Oh my goodness! What a tremendous high school basketball game played last night between the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils and the Everett Warriors on the Warrior\\\’s home floor.
The Warriors had set the table with all the trimmings needed to serve up a hard to digest loss for the Bellwood-Antis team. A long bus ride. Playing on a visiting floor. A cold gym. A pep band that was providing a Tylenol rendering rendition of the Florida State Warrior Tomahawk Chant. A very physical style of basketball that was allowed to remain that way with everything but back points. A home crowd that outnumbered the B-A fans no less than ten to one. More than enough reasons for a group of kids to feel the pressure and fold. The Blue Devils just do not quit.
Once again Bellwood-Antis would come out of the locker room and miss their first four shots of the game. This allowed Everett to jump out to a 4-0 lead early. Both teams would then settle in and play tough, and I mean tough, defense for the rest of the first quarter. When the bodies stopped hitting the floor and the smoke settled, Everett had a four point lead after one at 14-10.
The second quarter was a great deal like the first. Screens and picks that were laid with masonry cement, hand checking that at times resembled a karate class, and crashing the boards with reckless abandonment. The teams continued to trade baskets and Bellwood-Antis kept coming back to trail 16-14 at the 5:00 mark of the second period. Blaze Winterstein drove the baseline for a lay-up to deadlock the score at 16-16. Then after a forced Everett turnover, Winterstein would again try to drive the lane. He may have wanted to leave a suicide note at the foul line, as he was hacked several times going down the lane to go to the line to shoot two foul shots for the Blue Devils. Winterstein sank both shots and Bellwood was up at 18-16.
Then came the difference of the entire first half. Everett was able to score to tie the game and then steal the ball from the Blue Devils on the next four possessions in a row. This resulted in a ten point run to put the Warriors up 26-18 with 2:52 left in the first half.
Bellwood-Antis would again fight back and match the Warriors’ point total of the second quarter with fourteen points each. The score at the half was Everett 28-24 over the Blue Devils.
The third quarter was one in which Bellwood-Antis would chase the Warriors on the scoreboard almost basket for basket. Paul Christner was all over the floor again for the Blue Devils. He kept Bellwood\\\’s offense alive time and again by crashing the boards after a Blue Devil missed shot giving Bellwood-Antis two and sometimes three chances to score. Christner then took it upon himself to drive the lane and make a smooth move to hit the jumper to pull Bellwood within two with 3:11 remain in the third quarter.
Tyler Elvey hit a jumper to tie the score at 32-32 with just :18 seconds left in the third quarter.
Everett\\\’s Corey Waltman ran the floor and left a three point shot fly with 1.9 seconds left and slammed it home off the board to give Everett the 35-32 lead after three and all the momentum.
In the fourth quarter Paul Christner just worked so very hard for Bellwood with tremendous hustle to keep Bellwood in the game. Christner\\\’s hustle even prompted Bellwood-Antis head coach Tim Keech to say afterwards, “Ben’s (Hatch) shot put us ahead, but Paul (Christner) won the game for us tonight with his hustle.”
Anthony Jenkins sank two foul shots with 5:36 left in the game to again put the Blue Devils up 36-35. Both teams would then trade baskets until Everett went on a four point run to go up 41-38 with just 3:44 remaining on the game clock.
Tyler Elvey would be fouled on his next drive toward the basket and would go to the line to shoot two for the Blue Devils. Elvey dropped them both through to again pull Bellwood within one at 41-40.
Both teams again traded baskets and after a Bellwood-Antis miss the Warriors would come down and make the Blue Devils pay with a jumper to go up 47-42 with just :58 seconds left in the game.
Paul Christner then came down and hit a jumper to pull Bellwood within three at 47-44 with now only 0:42 seconds remaining. Coach Keech was off the bench calling for a time out.
Bellwood-Antis greeted the Everett inbound pass with pressure, but the Warriors were able to get the ball in and Blaze Winterstein immediately fouled Ryan Decker of the Warriors. Decker would take the slow walk to the foul line to shoot a one and one foul shot attempt with only 0:23 seconds remaining. Bang, off the rim and Bellwood had life. Ben Hatch grabbed the ball, drove the floor and let one fly from three point land at the top of the key with :16 left. Swish! Nothing but net, and the Blue Devils had tied it at 47-47 with less than 0:12 seconds to go.
The Warriors raced down the floor and Bellwood braced to try to get a charge call. There was no call, but the ball was loose on the floor. Ben Hatch scooped up the loose ball and flew towards the other end of the floor. Hatch left his shot go from about three feet outside the arch at the top of the key with only :00.6 tenths of a second on the clock. The ball hit dead inside the box on the backboard and slammed home for three points and a Bellwood win 50-47.
The Warrior fans stood in stunned silence while the Bellwood faithful made enough noise to appear that they had three times the number of fans present. A tremendous end to a tremendous high school basketball game.
Bellwood-Antis now moves to 10-2 (8 – 0 JVL) and has set up a collision meeting with the Penns Valley Rams this Friday evening in Bellwood. Everett slips to 8-4 on the year.
During the post game comments, Coach Keech was very happy. “I am very comfortable coming down the stretch with the ball in Ben’s (Hatch) hands,” Keech said. “I am so very proud of these kids. They never quit. They stay focused. It was a great team effort. I am just so very proud of these kids,” Coach Keech said as his voice quivered with emotion.
Coach Keech was worried coming in to tonight\\\’s game. “I was afraid that we may be looking ahead to Friday night\\\’s big game with Penns Valley,” offered Keech.
Both teams are undefeated in the Juniata Valley League and the winner of that game will have the inside track towards the conference championship.
When asked if he would like to see some Bellwood student body support for his team, Coach Keech was quick to respond. “I plan on getting an announcement at the school. We are 10-2 and have so much heart. This is the best record we have had here in years. If our students cannot come out and support this team by being loud and showing great sportsmanship then something is very wrong somewhere. Our students need to come out and support this team. We are working really hard for them,” concluded Coach Keech.
I could not agree more with Coach Keech. Students, your wake up call has been delivered and an invitation extended for you to be in the Bellwood gym Friday night and lift the roof right off the building. It is time to show some school spirit for this group of young men who are working so very hard.
Game notes: Ben Hatch led the Bellwood scoring with seventeen points. Anthony Jenkins pulled down a game high nine rebounds for the Blue Devils. Bellwood shot 8-10 from the foul line. Boyd Beegle led the way for Everett with a game high fourteen points. Everett won the J.V. game 47-43. Bruno DeGol had game high for the Little Blue Devils with nineteen. The B-A Junior Varsity record is now 5-4 on the year.
Bellwood-Antis 50 Everett 47
Bellwood-Antis: Christner 4 0-0 9, Winterstein 2 2-2 6, Hatch 7 0-0 17, McCrum 0 2-2 2, Elvey 2 2-2 7, Jenkins 3 2-4 8 Totals: 18 8-10, 50.
Everett: Beegle 7 0-0 14, Decker 3 1-3 7, Grimes 4 0-0 8, McCahan 2 0-0 4, Waltman 1 0-0 3, Rakoczy 3 0-0 7, Bolyard 1 2-4 4 Totals 21 3 – 7 47.
Bellwood-Antis 10 14 8 18 – 50
Everett 14 14 7 12 – 47
Three point shots: Bellwood-Antis: 5 (Christner, Hatch 3, Elvey).
Everett: 2 (Waltman, Rakoczy).
Fouled out: Everett, McCahan.
