Things may not have gone the way the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils may have planned them to on Friday night. However, good teams find a way to win even when things don’t go their way. Despite early foul trouble and a zone that, until late in the game, shut down senior center Ryan Myers,
Bellwood found a way to pull out a victory over the visiting Claysburg Bulldogs. Outside shooting and the play of their bench were key for the Blue Devils as they defeated the visitors 64-46.
Both teams got off to a slow start. Claysburg’s trapping half-court zone defense flustered the Blue Devils, forcing several Bellwood-Antis turnovers.
However, they couldn’t seem to capitalize on the mistakes of their counter parts. This became a crucial error on the part of Bulldogs, as Jacob Mattern finally got Bellwood rolling with a three-pointer and then a steal, which he converted for a lay-up. Ryan Myers and Matt Rogers both then got into the act, scoring their own field goals to give Bellwood a 14-13 lead at the end of one quarter of play.
After another slow start in the second quarter, which saw the Blue Devils fall behind 19-16 early on, Bellwood finally got on track offensively.
Following Nathan Carlson’s three-pointer that tied the game, the Blue Devils launched an offensive onslaught as they took control of the game. A dazzling reverse lay-up by Ricky Shannon gave Bellwood the lead. This was followed by field goals from Dan Smith, Matt Rogers, another from Shannon, and a lay-up and two more threes by Nathan Carlson. The barrage of scoring resulted in a 35-27 advantage for the Blue Devils at intermission.
“All season long we’ve been a second half team,” said Bellwood head coach Tim Keech. “But, if you look a little closer, in the games where we have played a really strong in the second half, we have been able to gain back the momentum just before halftime which really gives us a boost going into the locker room. That was definitely the case tonight.”
Bellwood used that “boost” to take total control of the game early in third quarter. The Blue Devils continued to shoot well from the outside, receiving two more threes from Dan Smith, another Matt Rogers jump shot, a Ricky Shannon field goal, and a three pointer from reserve guard Brent Hughes to take a 48-37 lead into the fourth quarter.
From there, B-A’s Ryan Myers and Ricky Shannon led the Blue Devils home. Myers scored 7 points in the fourth period and Shannon converted 4 out of 5 free throws down the stretch to ice the game and give Bellwood a 64-46 victory.
Bellwood received contributions from its entire squad. Nathan Carlson recorded a team-high 13 points and Ryan Myers aided the cause with 12 of his own. Also for the Blue Devils, Ricky Shannon tossed in 10 points, Dan Smith added 9, and Matt Rogers and Brent Hughes each scored 6.
Claysburg was led by Ty Swindell. The junior forward scored a game-high 16 points. The Bulldogs also received 11 points from Brandon Gochnour and 8 from Kiel Knisely.
The win moves Bellwood to 15-1 on the season and 10-1 in the Juniata Valley League.
Bellwood-Antis also won the junior varsity won 42-24.
Bellwood-Antis 64 Claysburg-Kimmel 46
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL – Knisely 3 2-4 8, Mauk 0 2-3 2, Swindell 8 0-1 16, Gochnour 4 2-4 11, Lingenfelter 2 0-0 5, Peuckett2 0-0 4, Woodring 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 6-12 46.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Shannon 2 4-5 10, Smith 3 0-0 9, Mattern 2 0-0 5, Crider 1 0-0 2, Carlson 4 2-2 13, Myers 3 6-11 12, Rogers 3 0-0 6, Hughes 2 0-0 6. TOTALS 21 12-18 64.
Score by Quarters
Claysburg-Kimmel 13 14 10 9 – 46
Bellwood-Antis 14 21 13 16 – 64
Three-point goals: Claysburg-Kimmel 2 (Gochnour 1, Lingenfelter 1); Bellwood-Antis 9 (Smith 3, Carlson 3, Hughes 2, Mattern 1)
