Bellefonte boys’ basketball extends winning streak to 4 with 43-40 win over Penns Valley
Bellefonte boys’ basketball extended its winning streak to four Thursday night with a hard-fought 43-40 win over Penns Valley.
The win for the Red Raiders is even more impressive considering Penns Valley’s recent 40-37 victory over Class 6A foe Mifflin County, and marked a turning point for new Bellefonte head coach Rick Hall.
“This is huge,” Hall said. “We started out 0-3. (This was) against a really good team. The last few games that we went down the stretch here, the kids were starting to play with confidence.”
The Red Raiders got off to a good start offensively after a long Penns Valley possession to begin the game. The Rams maintained possession for nearly two full minutes after the opening tip before Bellefonte had an opportunity to score.
The elongated time with the ball didn’t lead to a score and ultimately was indicative of how the opening quarter went for the road team. The Rams had the ball plenty, but failed to score while the Red Raiders made the most of their opportunities on their way to a 16-10 lead at the end of one.
Hall attributed the early lead to his own team’s methodical nature on offense.
“I think we were patient with the ball,” Hall said. “We took quality shots against their zone. That’s one of the best zones I’ve seen in a long time. By pass faking, kids constantly moving and finding the open spots, it allowed us to get some wide-open shots.”
Neither team could get its offense rolling in the second quarter, with only eight total points scored in the quarter. Six of those were by the Rams and opened the door for them to cut Bellefonte’s lead to two at the half. Senior John Aston led Penns Valley with six points at the half and was able to get some open looks underneath after his team cracked the Red Raiders’ zone defense.
The offenses got back on track coming out of the locker room and both teams started to hit shots. The Red Raiders once again extended their lead to six with a 9-4 run to start the quarter but the Rams were able to claw back into the game with some well-timed shooting from beyond the arc. They cut Bellefonte’s lead to two, making it 29-27 at the end of three.
The Rams quickly made that deficit vanish with a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the fourth quarter. Bellefonte responded almost two minutes later with a 3-pointer of its own from junior guard Nick Way with just over six minutes on the clock to make it 32-30. Way hit another shot a few minutes later after the teams traded buckets to make it 39-32 in Bellefonte’s favor with under four minutes left in the game.
Penns Valley and junior Zach Braucht wouldn’t go away that easily, however, with the guard scoring six straight points for his team to cut the lead to 41-38. The Rams and Red Raiders traded made shots and free throws to keep the lead at three with 38.9 seconds and the ball in Penns Valley’s possession.
Two missed 3-pointers ultimately gave the ball back to Bellefonte with 16 seconds on the clock and Way shooting free throws. The junior guard was unable to make from the stripe, giving the away team another opportunity to tie. A Braucht 3-point attempt missed the mark but teammate Caleb Narber managed to get the rebound and a timeout with 5.4 seconds on the clock.
Less than a week after Braucht hit a game-winner against Mifflin County, he was unable to hit a similar shot from the opposite wing as time expired for the Rams, giving the Red Raiders the 43-40 victory.
“I told them at the last timeout that you have to play the best defense you’ve played all year long,” Hall said. “That was a great on-the-ball switch and double team. The kids have shown guts the last two games.”
Junior forward Blair Eckley-Jones led the way in scoring for the Red Raiders with 15 points, while Braucht led the Rams with 14.
The win pushed Hall and his Bellefonte team to 4-3 on the season and dropped the Rams to 3-4 overall.
Photographer Abby Drey contributed to this story.
Bellefonte 43, Penns Valley 40
(Friday at Bellefonte)
Penns Valley 10 6 11 13 — 40
Bellefonte 16 2 11 14 — 43
Penns Valley (3-4)
Braucht 3 (1) 5-6 14, Aston 4 2-4 10, Logan Crater 0 (3) 0-0 9, Caleb Narber 1 (1) 0-0 5, Kyle Niewinski 1 0-0 2.
Bellefonte (4-3)
Eckley-Jones 6 (1) 0-1 15, Ty Kroell 1 (3) 2-2 13, Way 1 (2) 0-2 8, Alex Ebeling 1 (1) 0-1 5, Gannon Brungard 1 0-1 2.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 10:32 PM.
