BELLWOOD - After a disappointing performance in a loss to Tyrone last Saturday, Bellwood-Antis boys basketball coach Brent Gerwert was hoping for a fast start when Everett came to town for an Inter-County Conference non-division game Tuesday.
He didn't get that fast start, though, and let his team know it.
Kneeling in front of the bench after the first quarter, Gerwert yelled: "Ten turnovers. That's why we're behind by six points. Now, let's take care of the basketball and not pass up good shots."
The Blue Devils got his message.
Trailing 14-8, B-A exploded for 28 points in the second quarter to take a 36-30 lead at the half. The Devils outscored the Warriors, 44-28, after intermission and finished with a 80-57 win.
"I was not very happy," Gerwert said. "We didn't have a very good game Saturday with turnovers. We set a goal for a certain amount tonight and we surpassed that in the first quarter. A lot were because we were hesitant to shoot.
"We stress if you're open, you have to shoot," he said. "The second quarter we started hitting the open man and hitting the open shot and that made a world of difference."
B-A's 1-2 punch of 6-6 junior Noah Davis and 6-3 senior David Wolfe got rolling in the second period. Davis had 12 points and Wolfe 10. For the half, they accounted for 28 of the team's 36 points.
They stayed hot after intermission. Davis finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds while Wolfe had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
"That was probably our worst performance of the year," Davis said of the first half. "Taking care of the ball has been a problem. We've been playing with fire all year and it caught up to us the first half. We have to cut down on turnovers, and, thankfully, we did the second half.
"We need to get the ball inside because we definitely have a size advantage on most teams. Getting the boards and running helps us a lot."
"Their size is a problem for us," Everett coach Rick Grubb said. "Our big guy [6-3 Tanner Mellott] had three fouls in the first three minutes. Whether they were fouls or not, who knows, but they were called.
"We played well the first half," Grubb said. "We shot the ball well, played great defense and rebounded well. But, the second half, they didn't miss many shots."
Gerwert credited Everett's effort.
"They're scrappy and played hard," he said. "They did what they had to do in the first half. Then we came out and played the basketball we're capable of playing. We have to continue doing that."
EVERETT (57): Schmit 3 1-2 8, Woy 4 1-4 9, Rhoa 3 1-2 7, Johnson 4 0-0 12, Mellott 1 2-2 4, Payne 1 0-0 3, Ritchey 2 2-4 6, Ward 2 2-2 6, Mearkle 1 0-1 2. Totals - 21 9-17 57.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (80): Davis 7 10-11 25, Wolfe 7 4-6 18, Dionis 3 0-0 8, Steffen 2 0-0 4, Sinisi 4 0-0 8, K. Bartlett 3 2-2 9, S. Worthing 0 0-0 0, Wyland 0 0-0 0, Hollen 0 6-6 6, C. Worthing 0 2-2 2, Burget 0 0-0 0, A. Bartlett 0 0-0 0, McGee 0 0-0 0, O. Worthing 0 0-0 0. Totals - 26 24-27 80.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Everett14 16 12 15 - 57
Bellwood-Antis8 28 21 23 - 80
3-point goals: Everett 6 (Johnson 4, Schmit, Payne); Bellwood-Antis 4 (Dionis 2, Davis, K. Bartlett).
Officials: Mike Felus, Mike McDermott, Bill Zamboni.
Records: Everett (6-7, 2-3 I-C South); Bellwood-Antis (13-2, 9-0 I-C North).
JV: Bellwood-Antis, 37-37. High scorers-K. Bartlett, B-A, 14; Ward, E, 11.
