Bellefonte fourth quarter comeback falls short; falls to Central

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 19, 2019

photo by Tim Weight

Central 55, Bellefonte 47

C 11 15 10 19 – 55

B 5 10 9 23 – 47

Scoring

Central – Braden Kitt 6 3-6 16, Hunter Klotz 1 1-3 3, Devon Boyles 8 2-5 18, Cleyton Kling 3 2-2 9, Jacob Eberlin 3 0-0 7, Colby Liebal 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 8-16 55.

Bellefonte – DJ McCaslin 2 2-2 7, Ben McCartney 8 3-5 25, Logan Bernier 2 0-0 4, Isaiah Nadolsky 4 0-2 8, Mason Grey 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 5-9 47.

Played but didn’t score: Central – Jason Ferry 0 0-0 0, Eli Lingenfelter 0 0-0 0. Bellefonte – Trae Bauman 0 0-0 0, Shaun Carey 0 0-0 0.

3-point shots: Central – Kitt, Kling and Eberlin. Bellefonte – McCartney 6, McCaslin and Grey.

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – An undefeated Central basketball team came into Bellefonte Wednesday with hopes of picking up another win over a young Red Raiders team.

Early on, the Dragons controlled the tempo, using a ball controlled offense.

For much of the night the Dragons had a double-digit lead.

But the Red Raiders battled back in the final stanza, successfully pressing Central’s offense and closed the deficit to as close six points and ran out of time to complete the comeback, falling 55-47.

Leading the comeback attempt in the fourth was Ben McCartney as he scored 17 of his 25 points in the period. He lined up three treys as the “Red and White” outscored the Dragons 23-19.

Central’s offense was led by Devon Boyles’ inside and transition game, posting 18 points while teammate Braden Kitt followed up with a 16-point effort.

“We did some things well. But right now we are in a position that we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. There are opportunities for us to capitalize on it and our effort isn’t quite where it needs to be and our discipline isn’t where it needs to be,” said Bellefonte coach Kris Glunt. “I do think we are getting better each day. I thought we put up a tough fight in the second half. But I think when we watch the tape we are going to be disappointed with just some effort based things and simple rotations we work on everyday that would of put us in a position to win the game.”

Going into the fourth, Bellefonte trailed 36-24.

After an opening two consecutive buckets by Central, the Red Raiders looked up to a 40-24 hole it needed to dig itself out of.

With one flick of the wrist by McCartney from beyond the three-point line, the comeback attempt had begun, 40-27.

The Red Raiders full court press early on was broke by the Dragons resulting in a 5-0 run, upping the lead back to a 43-27 lead with 4:43 left.

But again, when things looked dark for Bellefonte, McCartney once again lifted his teams’ moral with his second triple of the quarter.

After a Jacob Eberlin bucket to put the momentum temporarily back in Central’s court, the Red Raiders lit a spark on its side, changing the way the final few minutes would play out.

Bellefonte continues to go on a 7-2 run, putting them to within 10 points with still 3:00 left.

Boyles stopped the run temporarily as he broke a Bellefonte press after the Red Raiders pulled to within 10.

However, Bellefonte was on a mission and went right back to attacking the Dragons defense.

Less than a minute later with buckets from McCartney and Logan Bernier pulled their team to within seven with 1:54 left.

After a Central basket, McCartney got the crowd exploding with cheer as he hit another triple, making it a 51-45 contest.

But it was too little too late as the Red Raiders ran out of time and was forced to put the Dragons on the foul line, finishing the game at a 8-point loss for the never-say-die Bellefonte players.

Things started very slow for Bellefonte as Central opened up to an early lead and slowed the tempo down, keeping the Red Raiders at bay and unable to get its transition game going in full stride.

When the quarter ended, the Dragons led 11-5.

Central extended the lead to 11 as the two went into the intermission, leading 26-15.

Bellefonte cane out of the half and went for-to-toe with the Dragons being outscored by a 10-9 margin, setting the stage for the fourth quarter drama.

Bellefonte is back in action Tuesday against Juniata.