Sometimes David can beat Goliath. However, this is not usually the case when Goliath is in his house and everything is going totally his way. That is exactly what happened last night in the championship game of the County Seat Tournament in Ebensburg, as the Red Devils of Central Cambria handed the Blue Devils of Bellwood-Antis their first loss of the year 73-33.
Trust me when I say that Central Cambria, who is now 8-1 on the year, is the real deal. They have height, speed and can shoot the eyes out of the basket. Add to that the fact that they are able to put the first nine players in the game and not loose even a step, is going to make it a very hard night for anyone.
The Red Devils won the opening tip and with just five seconds gone in the first quarter had gone up 2-0 and it was to be all up hill from there for the Blue Devils.
Anytime a team can shoot 73 percent from the floor in the first half of a basketball game they are going to be next to impossible to beat, let alone stay within range of being caught. This is exactly what Central Cambria shot in the first half against Bellwood-Antis. No matter where the Red Devils shot the ball, it went in. Every time Bellwood tried to answer with a three, Central Cambria would come down and hit two threes. It was a night when they were just on fire.
Bellwood-Antis could really not get any sort of penetration and started to shoot the three point shots. As hot as Central Cambria was, the Blue Devils were not having much success as they shot just 20 percent from the floor the first half. Almost all of the shots were one shot attempts, as Central Cambria owned the boards with their superior height advantage.
At the end of the first quarter Central Cambria had a 12-2 advantage in rebounding. Bellwood -Antis would improve on that total at half but were still looking at an 18- 0 deficit in rebounding. The score at the half was Central Cambria 46 – Bellwood 16.
There was no let up in Central Cambria in the third quarter as they outscored the Blue Devils 21-6 to go up 67-22 after three quarters of play.
The noticeable element tonight for Bellwood-Antis was the fact that they never quit. They played hard and kept trying even though tonight they were just over matched.
“I am not disappointed just because we lost the game. They were a better team. What bothered me was the fact that we were not competitive in the first half,” said Bellwood\’s head coach Tim Keech after the game. “We played harder in the second half and that pleased me,” Keech added. “I will be very disappointed if we do not come out tomorrow and have a great practice. We don\’t have time to worry about tonight and pout about it. We have a big rivalry game with Tyrone on Saturday night,” Keech concluded.
Game Notes: Alan Wertz led Bellwood with eight points and four rebounds. Central Cambria shot percent from the floor for the game, while Bellwood shot 23 percent for the game. Bellwood-Antis goes to six wins and one loss on the year. The Blue Devils take home the second place trophy. Ben Hatch was named to the all tournament team for Bellwood-Antis.
Central Cambria 73 Bellwood-Antis 33
Central Cambria: Taylor 1 0-0 2, Zering 1 0-0 3, Faish 3 0-0 6, Gowen 9 2-2 21, Miller 11 1-1 29, B. Holsinger 3 0-0 6, Nalisnick 1 0-0 2, Ridgeley 1 0-0 2, Myers 1 0-0 2 Totals 31 3-3 73.
Bellwood-Antis: Christner 1 0-0 3, Winterstein 1 1-2 4, Hatch 2 0-0 6, Wertz 4 0-2 8, McCrum 1 0-0 3, B. DeGol 0 1-2 1, N. Degol 0 2-2 2, Hughes 1 0-1 2, Geis 0 2-2 2, Gray 1 0-0 2 Totals 11 6-11 33.
Central Cambria 25 21 21 6 – 73
Bellwood-Antis 6 10 6 11 – 33
Three point goals: Central Cambria 8 (Zering, Gowen, Miller 6).
Bellwood-Antis 5 (Christner, Winterstein, Hatch 2, McCrum).
