The Bellwood-Antis boys’ roundball team has had an uncanny ability to put the ball in the basket in the early 2002-03 basketball season. West Branch found that out the hard way on Wednesday evening as Bellwood knocked off the Warriors 66 – 42 to move to 2 – 0 in the young season.
Seniors Ryan Myers and Danny Smith led the Blue Devil barrage by scoring 19 points apiece, while Steve Crider chipped in with 12 points and 6 offensive rebounds. Smith netted five 3-pointers thanks in part to a 3-2 zone employed by the Warriors that left open gaps for the Blue Devil sharpshooters and Steve Crider added one.
The contest, waged at the Bellwood-Antis Senior High School gym, may have ended in a blowout, but in actuality it was closer than what the final score indicated. A combination of the BA slow start shooting in the first half and West Branch using a stall offense resulted in a halftime lead of just 11 for Bellwood at 27-16.
The Blue Devils opened an 18-10 lead after one period, but the Warrior stall offense limited both teams with neither breaking the 10-point mark in the second stanza.
However, BIG BLUE came out of the lockerroom on fire as the lead quickly catapulted back to 23. West Branch traded buckets over the final stanza as all 12 Blue Devil players saw varsity action.
Coach Tim Keech loaded the second half lineup with shooters–Dan Smith, Steve Crider, Ryan Myers, Ricky Shannon, and Nate Carlson. That combination busted it open by outscoring WB 39-26, including 23 fourth-quarter points for Bellwood-Antis.
“The stall strategy was a good idea on behalf of West Branch, but we really turned up the defensive pressure and we exploited them by shooting better in the second half,” pointed out Coach Tim Keech.
Afterwards, Coach Keech reflected on his squad’s efforts,”I thought we did a pretty good job. We are learning who we are and how to involve everybody. A lot of different players stepped it up.”
West Branch, who fell to 0-2 for the ytoung season, was led by Gormoni with 14 and S. Coble who added 10.
The Blue Devils will try to remain perfect as they travel to Claysburg this evening.
JV tips at 6:00 pm with the varisty following at 7:30.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The BA junior varsity, under the guidance of Mr. Matt Stinson, overcame a rather sluggish start to knock off West Branch 43-21. Sophomore Paul “Shaq” Greiner paced Bellwood with 15 points. Both squads started off a little slow and it wasn’t until two minutes left in the first quarter that the game’s first basket was scored. The JV’s improved to 1-1 on the year.
Editor’s note: The Bellwood-Antis-West Branch boys basketball game was played on Wednesday evening, but was not reported until today because of the winter weather forcing the closing of schools yesterday.
Bellwood-Antis 66 West Branch 42
WEST BRANCH: Gormoni 5 4-4 14, S. Coble 5 0-0 10, P. Coble 1 0-0 2, McCracken 1 0-0 2, Clark 3 1-1 8, Bisko 2 0-0 4, Husted 1 0-0 2, Williams 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 5-5 42.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS: Shannon 3 0-0 6, Smith 7 0-0 19, Mattern 0 0-0 0, Crider 5 1-2 12, Hughes 2 1-2 5, Greiner 0 0-0 0, Carlson 1 0-0 2, Myers 9 1-2 19, Rogers 0 1-2 1, DelGrosso 0 0-0 0, Plummer 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 27 6-10 66.
Score By Quarters
West Branch …………10 6 11 15 – 42
Bellwood-Antis……….18 9 16 23 – 66
Three-point goals: West Branch 1 (Clark)
Bellwood-Antis 6 (Smith 5, Crider 1)
