The Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils had to travel in terrible weather to get to their game with the Moshannon Valley Knights. Although it was a blizzard outside, inside the gym was heated action. In a game originally scheduled for Jan. 8, the Knights used a 24-18 first quarter advantage to edge the Blue Devils 44-43 at Moshannon Valley.
Things picked up early with Kephart scoring his only two points for the Knights to put them up early. Baughman helped Mo Valley pull away a little with a tough basket with 5:53 to go in the first, with the score being 6-2.
B-A got right back in the game after Aaron Bell hit his only three pointer of the night to make it 6-5 with 5:15 to go. That’s all the closer B-A would get for a while. Three minutes later Bellwood pulls back within a point after Tyler McClellan cut through the middle of the defense and got the basket to make the score 15-14 with 2:02 left in the first. Baughman stole the ball with 22 seconds to go and puts in the lay-up helping Mo Valley pull away by the end of the quarter with the Knights leading 24-18.
Second quarter action picked up when Pleskonko put in his follow shot on the offensive rebound to put Mo Valley up 26-18 early in the second.
B-A would then go on a 14-3 run and gain the lead before halftime. Aaron Bell pulled them within three points after dropping in a floater with 4:27 to go. Blaze Winterstein would put in his first two of four foul shots on the night to give the Devils the lead for the first time in the game with 1:42 before the half, with the score being 30-29. B-A would get another basket before time ran out to take a three point lead going into the locker room.
B-A shot a red hot 11-21 from the field in the first half and went 7-9 from the foul line. They were 6-6 from the line in the second quarter. The Devils only committed four turnovers, two in each quarter, in the first half of play.
Third quarter action was back and forth between each team. Paul Greiner would get three of his season-low five points on one shot to open up the third quarter scoring. There was 6:07 left in the quarter when Tyler McClellan stole the ball and added the basket to put B-A up 37-29. B-A would get up by ten, but the Knights came right back with Mills dropping in a pair of free throw to make it a six point game 39-33 with 3:46 left in the third quarter.
Luke Martin would add two of his game high 15 to pull Mo Valley within three 39-36 with 2:03 to go. Mills would get another basket to make it a one point game, 39-38 with 1:25 left to go. Mo Valley would regain the lead with 26 seconds to go after Martin gets an easy five foot shot to make the score 40-39 which is what the score was at the end of the third quarter.Martin added to his ever increasing total to open up fourth quarter action. 6:13 to go in the game when Paul Greiner got fouled on a three point attempt. Paul converted on two of the three shots to make the score 42-41. B-A would get the lead back after Bell dropped in a basket to make it 43-42 with 5:36 to go in the game. Three minutes later Mo Valley’s Mills put in two free throws to get the lead back for the Knights 44-43. With 1:00 to play in the game, Bellwood-Antis got the ball on a Blaze Winterstein steal to give B-A another chance to get the lead and win the game.
Coach Keech took two timeouts in the next 60 seconds, and with about 20 seconds to go, Bellwood brought the ball back into to play. Tyler McClellan went up for a shot with three seconds to go, but missed. Hold on folks, the official called a foul and McClellan got a chance to give B-A the win. His first foul shot attempt bounced off the back of the rim and out. McClellan needed to make the second shot to tie the game and send it to overtime. The second goes up, bounces around and falls out, Paul Greiner grabs the rebound and is mugged, but there’s no foul called.
The game ended with the score being 44-43 in favor of the Moshannon Valley Knights.It was brought to my attention at the end of the game by Coach Keech that the former head coach of Mo Valley was an official in this game, and Coach Keech was not at all happy with that.
“I’ll go on record right now, stating that never would something that unethical happen at Bellwood, where you would have a former head coach officiating a game. I don’t care what the score is, I don’t care who won or lost, it’s completely unethical and the Juniata Valley League needs to step up and stop action like this from now on.”
Coach Keech was extremely upset at this situation, but gave credit to Mo Valley for coming back and winning the game.
After shooting 11-21 in the first half, B-A only went 4-21 in the second half. This slump in the second half let the Knights come back from a ten point lead in the third quarter. B-A shot 3-14 in the third quarter and 1-7 in the fourth quarter. B-A finished the game 9-13 from the foul line, and 2-5 in the second half.
Moshannon Valley 44 Bellwood-Antis 43
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – McClellan 6 1-2 15, Bell 4 0-0 9, DeArmitt 2 0-0 4, Greiner 1 2-5 5, Boone 2 0-0 4, Edmiston 0 2-2 2, Winterstein 0 4-4 4. TOTALS 13 9-13 43.
MO VALLEY – Baughman 4 0-0 9, Mills 1 5-8 7, Kephart 1 0-0 2, Wulderk 3 1-2 7, Martin 7 0-0 15, Pleskonko 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 18 6-10 44.
Score by Quarter
Bellwood-Antis 18 14 7 4 – 43
Moshannon Valley 24 5 11 4 – 44
Three point goals: Bellwood-Antis 4 (McClellan 2, Bell, Greiner)
Mo Valley 2 (Baughman, Martin)
