Crissman scores 10 in Bellefonte boys basketball’s overtime victory over Bald Eagle Area
Three. Two. One.
The buzzer sounded on Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area’s boys basketball teams, locked into a 35-35 tie at the end of regulation. Red Raiders forward Cole Crissman was fouled and made two free throws, guard Derek Cox drilled a 3-pointer and they never looked back, winning 44-39.
Crissman finished with 10 points and took in the road atmosphere — with fans on Bald Eagle’s side booing and his own fans on Bellefonte’s side of the court cheering loudly. It was something that he’s looked to for years, playing against Bald Eagle since his youth basketball years.
“I’ve been playing Bald Eagle since I was young,” Crissman said. “They’ve always been rivals. It always feels good to win against them, especially in front of this crowd. Our student section showed out and I appreciate them for that. It was just a great win.”
Bellefonte head coach Rick Hall preaches to his team about staying patient on the offensive end and finding good shots. On the defensive end, he wants his team to play with intensity and feed off of one another. Bald Eagle was held to under 10 points in each period of the game, except for the second quarter. This was much in part to how the team followed through on Hall’s philosophy with high-flying blocks, steals and diving for loose balls.
“One of the things that we do is on-the-ball defense,” Hall said. “We look to turn them and our nose is always on the ball. I don’t care — even in the post. But we’ve worked on it every day. We work on all pressure, all of the time. We work on doubling down in the post and it depends on the team that we’re playing. The one thing that I was proud of for this game instead of our first two, we still had a lot of ball pressure, but we closed out quick. I thought we locked them up, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The first quarter featured just 13 points scored between the two rival Centre County teams. Bald Eagle’s Chase Thompson had three points, with Cam Watkins and Blaze Angellotti adding two points apiece. Bellefonte’s Ryder Hamilton, Cox and Crissman scored two points each to trail the Eagles 7-6 at the end of the quarter.
Thompson followed up with two made free throws, along with Watkins and Angellotti scoring two points once again in the second quarter. Tyler Serb made one of two free throws and drilled a 3-point shot, along with Kieran Jodon scoring and making a free throw on an and-one.
Alexander Ebeling knocked down a 3-point shot of his own, along with Jacob McConnell making a free throw and a shot. Davis Korman walked down to hit a 3-pointer and Crissman had two more points for a 20-17 Bald Eagle lead at the half.
Bellefonte pulled closer in the third quarter by scoring 10 points — Crissman, McConnell, Davis Korman and Cox scored to pull the game to 28-25 with Bald Eagle narrowly hanging onto its lead. The Red Raiders scraped for nine points in the fourth with Crissman pinning shots against the glass to hold Bald Eagle to a 35-35 tie at the end of regulation.
Bald Eagle head coach Kris Glunt’s team started the season 2-0 with wins over West Branch on Dec. 7 and Moshannon Valley on Dec. 9. Glunt’s team entered Monday night’s game with high energy and intensity, stealing the ball by putting hands into the passing lanes.
The team’s offense came up short, only reaching double digits in the second quarter with 13 points scored. He looks to make the adjustments necessary to remedy that facet of the game.
“It was a tough one to lose,” Glunt said. “If you go back and watch the tape, I thought we played hard, I thought our execution defensively was pretty solid. Offensively, I think that’s where we’ve got to clean some things up. Some shot selection — sometimes we’ve just got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and getting organized. Overall, it was a good battle. It felt like one of those games where you thought no one should lose.”
Bellefonte 44, Bald Eagle 39
B (1-2): Crissman 10, McConnell 7, Cox 7, Ebeling 5, Fisher 4, D. Corman 2, J. Corman 2
BEA (2-1): Watkins 12, Serb 9, Thompson 5, Jodon 5, Angellotti 4, Burns 2, Greene 2
Half: 20-17, Bald Eagle
