Although there was just one second on the game clock, it seemed like it took forever to happen. Bellwood-Antis and Mount Union a pair of very evenly-matched and undefeated boys basketball teams were perched on the precipice of a 50-50 ball game that had every intention of going into overtime. Bellwood-Antis has taken a timeout with 13 seconds remaining to think things over and call a final play. Senior playmaker and point guard Ricky Shannon dribbled and passed in the key to Ryan Myers, who has become the Blue Devils’ go-to guy this season. Myers shot was swatted away by Mount Union center, Big Earl Hollis, all six-foot-six and 275 pounds. Bellwood had one more chance with just a single tick on the clock.
Brent Hughes, the triggerman had trouble initially finding an open Blue Devil to inbound to, then saw Myers standing several feet away to the left of the basket. Myers grabbed the pass and immediately went up for a short jumper. As the clock hit 0:00, the ball touched nothing but net on the way down through. The packed house erupted noisely as the team wildly celebrated the 52-50 victory.
Although the last-second action seemed to be the winning shot, the Blue Devils and Trojans played the last three quarters dead even with the final three stanzas reading 9-9, 14-14 and 13-13. The Blue Devils opened up a slim 16-14 after one period and it could be argued that the key to the win was decided early.
Hollis was the Mount Union mainstay in the first quarter pumping in eight points and pulling down four rebounds. Hollis held Myers without a rebound over the first three quarters and ended with 18 points and 15 rebounds for the game.
Myers matched Hollis with eight first-quarter points and Danny Smith added a pair of three-pointers as well to get the Blue devils off and running.
Nate Carlson and Steve Crider kept the Blue Devils on top for most of the game with seven rebounds and 10 points for Carlson and six rebounds and 11 points for Crider. Danny Smith also contributed 11 points, including a trio of three-pointers before fouling out with 1:11 to play in the fourth quarter.
Carlson chipped in six of his points and three boards in the third quarter when Mount Union made a run to take a 37-35 lead, but Bellwood-Antis put the final four points of the stanza on the board to escape with their two-point lead still intact with the fourth quarter to play.
Myers pulled down five of his seven rebounds and scored six points and Crider added five points to account for all but a single bucket in the fourth quarter. Ricky Shannon was running the offense superbly, dribbling, passing the ball to teammates and playing a masterful defensive game. Although he didn’t score, Coach Keech was not displeased. “I’m shocked Ricky Shannon didn’t score, the way he has been playing. But you know what, all he has to do is come out and handle the ball. I remember Larry Bird once said ‘I doesn’t matter who scores the points. It matters who gets the ball to the guy who scores the points’. He’ll come out and be perfectly happy after this game, because he did get the ball to the people who put the ball in the basket.”
“Without a doubt,” said B-A coach Tim Keech, “I think these are the two finest teams in the Juniata Valley League. Mount Union is just an incredible basketball team. They have a lot of different ways they can score. The Price kid from outside, Big Earl inside. Danny Puchalla is such a solid player defensively, he caused us some problems and the other kids know their role and they step it up and can create problems for us off the dribble.
“You know you bring a game down that far, you know, you take your best shot and see what happens.”
With the win, Bellwood-Antis improves their record to 8-0, while Mount Union drops to 8-1. All odds point to the rematch at Moun Union on Friday, Jan. 31 as a game everybody should set on their calendars. The next action for the Blue Devils is nextThursday and Friday when they travel to Ebensburg to defend their title in the Cambria County County Seat Tournament where B-A is a three-time defending champ.
Junior Varsity
The junior varsity game was every bit as tight and exciting as the varsity encounter. Mount Union outscored the Blue Devil Jayvees by a bucket in overtime to down Bellwood-Antis 47-45 after many lead changes during the regulation game.
Mount Union led 16-9 after ending the opening quarter with a flourish. But the Blue devils came back to take a 25-23 lead at halftime. The Trojans outscored B-A 10-4 to take a 33-29 advantage going into the fourth quarter, where the Blue Devils knotted the score with a 10-6 edge.
Paul Greiner led the attack for Bellwood-Antis with 21 points and 12 rebounds and Matt Plummer added 14 points and six boards.
Bellwood-Antis 52 Mount Union 50
MOUNT UNION – House 2 3-4 7, Hollis 9 0-1 18, Puchalla 3 1-2 7, Price 5 3-4 14, Helton 2 0-0 4, A. Brown 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 7-11 50
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Shannon 0 0-0 0, Smith 4 0-0 11, Mattern 0 0-0 0, Crider 5 1-4 11, Crider 5 1-4 11, Hughes 0 0-0 0, Greiner 0 0-0 0, Carlson 5 0-1 10, Myers 8 2-4 18, Plummer 1 0-2 2. TOTALS 23 3-12 52.
Score By Quarters
Mount Union 14 9 14 13 – 50
Bellwood-Antis 16 9 14 13 – 52
Three-point goals: Mount Union 1 (Price 1); Bellwood-Antis 3 (Smith 3).
