Bellefonte finishes third at Ram Winter Jam

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 29, 2019

Bellefonte 68, Juniata 32

JUN 6 10 10 6 – 32

BEL 18 14 20 16 – 68

Scoring: Bellefonte – Mason Grey 2 3-4 8, Trae Bauman 1 0-0 2, D’

Andrea McCaslin 2 1-2 7, Isaiah Nadolsky 6 2-4 14, Ben McCartney 10 2-2 26, Logan Bernier 1 1-2 3, Shaun Carey 4 0-0 8. Totals 26 9-14 68.

Juniata – Jacob Condo 2 0-0 5, Jamie Bailer 5 0-0 15, Jace White 1 0-0 3, Logan Kehler 1 0-0 2, Max Lauver 2 0-0 5, Jeff Zimmerman 1 0-0 2. Total 17 0-0 32.

Played but didn’t score: Bellefonte – Nicholas Way 0 0-0 0, Tyler Kroell 0 0-0 0. Juniata – Yadiel Ortiz 0 0-0 0, Emmanuel O’Donell 0 0-0 0, Bogey Baker 0 0-0 0, Evan Leach 0 0-0 0.

3-point shots: Bellefonte – McCartney 4, McCaslin 2, Grey. Juniata – Bailer 5, Condo, Lauver.

By Kenny Varner

SPRING MILLS – It was raining three’s Saturday night at the Penns Calley gymnasium as the Bellefonte boys basketball team met up with Juniata in the Ram Winter Jam Consolation game.

In the first half alone, there were 10 triples made as the Red Raiders had six and the Indians four.

All in all the game had 14 treys in the Red Raiders 68-32 victory.

“We did not handle the pressure well tonight. We were nervous about it we lost balls that we normally don’t lose. We turned it over in places where we don’t usually turn the ball over,” said Juniata coach Al Ream. “They (Bellefonte) played extremely well. We didn’t play our game. I’d like to congratulate them and we will have to regroup.”

Ben McCartney has the hot hand in the first half, posting a 20-point first half performance. Twelve of those points came from long range.

“Ben was hot tonight. He found his spot and we got him the ball and he made a lot of shots early and got us feeling good,” said Bellefonte coach Kris Glunt. “I thought our pressure was effective. We did some good things defensively. We just played with good energy tonight and took care of the little things and the results speak for themselves.”

Juniata had its own sharpshooter in Jamie Bailer who had four triples in a 12-point effort to pace his team.

Bellefonte broke the game open early as the offense ran through McCartney in the Red Raiders first three possessions, leading 6-0.

Bailer broke the mini run with the game’s first triple, posting up on a picture perfect net shot at 4:45.

McCartney went right to work in his team’s next possession, upping the team’s lead to 8-3.

After a Juniata turnover, Bellefonte big man Isaiah Nadolsky went for a runner in the lane, making it a 7-point lead with 3:35 left.

But on the following possession, with just a flick of the wrist Bailer cut it to a 10-6 deficit with his second triple.

Bellefonte finished off the first quarter going on an 8-0 run sparked by two McCartney triples.

In the second, the Red Raiders offense continued to take the momentum into the second quarter, posting an 11-2 run to up their lead to 28-9 with 4:13 left in the half.

McCartney, who finished with a game-High 26 points, had two more triples while teammate McCaslin hit a triple as well.

After a Juniata time out, the Indians tried to battle back and put themselves in striking distance.

After a second consecutive triple by McCaslin, the Indians warmed up also from beyond the arc.

Bailer hit two triples while Jacob Condo posted a jumper, the Indians cut the lead to 32-16 with 1:57 left.

The run caused the Red Raiders to take a time out.

After the time out, Bailer got his team a little closer posting another triple of his own, cutting it to 32-19.

The two would head into the intermission with Bellefonte holding onto a 13-point lead.

But it would be the Red Raiders that would get the last momentum shift as they outscored Juniata early in the second half 18-5.

By the time the fourth quarter got underway, Bellefonte was in command 52-26.

In the final stanza, it would be Bellefonte that would continue to dominate the boards and increase the lead.

Bellefonte finished things out by outscoring Juniata 68-32 to secure the third place nod in the tournament.