Photo by Tim Weight
By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – Setting the tone early!

The Bellefonte boys basketball team picked up its second win Monday night in front of their home crowd, topping Penns Valley 51-32.

“I was very disappointed in our loss to Huntingdon because I thought we got a little undisciplined. I thought we were a little undisciplined when we beat Bald Eagle. We had a couple practices over the weekend the coache were emphasizing discipline, said Bellefonte coach Rick Hall. “I was really pleased with their patience on offense against their zone. I mean it’s a good 2-3 zone. They became a little more disciplined tonight offensively and defensively. They started communicating more on man-to-man and I the results shown.”

Defensively, the Red Raiders sealed things tight inside the paint and was able to hold the Rams defense to only 19 points after three quarters of play.

Offensively, Bellefonte scored by committee as it was able to distrust the ball well.

Leading the way was inside man Cole Crissman. Crissman was aggressive inside posting a game-high 12 points while teammates Alex Ebeling and Jacob Corman both followed with nine points each in the victory.

Derek Cox rounded out the top Raiders’ top scorers was Derek Cox who had eight.

Jacob McConnell was tough on the boards posting seven rebounds, Crissman added six while teammates Ebeling had five.

Penns Valley was led by Jackson Romig’s 12-point effort while teammate Colin Niewiniski tallied eight in a hard fought effort.

Defense would dominate in the first for the Red Raiders as they were able to hold the Rams to just a field goal by Romig.

Bellefonte opened the game with a offensive put back by Derek Cox and a steal and a lay in by Ebeling with 4:27 left in the opening period.

After the field goal by Romig, Ebeling’s triple increased the team’ growing lead to 7-2.

Bellefonte would make it an 8-2 contest as Davis Corman hit one-of-two from the charity stripe.

Rounding out the first quarter scoring, Jacob Corman hit 2-of-2 from the free throw line.

Seconds later, Luke Fisher got the crowd on its feet when he sunk a buzzer beater to give the Red Raiders the advantage!

When the dust settled and the buzzer sounded entering the the end of the first, the team led 13-2.

The scoring tightened up a little in the second quarter, the Rams’ offense was able to score nine points in the period.

Penns Valley was led by Romig with five points.

However, Bellefonte posted 12 in the stanza, upping the lead to 25-11.

In the second half, the Red Raiders continued to control the momentum as they scored 26 -21.

They two teams combined for seven. Penns Valley got two from Romig. Bellefonte had three different players score from the three-point line en route to the victory.

Bellefonte is back in action Thursday when they travel to Juniata.