Belleville Mennonite 40, Juniata Christian 36
BELLEVILLE — Belleville Mennonite held off a late charging Juniata Christian to come out victorious 40-36, in an Allegheny Christian Athletic Association boys basketball game on Monday night.

After a slow start offensively for both teams during the opening half of the game, the Thunder came out blazing in the third period and began attacking the paint from the baseline for buckets. Quinn Renno really came up big in the frame scoring 11 of the 19 total points scored for Belleville Mennonite during the period.

For most of the third quarter, the Lions continued to struggle to get shots to fall but thanks to the efforts of Alex Meiser who scored seven of the ten points scored in the frame to make it a 31-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But then during the final period, Juniata Christian were able to catch fire again behind the shooting of Meiser who got the offense going hitting a pair of three pointers. The Lions managed to cut the lead down to single digits with just over a minute to play, but it was as close as they were able to get.

Meiser led the Lions with 14 points for the evening while Owen Yorks added another 11 for Juniata Christian.

For the Thunder Renno led with a game high of 18 points for the game. Mitchell Kauffman also scored in double digits and collected 10 points.

Belleville Mennonite (2-2) will travel to face Walnut Street Christian today. Meanwhile Juniata Christian (0-5) will be preparing to compete in the Christian School of York basketball tournament that begins on Dec. 27.