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Bald Eagle offense lifts team over PO in boys action

 

By Kenny Varner

 

WINGATE – Coming off an exhausting 68-62 loss to Penns Valley Thursday night, the Bald Eagles boys’ basketball team bounced back in a big way, sporting a total team effort in a 61-50 home win Friday night at the Bald Eagle Gym.

With the win, the Eagles improve to 6-8 on the season.

After an early back and forth 12-11 first quarter for the Eagles, its offense exploded while its defense clamped down on the Mounties for a 20-5 second quarter.

Bald Eagle finished the contest with three of its players tallying double digit scoring efforts.

Leading the way for the Eagles was Brandon Gettig with 21 points. Gettig scored 17 second half points en route to the game high scoring effort.

Teammates Jason Jones and A.J. Onder finished with a 12-point and 11-point effort, respectively.

Defensively, Noah Chambers was the “sultan of swat”, posting four blocked shots and 10 rebounds. Offensively, Chambers finished with four points.

Point guard Trey Butterworth led the charge in the second and third quarter when the Eagles’ outscored the Mounties 38-13, setting up a 50-24 advantage going into the final stanza.

It would also be a game that Bald Eagle was able to get all of its bench some work as well, leading by as many 26 points at one point in the contest.

The Mounties were led in scoring by Lewis Jones. Jones helped try to lead the charge back in the final quarter, scoring 12 in the period and 17 for the game.

Despite scoring only seven in the game, Josiah Davis also helped try to lead at last minute charge at the Bald Eagle lead before time ran out.

Rounding out the double digit scorers was Trenton Herrington who posted a consistent 13-point performance. Herrington posted three points in three-of-four quarters and had a 4-point third quarter in a losing effort.

“After last night (Thursday) I played my five guys 32 minutes. I was concerned about our legs coming back and having to play today. We were a little sluggish in the first quarter. I think it was 12-11. In the second quarter we started getting our offense started and got things going and then pulled away from there. I was still trying to figure out a rotation in the first half. I went with an eight man rotation. I was trying to figure something out as the season winds down. I would hate to be stuck with five guys and not have any experience coming off the bench,” Bald Eagle coach Bill Butterworth said. “Everybody that got in tonight made a contribution of some sort. Our rebounding was excellent tonight. There wasn’t a lot of second and third opportunities like they had last night.”

Going into the second quarter holding onto a slim 12-11 advantage, the Eagles’ spread their wings and soared through the second quarter.

Onder got the scoring going in the quarter, hitting one of two from the charity stripe, taking a 13-11 advantage.

The defense got started forcing two steals and two lay ups. Scoring buckets early in the transitions were Onder and Jason Jones, upping the lead to 17-11 with 6:49 left in the half.

With the short 5-0 run, the Mounties were forced to call a time out and try to regroup.

However, the time out had no effect on the Eagles as they continued to mount the pressure on the Philipsburg offense.

Miss after miss for the Mounties allowed the Eagles to continue its run, posting a 6-0 run before, P-O would post its first point of the period.

Trailing 23-11, Herrington hit one-of-two from the charity stripe for his teams first point.

The suddenly explosive Bald Eagle offense rolled off a 7-0 run before the Mounties would post another point on the board.

In the 7-0 run, the run was sparked by a triple by Jordan Jones.

When the second quarter buzzer sounded marking the intermission, the Eagles led comfortably by a 32-16 advantage.

“We don’t have a greedy team. They are always looking for the open player. Sometimes we settle for jumpers too much but  as the game goes on they find the open man,” Butterworth said. “We do get the ball around well and pass it. We’re not just one-dimensional and shoot just jumps shots. ”

Things continued to roll for the Eagles in the third quarter as they outscored the Mounties 18-8, making it 50-24 as the final stanza got underway.

However, the Mounties refused to down without a fight as it made the final score respectable, posting 26 points in the quarter while the Eagles’ and its bench scorers tallied only 11.

However, it was too little too late for the Mounties as Bald Eagle still finished with an 11-point victory, 61-50.

In the JV game, the Mounties rallied back late in the fourth and won the game on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to shock Bald Eagle 45-42.

Bald Eagle will be back in action Monday as it travels to Punxsutawney.

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