By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – It was a sizzling and solid start for the Bald Eagle Area boys basketball team opened their contest against visiting MoShannon Valley pitching a shut out.

“It was a good start. I think our second, third and fourth quarters left a lot to be desired, especially offensively. I thought they had a tremendous player in the Howard boy,” said Bald Eagle coach Kris Glunt. “We have to do a little better job in identifying great shooters. I thought our energy dipped a little bit in the second, third and fourth quarter. But overall, it’s good to get the win. We got off to a 2-0 start and we have to get back to work.”

When the first quarter buzzer sounded, the Eagles outscored the Black Knights 19-0.

From there the Eagles never looked back and were never challenged as they rolled to a convincing 51-23 victory.

With the win, the Eagles finished its first week posting a 2-0 record.

Three Eagles players finished in double figures while 10 Eagles were able to hit the court and get some valuable playing time in the rout.

Blaze Angellotti provided a strong inside game, posting a team-high 15 points. Teammate Cam Watkins also provided an intimidating inside game finishing with 14 point and eight rebound effort.

Kahale Burns led the tempo as he was able to direct traffic and control the tempo on the offense while posting 11.

MoValley got an impressive performance from Sam Howard who was the offensive spark plug for the Black Knights, netting a game-high 17 points. In the process, Howard hit five of his field goals from beyond the arc. He also was tough on the boards, leading his team with six.

Bald Eagle Area out rebounded MoValley 28-16.

In the first, the Eagles got off to a blazing start.

Watkins opened the scoring with an inside bucket seconds into the game.

After a Knight turnover, the offense of the Eagles was successful as the ball went out to Tyler Serb from beyond the three-point line, quickly upping the lead to 5-0 with under a minute taken off the clock.

Bald Eagle forced yet  another turnover and turned it into points as they went back inside, this time to Angellotti.

Burns was next to get on the scoreboard taking the ball hard to the rim and finishing the deal, upping the Bald Eagle’s lead to 9-0.

Angellotti followed hitting on consecutive buckets, forcing MoValley to call its first time out with 4:28 left in the period.

After the time out, Burns notched a steal and went blazing down court, laying it up.

Watkins would wrap up the period’s scoring with four points.

Going into the second, Bald Eagle led 19-0.

Watkins got the second off and running as the offense went inside to him, upping the lead to 21-0.

However a minute later, the Black Knights finally got on the board when Tanner Kephart scored to end the shut out.

Teammate Howard hit his first triple, seconds later, making it a 21-5 Eagle advantage with six minutes left until the intermission.

But the Eagles were able to continue the pressure and head into the intermission, holding a 30-10 lead.

Coming out of the half, the Eagles were able to get the offense sparked while it’s defense once again clamped down, allowing only seven points while posting 14-7.

When the contest went into the final stanza, Bald Eagle added to its lead at 44-17.

In the fourth, the Eagles were able to put the game into a mercy rule scenario and cruised to the 51-23 victory.

Next up for the Eagles is a rivalry game against Bellefonte Monday.

Bald Eagle Area 51, MoShannon Valley 23

MV        0 10 7 6 – 23

BEA     19 11 4 7 – 51

Scoring: MV – Tanner Kephart 2 0-0 4, Samuel Howard 5 2-2 17, Zach Reifer 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 2-2 23. BEA – Kahale Burns 4 3-5 11, Kaden Burns 1 0-0 3, Cam Watkins 7 0-2 14, Blaze Angellotti 6 3-5 15, Tyler Serb 3 0-0 8. Totals 21 6-12 51.

Played but didn’t score: MV – Kaden Kephart 0 0-0 0, Landyn Evans 0 0-0 0, Micah Beish 0 0-0 0, James Hummel 0 0-0 0. BEA – Dru Smith 0 0-0 0, Chase Thompson 0 0-0 0, Aaron Sharp 0 0-0 0, Ryan Regel 0 0-0 0, Kieran Jodon 0 0-0 0.

3-point shots: MV – Howard 5. BEA – Kaden Burns, Serb 2.