Photo by Tim Weight
By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – Digging deep, the Bellefonte boys basketball team rallied in their overtime contest against Bedford Friday after the Bison tied the contest in the final seconds of the fourth.

It would be a cast of numerous players that would make clutch plays in the extra session as the Red Raiders outmuscled Bedford in a very tension-packed contest, winning 71-65.

“They held their composure down the stretch at times. But I was very disappointed in their defense,” said Bellefonte coach Rick Hall. “We gave up to many shots in the paint. But they kept fighting. They battled adversity. In overtime, I thought they did a better job handling the basketball.”

Liam Halterman, despite being in foul trouble midway through the third, finished with a double-double scoring a team-high 21 points while pulling down 15 rebounds. He also would be a factor in the overtime portion of the Bellefonte victory.

Leading at the point, guard Ryder Hamilton also made his presence known in the overtime period, posting four of his 17 points in overtime.

Peyton Vancas hit four triples in his 15-points while pulling performance.

Rounding out the double-digit scorers for Bellefonte was John Servant with 13 points.

Bedford retaliated with a 22-point night for Jacob Wilson. Wilson showed no fear of running his shots through the heart of the defense.

Quincy Swaim followed with 12 points while teammates AJ Koontz and Owen Tedrow both had 11 points each.

Tied at 60 entering the overtime period, the Red Raiders came out firing.

After a shot in traffic by Wilson, the Red Raiders started to hear back up.

Halterman picked up a pass from Hamilton down low and hit the bucket, tying it at 62.

With the Bison in foul trouble, Servant pulled down a crucial rebound and was fouled in the back court, sending him to the foul line. He was automatic at the charity stripe hitting 2-of-2 with 2:27 left.

With the buckets, the Red Raiders called a time out to go over strategy for the final two minutes.

Coming out of the time out, the Red Raiders were able to increase its lead to four on a bucket by Servant. Servant took the ball passed a guard and wound up taking the ball straight to the hoop.

On the following Bedford possession, the Red Raiders got the crowd roaring when Peyton Vancas was able to block a shot by Koontz with a minute left.

After holding the Bison in check, the Red Raiders added to their lead, when Ryder Hamilton hit 2-for-2 upping the Bellefonte lead to 68-62 with 54.0 left.

Bellefonte saw their lead cut into sharpley seconds later when Bedford got a triple by Wilson, cutting it to just a 3-point contest at 68-65 with 22 ticks left.

But the Res Raiders were money from there, posting 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to hold on for the victory.

In the first quarter, the Red Raiders took the early offensive advantage in a high scoring opening period, 18-13.

Halterman had 10 points in the period to lead all scorers.

Things continued to go Bellefonte’s way as they also outscored the Bison 14-11. Halterman had already captured a double-double performance before the intermission.

When the dust settled in the first half, the Ted Raiders led 32 – 24.

Bedford came out of the intermission ready to make a run at the deficit. However, the Red Raiders were up for the challenge as Bellefonte narrowly outscored Bedford 16-15.

In the final stanza, the Bison sizzled as they were able to barrel their way in the paint to knot things at 60, outscoring the Red Raiders 20-12.

But the night belonged to Bellefonte as they were able to shrug off the fourth and take control of the overtime to take home the hardware fought victory.

Bellefonte  71 , Bedford 65 (OT)

BED 13 11 15 20   5 – 65

BEL. 18 14 16 12 11 – 71

Scoring: BED –   AJ Koontz 5 1-2 11, Owen Taylor 4 0-0 9, Quincy Swaim 4 2-5 12, Owen Tedrow 4 0-0 11, Jacob Wilson 9 0-0 22. Totals 26 3-8 65. BEL –  Ryder Hamilton 5 7-11 17, Peyton Vancas 5 1-1 15, Liam Halterman 10 1-1 21, Gracen Coons 2 0-0 5. Totals 26 11-16 71.

Played but didn’t score: BED –   Owen Horne 0 0-0 0, Josh Topper 0 0-0 0, Adam Fisher 0 0-0 0. BEL –  Logan Gibson 0 0-0 0, Tanner Ebeling 0 0-0 0, Carter Shively 0 0-0 0.

Three-point shots: BED –   Taylor, Swaim 2, Wilson 3, Tedrow 3. BEL –  Vancas 4, Servant, Coons.