to tie the game at 37 after three quarter of play.
Ryan Myers only needed 10 points coming into the game to break the 1,000 point plateau. Myers hit the mark on a layup early in the third courtesy of a Ricky Shannon assist.
Crider, who was held to just five points in the first half, picked up his game in the second half enroute to ten second half points.
As the game see-sawed back and forth, Ligonier Valley regained the edge late in the fourth quarter as they took a six point lead with just 46 second left to play. Many people thought the game was over….but somebody forget to tell the Blue Devils.
Ryan Myers drained a long three-pointer to cut the lead to three, and after a big defensive stop Blue Devil senior Nathan Carlson was fouled on a layup with 14 seconds left. Carlson converted the foul shot and tied the game. Ligonier Valley missed a desperation shot and the game went to overtime.
In over time, both teams used clutch foul shots to keep the game close. As the game came down to the wire, Ligonier Valley found themselves ahead by two points with only 15 seconds to go. Bellwood-Antis got the ball to Myers on the wing. He drove, was bumped, and made the layup as he was fouled. He made the foul shot and put the Blue Devils up one. Ligonier raced the ball down the court and Myers stepped in and took a charge and Ligonier’s Nick Boyd to give B-A the ball back.
Ligonier fouled Ricky Shannon with four seconds left, but he came up empty at the line. Ligonier tried to inbounds the ball, but the pass hit the rafters and control went back to the Blue Devils. Shannon hit one of two from the foul line to ice the game.
Myers led the Blue Devils with 23, Crider put in 15, and Nate Carlson added 11 for Bellwood-Antis. Chris Cowman led Ligonier Valley with a team high 20 points.
Bellwood-Antis now advances to play Mount Union for the District Championship. The District VI championship will be played Friday night at St. Francis beginning at 7:00 p.m.. They met three times in the regular season with Mount Union winning two of the three. This one should be yet another thriller.
Bellwood-Antis 62 Ligonier Valley 60 OT
BELLWOOD: (62) Shannon 1 3-6 5, Crider 5 5-7 15, Myers 9 4-5 23, Smith 3 0-0 8, Carlson 3 5-5 11, Weiand 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 17-23 62.
LIGONIER VALLEY: (60) Weaver 3 0-1 7, Boyd 2 1-2 5, Stinogle 5 1-2 11, Fritz 4 0-0 8, Cowman 9 2-3 20, Snoderly 4 1-3 9, Knupp 0 0-0 0, Wecksler 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 27 5-11 60
Score By Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 6 15 16 15 10 – 62
Ligonier Valley 16 11 10 15 8 – 60
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 3 (Smith 2, Myers 1); Ligonier Valley 1 Weaver 1).
