Bellefonte boys’ basketball sneaks out a win over Philipsburg-Osceola to snap losing skid
The Bellefonte boys’ basketball team eked out a victory at home Tuesday night to snap a two-game losing streak, taking down Philipsburg-Osceola, 66-60.
Bellefonte head coach Kris Glunt said he was proud of how his team handled the Mounties in the game.
“Our guys did a really good job of adjusting tonight,” he said. “We made good reads and I’m proud of the effort.”
The Red Raiders got out in front early on Tuesday night with a 16-10 first quarter led by senior wing Ben McCartney and senior guard Mason Grey, who each scored five points in the game’s first eight minutes.
The six-point lead grew larger in the second quarter, and Bellefonte suddenly led 25-15 halfway through the second eight minutes.
With just over four minutes gone in the period, the Mounties started to click on offense. After a bucket to cut the Bellefonte lead to eight, Philipsburg-Osceola saw its fortune turn. Senior guard Tyler Doyle attacked the rim and drew a foul to earn two free throws. McCartney, who got a piece of Doyle’s shot, was called for a technical foul, giving the Mounties four total free throws and possession.
Doyle capitalized by hitting all four to cut the lead to four points, and attacked the rim on the ensuing possession to cut it to two. Five more unanswered Mountie points gave them a 28-23 lead and concluded a 13-0 run.
A miscue by the Mounties on an inbound pass helped allow the Red Raiders to take the lead back with a 7-0 run of their own to close out the half.
With a 30-28 lead after two quarters, Bellefonte stayed the course in the third quarter despite varying defenses from the Mounties.
Philipsburg-Osceola tried several plans of attack when the Red Raiders had the ball. The Mounties attacked Bellefonte with several presses, both full court and half court, as well as a base zone defense.
The Mounties’ head coach, Matt Curtis, said the varying attacks help his team on both ends of the floor.
“We thought we could find a way to pressure them and turn them over,” Curtis said. “It sparked our offense. In the first half the offense was very stagnant against the zone and we weren’t getting good efficient shots.”
Glunt said he tried to keep his team’s offensive attack simple with some minor adjustments to overcame the varying defenses.
“We try to have a universal approach and deal with those traps in a similar way,” Glunt said. “I don’t want to throw a different version of our press break at our guys. We try to get into something familiar and we tweak a little bit.”
The defenses paid dividends in the fourth quarter for the Mounties and helped them keep the game close.
The Red Raiders turned the ball over several times thanks to the Mountie defense, and they allowed their frustrations to boil over. Grey was called for the team’s second technical foul of the game after a common foul and Philipsburg-Osceola once again hit all four free throws to cut the lead to 62-60.
That was as close as the Mounties would get, as the Red Raiders closed the game out with a 66-60 victory. McCartney led Bellefonte with 28 points, while freshman guard Jacob DeSimone led Philipsburg-Osceola with 17 points.
Bellefonte 66, Philipsburg-Osceola 60
(Friday at Bellefonte)
Philipsburg-Osceola 10 18 13 19 -- 60
Bellefonte 16 14 17 19 -- 66
Philipsburg-Osceola (6-8)
DeSimone 4 9-11 17, Ryan Whitehead 5 (1) 3-8 16, Tyler Doyle 3 8-11 14, Kaleb Richardson 3 0-0 6, Jeremy Whitehead 0 (1) 2-2 5, Parker Matson 1 0-0 2.
Bellefonte (5-8)
McCartney 5 (4) 6-6 28, Logan Bernier 4 2-6 10, Isaiah Nadolsky 5 0-0 10, Blair Eckley-Jones 0 (1) 3-4 6, Trae Bauman 1 (1) 0-2 5, Grey 1 (1) 0-0 5, Nick Way 0 2-2 2.
