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Big third quarter lifts B-A to victory

A year ago, the District 6 playoffs began without Bellwood-Antis.

In December, B-A lost by 15 to Penn Cambria.

Monday night, the Blue Devils, whose core struggled to find themselves last season, grew up and won their first playoff game together against that same Penn Cambria team. Bellwood trailed at halftime before a huge third quarter led B-A to a 63-54 win at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse.

The Blue Devils will play 14th seeded Bishop McCort, which upset No. 3 seed Penns Valley, in the District 6 Class AA quarterfinals later this week.

“We’re a young team; it was our first playoff game and a whole bunch of stuff was rolled all into one,” Bellwood-Antis coach Brent Gerwert said. “I just told the guys it would be fine, and they just needed to trust their teammates and good things happened.”

The Blue Devils scored 25 points, three more than they did the entire first half, in the third quarter, and got balanced scoring from nearly everyone they put on the court.

With Penn Cambria’s Drew Slatko-Wilt playing solid defense on top-scoring threat Nathan Davis, Joey Padula, Ethan McGee, Jake Burch, Trent Walker and Jarrett Taneyhill all stepped up and made big shots.

“(Stopping Davis) was our gameplan,” Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. “Their other kids had to step up for them to win, and they did. We were hounding Davis pretty good, and we were ready to live with whatever the other kids did. Those other kids, who don’t score a lot of points, did tonight.”

Padula scored 13 and had 11 rebounds, Taneyhill and McGee both added nine points, Burch had seven and Walker nailed a pair of 3-pointers. Davis still led the Blue Devils with 17 points and collected 10 rebounds.

“Our coach challenged us at halftime,” Davis said. “He said, ‘listen we have 16 minutes left in our whole season and we’re going to find out what type of team we are’ and I think that really fueled us.

“I love playing with these guys. This is my favorite team I’ve ever been on, and I didn’t want our season to end this early.”

The Blue Devils’ youth nearly came back to bite them in the final quarter. On Saturday, B-A held a double-digit halftime lead in the Inter-County Conference championship against Southern Fulton before collapsing late.

Bellwood took a 51-40 lead after a Davis free throw with 5:24 left, but had several quick, empty possessions that allowed Penn Cambria to get back into the game.

Jeremy Kost’s 3-pointer with 3:41 to play capped an 8-0 run that made it a one-possession game.

“We had four turnovers in a row in the fourth quarter,” Gerwert said. “Those are the things we’re taking about. We just need to relax more under pressure.”

The Panthers couldn’t quite get all the way back, staying within three until Taneyhill’s three-point play with 39.7 seconds left put the game away.

“It’s real tough to lose,” Penn Cambria’s Mark Mardula said. “I was able to win a district title two years ago, but I was only a bench player. It was tough dealing with Bellwood, because they’re a tough team. We got them earlier, but I guess this is their time.”

Penn Cambria, which got a game-high 15 points from junior Adam Gould, will lose Mardula, Slatko-Wilt, Sutton and Ryan Wilk to graduation.

“I love those guys,” Ronan said. “They hustle their butts off. Slatko and Mardula are everywhere. They don’t come out of the game and dive all over the court. They were such a joy to be around and were a part of the district championship team, and they are special kids.”

PENN CAMBRIA (54): Mardula 5 0-1 10, Slatko-Wilt 3 0-0 9, Gould 6 1-2 15, Kost 3 0-0 8, Janosik 2 2-2 6, Sutton 2 2-2 6, Simanski 0 0-0 0, Terek 0 0-0 0, Driskel 0 0-0 0, Ronan 0 0-0 0, Farrell 0 0-0 0. Totals – 21 5-7 54.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (63): Davis 4 9-11 17, Burch 3 0-0 7, McGee 4 0-1 9, Taneyhill 3 3-5 9, Padula 4 4-4 13, D’Angelo 1 0-0 2, Walker 2 0-0 6, Shultz 0 0-0 0. Totals – 21 16-21 63.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penn Cambria10 15 13 16 – 54

Bellwood-Antis13 9 25 16 – 63

3-point goals: Penn Cambria 7 (Slatko-Wilt 3, Gould 2, Kost 2); Penn Cambria 5 (Walker 2, Burch, McGee, Padula).

Records: Bellwood-Antis (18-6); Penn Cambria (11-12).

Officials: Mike Conron, Dan Gales, Jeff Fisher.

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