SPRING MILLS — Penns Valley’s Dalton Ulmanic slid like a runner trying to swipe second base against a catcher with serious pop in his right arm.

On his return trip to a familiar basketball position, Ulmanic corralled the ball

from Bryce Greene.

Luke Weaver parlayed the turnover into a bank shot from eight feet. Penns Valley coach Terry Glunt exulted.

The first 16 seconds of Friday’s second half against Bald Eagle Area helped Penns Valley erase the sting of 16 frustrating minutes.

The Rams recovered from an awful first half with a stunning second half that led to an improbable 36-32 win at the Ram Dome.

The ugly first-half details: Twenty-two shot attempts. Two field goals. Four points. A 19-4 deficit. One flustered coach.

“Our coach got on us,” Weaver said. “We didn’t hustle. We didn’t get after it, and he was very disappointed about that. We lit up and caught on fire in the second half.”

The Rams (10-8) equaled their first-half offensive production when Weaver retrieved a loose ball and nailed an 11-foot jump shot 1:10 into third quarter. By the 6:52 mark of the fourth quarter, Weaver fired the ball to Cameron Tobias for an open 3- pointer that tied the game 26-26.

Weaver and Tobias, a pair of sophomores, combined for 19 points and three 3-pointers in the half. Weaver led the Rams with 11 points. Tobias added eight.

“When Luke started making the jump shots and I hit two threes, I thought, ‘Here we go. This is our game,’” Tobias said.

Sam Snyder’s layup with 5:51 left gave Penns Valley its first lead at 28-26. Snyder, who finished with six points, didn’t score again. Snyder plowed into pesky BEA sophomore Bryan Greene at half-court and was called for his fifth foul with 5:37 remaining.

Losing Snyder represented a test for a team using four sophomores in a tight game featuring postseason fervor.

“We are not a one-man team,” Glunt said, “and that’s what we have to believe. We have to deal with it.”

BEA’s Dennis Fisher, who scored a game-high 21 points, tied the game 28-28 by hitting an 8-footer with 4:45 left. But Penns Valley scored the next four points, and senior Derek Dashem secured a second straight win over a Centre County by making two foul shots with 11.8 seconds left.

The Rams started this week by handling Bellefonte 46-30 on Tuesday. BEA and Bellefonte defeated Penns Valley during the first half the Mountain League cycle. The Eagles edged the Rams 42-38 in overtime in their first meeting.

“This was our goal, to beat Bellefonte and Bald Eagle in the same week,” Tobias said.

BEA’s zone defense proved successful in the first meeting, but the Eagles surprised the Rams by opening Friday in a man-to-man. Bryan Greene shadowed Snyder, who went 1-of-12 from the field in the half.

The Rams scored just two points in the first quarter and two more in the second. BEA (11-11) slowly built its lead behind the 6-foot-7 Fisher, who scored 11 points first-half points in a variety of forms.

“It’s just crushing,” BEA coach Bill Butterworth said. “The game plan worked perfect in the first half. We changed a little in the second half. The only thing they did different was that they started dribble driving. We were playing too soft and letting them get to the basket.”

Playing with offensive aggression was one of Glunt’s halftime themes. The Rams attempted 17 shots in the third quarter, a startling total for a picky offense. Penetration led to Tobias, Weaver and Will Jackson draining an open 3-pointers.

Tobias, Weaver, Jackson and Ulmanic flourished in the second half despite their youth. All four players are sophomores.

“A lot of us are used to it,” Tobias said. “We play other sports. Football it came down to the wire a couple of times. You have to stay cool. Just handle the pressure and go with it.”

Penns Valley’s sophomores are aging well. The Rams have won three straight games and they nearly upset projected District 6 Class AA top seed Tyrone last week.

“We are just maturing,” Glunt said. “Are we getting better? I think we are. The first half you wouldn’t have said that. But the second half. ...They had the fire in their belly in the second half they needed in the first half.”

BEA’s young team now faces a different challenge. The Eagles, who played just one senior, ended the regular season Friday. They are headed to the District 6 Class AAA playoffs, but a small field might produce a long — and potentially agonizing — break from competition.

“We’re going to give them Monday off, come back Tuesday, start watching game film and not talk about it,” said Butterworth, whose team surrendered four leads of 12 or more points in the regular season. “It’s done and over with. We’re going to practice on what we have to do to beat whoever we play next.

“We’re still having a good year. I’m just baffled by these continued blown leads.”