Jones hits 1,000-points in BEA win over Bucktail

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: January 21, 2020

Bald Eagle 79, Bucktail 51

BUC 3 13 21 14 – 51

BEA 17 29 24 9 – 79

Scoring: Bucktail – 2 1-4 6, Dylan Cross 2 0-0 5, Gabe Conway 11 9-10 31, Liam Dwyer 1 2-2 4, Doryw Bruno 1 0-0 3, Malaki Burger 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 12-16 51. Bald Eagle Area – Jaden Jones 7 3-4 19, Nathan Hoover 5 1-1 11, Luke Wilson 2 0-0 4, Nick Maynard 4 2-2 10, Cole Parsons 2 0-0 6, Colton Wolfe 1 0-0 2, Alex Gavlock 3 2-2 9, Hayden Vaughn 1 0-0 2, Eathan Koleno 1 0-0 2, Everett Herr 1 0-0 2, Owen Irwin 2 1-3 7, Ayden Jodon 1 1-2 3, Caleb Matis 1 0-0 2. Totals 31 10-16 79.

Played but didn’t score: Bucktail – Will Kelly 0 0-0 0. Bald Eagle Area – Asher Burkett 0 0-2 0.

3-point shots: Bucktail- Serfini, Bruno. Bellefonte – Jones 2, Parsons 2, Gavlock.

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – It was a night of celebration for the Bald Eagle Area boys basketball team and senior Jaden Jones.

Jones notched his name in the history books as he reached the 1,000-point plateau Monday night in the team’s victory over Bucktail 79-51.

Jones hit the milestone early in the second half when Nick Maynard passed it Jones who went in for the lay up and foul with 5:37 showing on the clock.

“Just kind of basketball took over. It really didn’t really kick in. I was just playing the game and having fun,” said Jones when asked if he was thinking about his 1,000 point as he was running the break in for the lay up. “There is nothing better than being out here with these guys. They’ve supported me through this and helped me get here.”

Jones joined Brandon Gettig 2012-15 (1,053), Stacey Surovec 1991-94 (1,150), Todd Hosband 1996-1999 (1,059),Brenton Decker 2001-2004 (1,010) and Dennis Fisher 2010-13 (1,027) as members of the 1,000-point club.

Offensively, Bald Eagle got hot early and never looked back despite a 31-point effort by the Bucks Gabe Conway. His and his team’s never-say-die attitude was clearly evident in third and fourth quarters as they chipped away for a 35-point half.

But Jones was t the only shining star on the court as Nick Maynard collected his seventh consecutive double-double posting a 10-point/13-point rebound performance.

In the first, Jones needed only 17 points to reach his goal.

Rounding out the double-digit scorers for the Eagles was Nate Hoover with 11.

Bald Eagle opened the game in dominating fashion posting a 33-3 advantage with four minutes left in the first half.

The first quarter saw Bald Eagle post 17 points while its defense held Bucktail to just three points by Conway.

Jones led the way in the period with a 7-point performance, cutting his route to 1,000 to just 10 points.

Conway kept his team in the game hitting nine points of his team’s 13.

However, the Eagles upped its game a notch as it posted 29 points with its bench playing a majority of period.

Going into the intermission, the Eagles led 46-16.

But as the third quarter got underway, Jones got his his first points of the quarter as he got his first pass from Maynard for a lay up and foul for the first time, cutting it to needing just a line point.

Minutes later, he got the milestone and the game was stopped for a small celebration.

“I know everybody was out there hoping for Jaden to score early but I took him out when we were up 33-3,” said Butterworth. I’m glad he did it! It couldn’t happen to a nicer kid. He’s worked hard.”

On the Bucks side, they had a very strong effort in the second half as well as they outscored Bald Eagle 35-33.

Scoring the last points of the game was a strong lay in by Malaki Burger with time running out.

“This was a nice game to get out and to get out early. We were able to get everyone in. We got a tough game tomorrow so we wanted to legs for tomorrow,” said Bald Eagle coach Bill Butterworth. “We’ve got a good thing going. We still need to keep going and make that playoff run. We have a big game against Central tomorrow. Our goal is to get back to the playoffs and get this thing turned around and get back to .500.”

However, the Eagles held on and it looks as if the fortunes might be and the Bucktail effort will not be forgotten as the guts and determination was evident despite coming up short.

“That’s one thing our kids do well, they never give up. We’ve got five guys and we’ve been playing with five guys the whole year and they give it their all,” said Bucktail coach Travis Fantaskey. “They never give up.”