How senior Jaden Jones led Bald Eagle Area boys’ basketball over rival Bellefonte
Crosstown rivals faced off Friday night in Wingate when Bald Eagle Area took on Bellefonte in boys’ basketball action. The Eagles came out of the game with a 53-43 victory on the back of senior guard Jaden Jones, who finished the game with 24 points.
Bald Eagle head coach Bill Butterworth said that once Jones was feeling it, there was no stopping him.
“If I get a hot hand, I let them go,” Butterworth said. “Those guys, if they get on a roll, I let them go. They know when to pull the reins in. They’re a level-headed bunch of kids.”
The game got off to a slow start for both teams offensively with two made field goals in the first 6:02 of the action. Bald Eagle was able to take advantage with a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles’ 10-8 lead would’ve been 10-5 if not for a deep 3-pointer from Bellefonte senior guard Trae Bauman at the buzzer.
The Red Raiders came out with a better start to the second quarter, but couldn’t put together a complete eight minutes of basketball. The Eagles ended the quarter with their lead still in tact. They took a 19-16 lead into the half with Jones leading the team in scoring with eight points.
Jones built that lead to six with three free throws in the first 30 seconds of the half. He was fouled twice on 3-point attempts in the game, accounting for 6 of his 24 points.
The action stayed steady until Jones hit from beyond the arc to extend the Bald Eagle lead to nine.
Fortunately for the Red Raiders, sophomore guard Blair Eckley-Jones answered with a 3-pointer of his own to bring the Eagle lead back to 29-23. The Eagles extended that lead back to double digits with back-to-back buckets by Jones and senior guard Nate Hoover and an and-one by Jones to close the quarter on a 7-0 run.
BEA’s 36-23 lead at the end of three was fueled by 13 third-quarter points from Jones.
The Red Raiders came out invigorated to start the game’s final quarter thanks to the offense of senior wing Ben McCartney. McCartney scored 8 of the team’s 14 points during a 14-4 run to begin the fourth quarter.
Butterworth had seen enough with a 13-point lead dwindled down to just three, and called a timeout with 3:34 left in the quarter . The decision worked, with Jones getting a bucket at the rim to get the Eagles on the board and calming his team’s nerves.
“Jaden stepped up and said play to win and don’t play to lose,” Butterworth said. “We’ve been stressing that all week … Then Jaden did a good job of getting the ball in his hands and getting everyone under control. He’s a leader … I want the ball in his hands at the end of the game.”
The Red Raiders had yet another response from Eckley-Jones, who drilled his second 3-pointer of the game to cut the lead back to 43-40 with 2:47 left in the game.
The rival schools nearly went make-for-make the rest of the way until Bald Eagle pulled away in the final 30 seconds to secure the victory. Jones led the Eagles in the game with 24 points, while McCartney led the Red Raiders with 14. Jones said his teammates did a great job of closing the game out.
“Once I started feeling it, they kept getting me the ball and wanted me to keep going,” Jones said. “It felt good to finally get back in my groove.”
Bald Eagle 53, Bellefonte 43
(Friday at Wingate)
Bald Eagle 10 9 17 17 -- 53
Bellefonte 8 8 7 20 -- 43
Bald Eagle (3-7)
Jones 2 (2) 11-13 24, Nick Maynard 2 11-14 15, Nathan Hoover 3 1-2 7, Luke Wilson 1 1-2 5, Alex Gavlock 1 0-0 2
Bellefonte (3-6)
McCartney 4 6-6 14, Isaiah Nadolsky 4 3-9 11, Eckley-Jones 0 (2) 0-0 6, Mason Grey 1 (1) 0-0 5, Bauman 0 (1) 0-0 3, Logan Bernier 1 0-0 2, Shaun Carey 1 0-2 2.
