Bellwood-Antis (9-0) built up an away advantage over the much taller Bishop Carroll five, then had to hang on for a 58-53 victory in the first round of the County Seat Tournament on Thursday night.
The Blue Devils are three-time defending champions of the Tournament, held at Central Cambria High School in Ebensburg. B-A got five three-pointers from Dan Smith and a masterful job by the Blue Devils on defense. The B-A boys used scoring advantages in two of the first three quarters to take a seemingly healthy 41-32 lead with just the final quarter to navigate for the win.
In the final stanza, Bishop Carroll put up 21 points to make the game interesting. The BA five led by third-year coach Tim Keech stayed with BC for much of the fourth quarter to score 17 themselves and prevent Bishop Carroll from closing to fewer than the final five-point margin.
Ryan Myers had another strong game with 17 points inside, and Nathan Carlson added 13 points for Bellwood-Antis, who have been the champions in this tournament since the current senior class was in ninth grade.
Bishop Carroll has a trio of big men who patrol the middle in Barry Minemyer (6-8), Jeff Minemyer (6-6) and Justin Baker (6-6), but the Blue Devil defense limited the three amigos to a total of 17 points in winning their ninth straight game, easily the best start in Keech’s time as head coach at B-A.
Bellwood-Antis jumped out to 17-11 lead after the first quarter and led 28-23 at halftime.
Joe Takacs led Bishop Carroll with 13 points and Jeff Minemyer added 10 for the Huskies.
Bellwood-Antis will play Central Cambria in the championship game tonight at 8 p.m. in what promises to be a “Devil” of a game with the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils going against the Central Cambria Red Devils.
Bishop Carroll will play Portage in the consolation game beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Central Cambria defeated Portage 68-43 on Thursday to earn their berth in tonight’s championship final. Central Cambria jumped out to a 20-3 first period lead against Portage and just coasted after that for their convincing win over the Mustangs.
Danny Rager led the hot-shooting Red Devils with 19 points, including nine in the second quarter as the Red Devils took a 37-16 lead into the locker room at halftime. Brian Shope led Portage with 18 points.
Bellwood-Antis 58 Bishop Carroll 53
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Shannon 3 2-2 8, Smith 5 3-4 18, Mattern 0 0-0 0, Crider 1 0-2 2, Hughes 0 0-0 0, Greiner 0 0-0 0, Carlson 6 1-1 13, Myers 6 5-8 17, Rogers 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21-11-17 58.
BISHOP CARROLL – B. Lauer 2 0-0 4, M. Lukacs 2 0-0 4, Bozella 3 0-0 9, J. Takacs 5 1-2 13, B. Minnemyer 3 1-3 7, J. Lauer 3 0-0 6, J. Minnemyer 4 1-1 10, Baker 0 0-0 0, Rager 0 0-0 0.TOTALS 22-3-6 53.
Score by Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 17 11 13 17 – 58
Bishop Carroll 11 12 9 21 – 53
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 5 (Smith 5); Bishop Carroll 0 (none).
