Bell ignites Hollidaysburg in second half

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Hollidaysburg's Kasen Metzger is pressured by Altoona's Mark Harrington.
HOLLIDAYSBURG — For the first half of Monday’s Blair County high school boys basketball rivalry game between Altoona and Hollidaysburg, anyone in the gymnasium who had not been following either team this season would have thought it was the Mountain Lions gearing up for a playoff run.
Altoona, which came into the game with just two wins, was getting most of the loose balls, making big shots and playing tough defense and was rewarded with an eight-point halftime lead despite playing without its top scorer — Josh Lowery, who missed the game due to a fever.
But in the second half, as Hollidaysburg woke up collectively as a team, head coach Brad Lear saw something individually from senior Gavin Bell he had been waiting for all season.
Bell scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second half and added seven rebounds to lead the Golden Tigers all the way back and then some in a 51-37 victory.
“He just snapped and all of a sudden started playing how we knew he could play,” Lear said. “At the beginning of the season, he was passive. If he caught the ball in the post, he tried to make one dribble and move, and if it didn’t go his way, he kicked it out. We told him the other night we needed him to be more aggressive offensively.”
Bell’s layup with 3:39 to play in the third quarter put Hollidaysburg ahead, 29-28, and it never trailed again. Bell added a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers to help the Golden Tigers pull away.
“He came out and was really aggressive,” Lear said. “He made a nice little spin move and scored and caught it again — and you could see his confidence start to build. Once that starts to build, it doesn’t matter what sport it is, once you get confidence, it’s crazy what can happen. That was the difference in the game. His rebounding has always been there and his athleticism. His offense was there, but he just had a hard time getting his feet underneath him after not playing for a couple years.”
Altoona trailed 14-10 after a quarter but outscored the Golden Tigers, 16-4, in the second quarter, including a 9-0 run to end the half with a 26-18 lead.
“First half, it was probably the hardest and most together we have played this year,” Altoona coach Doug Pfeffer said. “Being down Josh, everyone had to step up their game. The kids answered that bell, and I couldn’t be happier with the effort. The effort was there the whole game. We just have trouble taking care of the ball and putting it in the hoop. That’s our problem right now.”
Gavin Dunkle scored all of his nine points in the first half.
Lear said he didn’t think his team matched Altoona’s intensity early.
“In the game, with the discrepancy of the records, the hardest thing is to get them to believe the other team can play,” Lear said. “The Mid-Penn schedule that they go through — they are tested every single night. It’s not like any other team walking in here with that kind of record. That’s the hardest thing to get through as a coach to not sleep on another team. In the first half, a pass would get made, and instead of staying in our stance, we relaxed. That guy would cut, and we couldn’t get back. We’d look at shots as they ran past us. They wanted it more than us.”
But the Mountain Lions, already playing without Lowery, lost Parker White to a right leg injury with 6:14 to play in the third quarter while holding a four-point lead. White attempted to return later in the quarter but played just over a minute before returning to the bench limping and did not re-enter the game.
“It’s tough — they are two of our better players,” Pfeffer said. “Teams go through injuries and sickness at this time of the year and other guys need to step up. We had other guys step up, but give Hollidaysburg credit. They made shots in the second half and took care of the basketball when they needed to.”
Hollidaysburg’s Kasen Metzger scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and finished with 10 rebounds.
“Kasen had two or three offensive rebounds,” Lear said. “Gavin had a couple tip-outs, and all of those led to points. It was one of those grind-it-out Hollidaysburg-Altoona games.”
Lear’s team rallied from a halftime deficit for the second straight game.
“We told them they were going to see them every summer for the rest of their life, living in this town,” Lear said. “We told them, ‘you can’t let them come into our gym and take this,’ so we have had a couple pretty good halftime speeches. We were down 15 against Tyrone, came back and beat them, were down to Bishop Carroll and came back and beat them. We have to stop putting ourselves in those positions.”
Altoona will not be taking part in the postseason this year, but Pfeffer’s team is still playing hard.
“I’m super proud,” Pfeffer said. “A team with our record, the kids could have packed it in a long time ago. They have not. Scores have not gone our way, but in an atmosphere like this, the kids could have folded easily, but we came out and showed Altoona basketball is alive. We need a lot of work, but we’re going to turn this thing around.”
ALTOONA (37): Dunkle 4 0-0 9, Greaser 4 2-2 10, E. Hicks 0 2-2 2, White 1 1-4 4, Harrington 3 1-3 8, Wagner 1 0-0 2, Herr 0 0-0 0, Simendinger 1 0-0 2, Barr 0 0-0 0, D. Hicks 0 0-0 0, Pezzi 0 0-0 0, Diventura 0 0-0 0, Helsel 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 6-11 37.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (51): J. Albarano 1 0-0 2, Steiner 2 5-6 10, V. Albarano 0 2-2 2, Metzger 5 2-2 13, Zimmerman 2 0-0 4, Wolfe 2 0-0 6, Bell 6 0-0 14, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Stultz 0 0-0 0, Padamonsky 0 0-0 0, Figard 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 9-10 51.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Altoona 10 16 4 7 — 37
Hollidaysburg 14 4 17 16 — 51
3-point goals: Altoona 3 (Dunkle, White, Harrington); Hollidaysburg 6 (Bell 2, Wolfe 2, Metzger, Steiner).
Records: Altoona (2-17); Hollidaysburg (18-2).
Officials: Frank Garritano, Chris Garritano, Chuck Glasser.
JV: No game.