A week removed from claiming the Cambria County Seat Tournament championship for the fourth year in a row, the Bellwood-Antis boys basketball team made it’s 2003 debut, hosting the Bald Eagles of Bald Eagle Area High School on Saturday night.
For a half, the Blue Devils showed signs of rust from their eight-day layoff, as they clung to a narrow four-point advantage at intermission. However, this Bellwood-Antis squad is quickly earning a reputation as a second-half team. The Blue Devils were able to pull away in the second half and cruise to a 69-53 victory, and in the process, keep their undefeated record intact.
Bellwood-Antis opened up a 23-12 after the first quarter, but nearly gave it back as Bald Eagle Area outscored the Blue Devils 20-13 in the second quarter to get back to just a 36-32 lead at halftime.
The Blue Devils turned up their defense in the second half, allowing the visitors only 21 points after halftime. bellwood-Antis then stepped on the gas offensively, extending their lead to double-digits early in the third quarter. Unlike the first half, where B-A squandered two 12-point leads, this time, the Blue Devils didn’t let up.
After leading 53-42, Bellwood-Antis used strong offensive outputs from seniors Steve Crider and Ryan Myers to break the game wide open.Myers eventually capped the victory when he slam dunked an alley-oop pass from fellow senior Ricky Shannon late in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils received double figures from Nathan Carlson (10), Steve Crider (15), Dan Smith (13) and RTyan Myers, who scored agame-high 21. Noy to be outdone, B-A point guard Ricky Shannon scored eight points of his own and handed out eight assists. Steve Crider also pulled eight rebounds for Bellwood-Antis who improved to 11-0.
Bald Eagle Area was led by Michael Surovec and Brenton Decker, scoring 20 and 14 points respectively. The Bald Eagles droped to 3-8 on the season.
Next up, Bellwood-Antis will host the Black Knights of Moshannon Valley tonight, Jan. 6. The jayvee game will start at 6:30, with the varsity game to follow at 7:30.
Junior Varsity
Paul Greiner led the Bellwood-Antis junior varsity with 22 points as the jayvees defeated Bald Eagle Area 44-33. The win ups B-A’s record to 4-5 on the season.
Bellwood-Antis 69 Bald Eagle Area 53
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Myers 9 3-3 21, Carlson 4 2-3 10, Crider 6 3-5 15, Shannon 3 0-0 8, Smith 4 3-4 13, Rogers 1 0-0 2, Hughes 0 0-0 0, Mattern 0 0-0 0, Greiner 0 0-0 0, DelGrosso 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 27 11-15
BALD EAGLE AREA – Decker 7 0-1 14, Surovec 7 2-2 20, Houck 2 2-2 6, Ammerman 1 0-0 2, Hilliard 2 1-3 5, Peters 3 0-0 6, Rishell 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 22 5-8 53.
Score By Quarters
Bald Eagle Area 12 20 10 11 – 53
Bellwood-Antis 23 13 17 16 – 69
Three-point goals: Bald Eagle Area 4 (Surovec 4); Bellwood-Antis 4 (Shannon 2, Smith 2).
