Bellefonte boys’ comeback falls short vs. Central Mountain in District 6 championship
The District 6, Class 5A basketball championship looked as if it would get away from the Red Raiders early on during Saturday’s matchup.
Central Mountain exploded for a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, and Bellefonte head coach Rick Hall called a timeout. His team came back firing on all cylinders. Bellefonte senior forward Cole Crissman threw down two dunks, one of which was called for a technical foul when he hung on the rim, and the Red Raiders had a number of timely 3-point field goals by junior guard Derek Cox. Despite being up early in the fourth, the Red Raiders ended up falling 59-56.
“I just told them, ‘That was a hell of a comeback,’” Hall said. “I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years — coaching in different sports, they’ve got to be one of the most unlucky teams that I’ve ever seen. The ball bounces all kinds of ways, that technical was (a bad call)., Davis (Corman) blocks a kid down the baseline and they call that a foul. That’s what’s happened to us all year long. We just haven’t gotten the breaks, and that’s what we’ve needed.”
The Red Raiders opened the year at home against Central Mountain and were beaten 72-51 on Dec. 2. A few weeks later on Dec. 29 in a tournament setting, Central Mountain defeated Bellefonte 59-47. Bellefonte inched closer in each game and Crissman began to piece his game together to become the team’s offensive hub.
Bellefonte’s star finished with a game-high 23 points, but felt the ache of the loss to his core. He soaked in the moment of his final high school game by walking around the court, shaking hands with his teammates, hugging his coaches and players on the opposing team and reflecting on the moment with the understanding that his team gave its max effort.
“Most teams would probably be scared and for some reason, we couldn’t score a bucket in the first half,” Crissman said. “I wasn’t too nervous, I knew we were going to bounce back like we did all year.”
Bellefonte was down 16-5 at the end of the first quarter with Central Mountain’s Hayden Pardoe scoring six points, in addition to Jack Hanna and Essex Taylor finishing the period with four points each. The Red Raiders were down 22-9 with 3 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first half with the Wildcats scoring on a number of backdoor cuts and swift layups on second-chance opportunities.
Then, the Red Raiders marched back into the game.
First, Alexander Ebeling knocked down a 3-pointer. Then, Crissman hit a 3-pointer, and Cox finished the stretch with a 3-pointer of his own. Bellefonte found itself trailing 24-20 at the half.
The energetic Red Raiders parlayed their effort into the third quarter by tying the game 24-24 with just 1:03 off of the clock. Crissman made a free throw and sent in a dunk to get the Red Raiders a 27-25 lead. His next dunk would be called for a technical foul, but Bellefonte continued the game with a 34-32 lead before Central Mountain took over 37-36 at the conclusion of the quarter.
Bellefonte’s Ethan Tomasacci nailed a 3-point field goal, and Central Mountain’s Dominic Longworth answered with one of his own. But the Red Raiders had a 44-42 lead with 5:50 remaining in the game. The Wildcats took back the lead 51-49 with a pair of made free throws by Hunter Hoy with 2:58 left.. From that point on, Bellefonte and Central Mountain played close, but made free throws by the Wildcats got the better of the Red Raiders.
While Bellefonte’s season has come to a conclusion, Central Mountain head coach Tyler Bardo has seen the improvement from the team as a whole, especially Crissman, under the leadership of Hall.
“(They) are much more physical,” Bardo said. “Offensively, they had much more time. They had a whole season to develop. I thought they were really deliberate with their offense, and they ran their cuts hard. We had a tough time at times, especially with Cole (Crissman) — keeping him from getting downhill. I thought he did a really nice job. He’s wildly improved, as far as being a problem with his versatility.”
Central Mountain 59, Bellefonte 56
CM (24-2): Hanna 18, Pardoe 16, Taylor 11, Hoy 7, Schlesinger 4, Longworth 3
B (13-11): Crissman 23, Cox 11, McConnell 6, Hamilton 3, J. Corman 3, Tomasacci 3, Ebeling 3, D. Corman 2, Fisher 2
Half: 24-20, Central Mountain
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 5:54 PM.
