Shooting woes hurt BEA boys as PV holds on in Mountain League match up

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 19, 2018

Penns Valley 46, Bald Eagle Area 25

By Kenny Varner

MILL CREEK – Defense took center stage Tuesday night at the Penns Valley High school gym as the Rams and Bald Eagle boys’ basketball teams met in an early Mountain League showdown.

It would be a game that wouldn’t be decided until midway through the final stanza as Penns Valley got into the bonus early and made their free throws when it needed, winning in a 46-25 contest.

The game was closer than the score showed as the Rams held only an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Leading the way offensively for Bald Eagle was Jaden Jones with a 10-point effort.

Teammate Blake Roberts chipped in with four and collected a team-high 11 boards on the night.

Penns Valley has three players finish with double-digit efforts.

Leading the way for the Rams was Logan Snyder with a game-High 17 points.

Teammates Cam Shaffer and Aaron Tobias finishes with a 11-point and 10-point effort, respectively.

“ We has a lot of breakdowns offensively tonight. I think we probably shot around 15 percent. The ball just wouldn’t go into the basket tonight,” Bald Eagle coach Bill Butterworth said. “We played hard. We do play hard but we have to finish. We had a lot of missed foul shots. We came into tonight a averaging 80 percent coming into the game.”

In the first quarter, Snyder got the scoring started early for the Rams as he scored the first six points, both came on old fashioned three-point plays.

Drew Bucha got the Eagles on the board as he hit two from the charity stripe as he was hacked going through the lane.

Tobias made it a seven-point advantage as he stepped up a smoked a triple with 2:21 left in the period.

Bucha was 2-of-3 from the line after being fouled trying to pop a trey. With the two successful foul shots, Bald Eagle cut it to a 9-4 contest.

Tobias hit a jumper, putting his team back up by seven.

However, a steal by Jones and a lay in mixed with a foul, cut the Penns Valley lead to just four going into second, 11-7.

Both teams came out playing shut down defense in the second as Penns Valley allowed just three points by Jones while the Eagles allowed just six.

At the half, the Rams held a 17-10 advantage.

Penns Valley increases its lead going into the final stanza, outscoring the Bald Eagles 29-14 up-to that point.

But the Eagles refused to go away and used a strong press to give the Eagles a chance as they got the game to almost under double figures at 11 midway through. But the Penns Valley free throws would be crucial down the stretch, giving them the 46-25 victory, scoring 10 points from the line.