Photo by Tim Weight
By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE- Playing for nothing but pride on the line, the Bellefonte boys basketball team gave the post season bound Clearfield all they could handle, taking the game into the final seconds before a winner would be crowned.

The Bison needed all their 10 triples to take home a thrilling 62-56 win Thursday night in Laurel Highlands action at Bellefonte high school.

Peyton Vancas paced the scrappy Red Raiders by posting a 16-point evening.  Liam Halterman added a double-double posting 14 points and 10 boards. Ryder Hamilton rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13.

“I’m very proud of them. It was a tough season,” said Bellefonte coach Rick Hall. “They battled hard. I thought foul shooting hurt us down the stretch. But I’m very proud of them.”

Braison Patrick had things going offensively for Clearfield as he posted a game-high 26 points. He had things going from three-point land with four triples. Ev Maines followed with 14 points. He also had a hot hand from beyond three posting three triples.

Rounding out the double-digit scorers was Parker Collins finishing with 10. He also netted two triples.

After a close first quarter that had the Bison leading 13-11, the Bison extended their lead32-20 as the two teams went into the intermission.

Bellefonte found themselves trailing 32-20 as the third quarter got underway.

Defensively, the Red Raiders came out and shut down the Bison offense.

Halterman got his team out of the block with an offensive putback after his own miss.

Patrick hit a triple to extended it lead to 13.

After a Red Raiders turnover, Carter Kaskan pulled down a rebound and hit the putback adding to the Clearfield lead 37-22.

That would be the last points Bellefonte would allow until 1.30 left in the third.

Hamilton pulled up for a bucket to start his team on a 13-0 scoring run.

John Servant, who posted seven, scored 1-of-2 from the line after being hacked when going up for the bucket.

On the next Bison possession, Vancas picked off a pass and took it in for the lay up.

Hamilton got into the act minutes later as he took the ball and layed it up in transition and was fouled on the shot. He was successful on the old fashion three-point play, cutting the deficit to 37-30. Dalton followed with a block on Patrick underneath preventing the easy bucket.

On the inbounds, Hamilton stole the ball and went coast-to-coast and hit the lay in.

Halterman cut the Bison lead to four hitting 1-of-2 from the charity stripe.

Vancas ended the home team’s run with a bucket off a steal from Halterman with 1:50 left in the period .

Patrick ended the Bellefonte run with a jumper in the lane.

Halterman finished the third quarter scoring, hitting 1-of-2, making it a 39-36 Bison advantage going into the final stanza.

The two battled back and forth the rest of the way.

Numerous times in the period, Bellefonte would get close but Patrick and company would hit clutch triples when they needed en route to the 62-56 win.