Bellwood-Antis came into their game with Mount Union looking to win their second game this year against the Trojans. This one would be close after one period of play, but then the Blue Devils would get control of the lead and only lose it once to post a 65-58 victory at Bellwood.
Aaron Bell lit up the skies last night dropping in an amazing five three-pointers before the game was over. He finished with a team-high 23 points. Mount Union was led by the three point shooting of Ryan Zook as he had the game high with 25 points in the losing effort.
Things would start to roll for B-A when Tyler McClellan drove through the zone defense, got the hoop and the harm, converting on the foul shot. That put the Devils up 9-4 with 5:01 left in the first.
Johnny Martinez and Zook would help Mount Union go on a 7-2 run to finish out the first period of play. After a three-pointer by Zook, the score was tied 11-11 which is how the first quarter would end.
Second quarter action would pick up for the Devils when Aaron Bell put in his first of those five three’s get put B-A up by three points. Bell would hit back to back three’s on the next two possessions for B-A which would cause a Trojan timeout. The score was 21-15 with 4:00 left in the first half when the timeout was called. Zook would bring Mount Union within three points after hitting a deep three-pointer to make it 23-20 with 2:13 left. B-A would then go on a 7-2 run to end the first half of play, with the score being 30-22.
The third quarter would start slow for Bellwood after Bell hit another three pointer. Mount Union would claw their way back and get it to within one point after Zook got an easy basket, but Paul Greiner would put in a floater in the lane with time running out to extend the lead for B-A to 42-38, going into the fourth quarter. The third quarter was the only quarter that B-A was out scored by the Trojans.
In the first two periods of play, both teams combined scored 52 points. That point total was almost reached by both teams combined in the fourth quarter alone. The teams would combine for 43 points in just the fourth quarter.
Tyler McClellan opened up the high-scoring fourth quarter followed by seven straight points scored by Martinez for the Trojans, which gave them the lead 45-44, with 5:50 to play in the game. That would be the only time Mount Union would have the lead. The Devils would regain control of the lead after baskets by Greiner and Bell.
Mount Union’s Trey McClain, would get the Trojans right back into after picking up a lose ball scrum and getting the basket and the foul but missed the foul shot. Martinez would hit a three with 2:43 to go and it made the score 54-51. Late in the game with Paul Greiner shooting the one on one bonus, Mike Blazier pulled down the missed free throw and put in a basket that broke the back of the Trojans, and would turn out to be the biggest basket of the game. There were 31.6 seconds left when Blazier put B-A up 63-56. Mike would only have six points in the game, but these two points were the biggest of those six. B-A would add a few more free throws by the end of the game to win 65-58 and get their second win over Mount Union’s Trojans this season.
Junior varsity
The Bellwood junior varsity team had no trouble what-so-ever with the Trojans. The Little Blue Devils won easily 56-29.
B-A’s next game will be the “big” game of the season against arch rival, Tyrone. The Tyrone Golden Eagles have already locked up the third seed in the D-6 playoff’s and will be Bellwood-Antis’ toughest game of the year. Will B-A get the upset? Find out Thursday evening in the Tyrone Area High/Middle School gym with Junior Varsity tip-off starting at 6 p.m., and Varsity at 7:30.
Bellwood-Antis 65 Mount Union 58
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – McClellan 5 1-1 13, Bell 8 2-2 23, DeArmitt 1 0-0 2, Greiner 7 2-5 16, Blazier 3 0-1 6, Christner 1 0-0 3, DelGrosso 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 26 4-9 65.
MOUNT UNION – McClain 3 0-1 6, Martinez 9 1-2 21, Zook 9 4-6 25, Pollicino 1 0-0 2, Walters 1 0-0 2, Varner 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 24 5-9 58.
Score by Quarter
Bellwood-Antis – 11 19 12 23 – 65
Mount Union – 11 11 16 20 – 58
Three point goals: Bellwood-Antis 8 (Bell 5, McClellan 2, Christner).
Mount Union 7 (Zook 4, Martinez 3).
