The inside and the outside environments of the West Branch area gymnasium last night were complete opposites. Outside, it was a cold, clear night with no precipitation whatsoever. However, inside the gym, there was rain. And it came in the form of the Blue Devils shooting, particularly the shooting of senior guard Danny Smith. BA was literally raining shots from all over the floor, and they torched a 2-3 West Branch zone to pick up an 86-52 victory over the Warriors.
BA senior guard Danny Smith lit the fire and then kept it burning all night long. Smith finished with 34 points, including 10 of Bellwood’s 13 three-pointers. The 10 three-point field goals gave Smith a new school record for most made three pointers in a game. the old record of nine was set by Jay Cornmesser against Claysburg-Kimmel during the 1990-91 basketball season. Ryan Myers netted 20 to help Bellwood in the rout.
“With the zone they play, I knew Danny could have a big night from three-point land,” said BA coach Tim Keech. “Once he starts hitting, just get out of his way and watch out.”
The Blue Devils weren’t cruising the entire game, however. The first six minutes of the game featured a back and forth struggle between the two JVL teams. Bellwood’s Matt Rogers came in off the bench toward the end of the 1st quarter to spark the Blue Devils with two steals and great hustle. BA was able to pull out to a 21-12 lead at the end of one thanks to three treys by Smith and five points by Jake Mattern.
The Blue Devils used a full court man to man press to help build a comfortable halftime lead of 48-25. Smith had 17 at the half, Myers had 10, and Nathan Carlson had six of his eight in the first two quarters.
Bellwood was coming off a bitter overtime loss to Penns Valley on Monday, and Keech stressed the importance of erasing that thought.
“It was one game, and there is nothing you can do about it,” said Keech. “I wanted our guys to come out agressive tonight and take care of business like I know we can. Overall, we did a pretty good job of that.”
The Blue Devils, who are known as a second half team, started the third quarter right on cue. Before West Branch even knew what hit them, they were down by nearly 30. The third quarter ended 68-34 in favor of Bellwood. The fourth featured more BA domination, and the final score gave BA the 86-52 win.
Brian Gormont was the lone Warrior in double figures with 15 points. All 12 players on the BA roster saw action in tonight’s game, and nine of them put points on the scoreboard. West Branch knocked off the Bellwood Antis JV team.
Bellwood’s next game will be Friday night when Claysburg comes to town. JV tip is at 6 with Varsity following at 7:30.
Bellwood-Antis 86 West Branch 52
BELLWOOD: (86) Shannon 2 0-0 5, Smith 12 0-0 34, Mattern 3 0-1 7, Crider 1 1-2 3, Hughes 1 0-0 3, Greiner 2 0-1 4, Carlson 3 2-4 8, Myers 9 2-3 20, Rogers 1 0-0 2, DelGrosso 0 0-0 0, Bell 0 0-0 0, Plummer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 34 5-11 86.
WEST BRANCH (52) Gormont 7 0-0 15, S. Coble 1 1-2 3, P. Coble 3 0-0 6, McCracken 2 1-2 5, Bisko 1 7-8 9, Husted 1 0-0 2, Peters 2 2-2 6, Williams 2 0-0 6. TOTALS 19 11-14 52.
Score By Quarters
BA: 21 27 20 18
WB: 12 13 9 18
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 13 (Smith 10, Shannon 1, Mattern 1, Hughes 1); West Branch 1 (Gormont 1)
