Bellwood came into thier game with the West Branch Warriors sporting a record of 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Juniata Valley league. The Warriors had a solid record of 7-1 overall and sat on top of the JVL. B-A was looking to pull off an upset tonight and tried their hardest to make it possible.
Last season B-A split the two matchup’s with West Branch, winning 67-59, and losing 62-42.
Scoring started out when Tyler McClellan drops in a long bomb to put B-A up by three early. Back to back turnovers committed by the Blue Devils allowed West Branch to come back with four straight points to go up 4-3 with 7:00 to go in the first. B-A and West Branch would trade off basket untill Paul Greiner hit an elbow jumper to put Bellwood up 7-6 with 5:35 left in the quarter. Bellwood would then go on a 10-2 run to go up by nine, 17-8 with 2:33 left. Included in the run were key baskets by Aaron Bell’s foul line jumper after a nice pass from Tony DelGrosso, and a Paul Greiner three point basket. The first quarter score would come to a close with Bellwood holding on to a seven point lead, 17-10.
Second quarter action picks up after Clouk helps West Branch close the gap putting in a fast break lay-up. B-A would then score five straight points including a nice feed from Bell to Mike Blazier for an easy jump hook to put B-A up 22-12 with 5:50 left in the half. West Branch went on their on run out scoring B-A 8-3 in the next four minuts to make the score 25-20 with 1:45 to go. B-A led 28-20 untill Peters added a lay-up with 1:10 left in the half. West Branch would miss a three point buzzer-beater at the end of the half to keep the score 28-22 in favor of the Blue Devils.
In the first half B-A committed seven turnovers which helped keep West Branch close. Bellwood would only go to the free throw line two times the entire first half, which was due in part to West Branch’s tough zone defense. Although the zone was tough to break B-A did manage to put in five of 14 from behind the three point line.
When the time for second half action to start came, West Branch opened up the scoring for the second half to pull closer to Bellwood’s lead, 28-24. The third quarter would be a frustrating one for the Blue Devil offense as they would hit a four minute scoring drought at one point during the quarter. Clouk pulled the Warriors within two after hitting a floater in the lane to make it 28-26 with 6:23 left.
Paul Greiner tried to get B-A back into the game but puts up an air ball which draws a timeout from Coach Keech with 5:42 left. Greiner redeemed himself by hitting a three pointer with 4:54 left, to put B-A up 31-26. Bellwood would then go on the drought earlier mentioned.
West Branch would gain the lead after Clouk goes coast to coast for a lay-up to put the Warriors up 32-31 with 3:40 left in the quarter. That Clouk basket was a part of a 10-0 run West Branch went on to go up 36-31 with 1:25 left. Paul Greiner finally ended the drought when he dropped in a baseline runner to close out third quarter scoring. The score heading into the final period of play, was 36-33 in favor of West Branch.
The fourth quarter action starts when Peters got a fast break lay-up to extend West Branch’s lead. Bell tried to get B-A back into the game after pulling the offensive rebound down and getting the basket himself to make the score 38-35 with 6:52 left to go in the game. Bellwood would pull to within one after a McClellan three pointer to make the score 41-40 with 4:13 left. Bellwood was still down by when they missed a shot to go up and West Branch came right down the court and Clouk hit the Warriors only three-pointer of the game to put them up 46-42 with 2:09 left to go. B-A wouldn’t get closer than six points untill the end of the game when Greiner put in the last shot of the game to make the final score 51-46 with West Branch coming out the victory
Bellwood’s third quarter killed them, only scoring five total points in the quarter while West Branch scored 14 points. In the second half B-A only turned the ball over two times, but again only went to the foul line four times for a total of 6 times in the game. Although Bellwood lost, Coach Keech feels good about sticking with the best team in the league for four straight quarters
“I feel great, but the third quarter killed us. We just didn’t shot the ball in the second half like we did in the first,” said Coach Keech. “In the fourth quarter we got it to the point where we only needed one shot, but we couldn’t do it. If we get that one basket I think this gym explodes and we get the momentum back and maybe we could take advantage of that, but we never get the chance to.”
Keech commented on his kids reaction to the scoring drought in the third quarter, “I think you have to get frustrated, I think that’s going to play on your mind. The kids are going to have to learn that if you work the ball and you slow things down, you can get the easy shots you need to make baskets.”
Although B-A had a big scoring drought, they battled back to get it within one midway through the 4th quarter. Coach Keech was proud of his kids for sticking with it althought things weren’t going their way
“I thought there that if we would have hit that one shot, or tied the game, we could get rolling. [West Branch] only had one three the whole game and when that kid made it I turned to Coach Jubeck at that time and said ‘you know what that’s a killer’, but we had them on the ropes untill he drilled that three pointer and all of a sudden your down by five with like two minuts left.”
The Bellwood varsity couldn’t pull off a win, but the Jayvees had no trouble with West Branch with a convincing 59-44 win.
Bellwood’s next game will be Sunday, December 26, at the County Seat Tournament at Central Cambria High School. Tip-off time for that game is scheduled for 6:30. Merry Christmas to all you basketball fans, and have a great holiday vacation.
Bellwood-Antis 46 West Branch 51
BELLWOOD-ANTIS McClellan 4 0-2 12, Bell 3 0-0 6, DeArmitt 1 0-0 3, Greiner 7 2-2 20, Blazier 1 1-2 3, Boone 0 0-0 0, DelGrosso 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 18 3-6 46
WEST BRANCH – Coble, Sean 7 3-5 17, Clouk 5 0-0 11, Coble, Paul 4 0-0 8, Bisko 2 1-4 5, McCraken 2 0-0 4, Peters 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 23 4-9 51
Score By Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 17 11 5 13 – 46
West Branch 10 12 14 15 – 51
