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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE -- This season's Penn Cambria High School boys basketball team possesses a deep roster with plenty of talent.
Through the early part of this season, however, the Panthers have struggled to achieve consistent scoring balance.
But Wednesday night's 63-38 first-round victory over Bellwood-Antis in the 12th Annual Tyrone Reliance Bank Holiday Basketball Tournament hosted by the Northern Blair Kiwanis Club was definitely a step in the right direction in that regard for the Panthers.
Penn Cambria placed three players --senior Carter McDermott, junior Gavin Harrold, and sophomore Caden Gibbons -- in double figures, and had 11 players on its roster score points, as the Panthers broke open a close game in the second half and evened their season record at 4-4 with a runaway victory at the Tyrone Area Senior High School gymnasium.
McDermott and Gibbons scored 11 points apiece and Harrold added 10 for Penn Cambria, which pulled away by dominating the third quarter, 21-10, and the fourth quarter, 17-7, after leading by only four points, 25-21 at intermission.
"We did,'' Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said of his team accomplishing some much sought-after scoring balance. "We felt going into this season that we would have a very balanced and deep team, but we've been a little inconsistent in our scoring balance so far this season.
"Tonight, we played the type of game that we have wanted to play all season - deep, athletic, and balanced - and hopefully, a game like tonight's will start a trend of getting more guys into the flow of the game for us.''
Penn Cambria came out strong in the third quarter, converting eight of 17 floor shots and expanding its five-point halftime lead to 15 points, 46-31, after three periods.
After a Holden Schreier field goal and free throw for Bellwood had narrowed the Panthers' lead to 28-26 early in the third quarter, Penn Cambria took command by reeling off the next 11 points, with Gibbons providing a big spark.
Gibbons started the surge with a field goal, and, after McDermott hit two free throws, Gibbons drained a 3-pointer from the top of the right circle. Gibbons then came up with a steal that led to a McDermott layup, before Gibbons drove the lane himself and scored another layup to give Penn Cambria a comfortable 39-26 advantage.
"We talked as a team about attitude in our locker room at halftime, and we definitely stepped up in the second half and started to put the ball in the hoop,'' Gibbons said.
Penn Cambria's defensive pressure led to some layups in the third quarter and throughout the second half as the Panthers pulled away.
"I thought that we played some fantastic defense in the first half, but we weren't getting buckets off turnovers,'' Ronan said. "In the second half, we made some shots, and we got some easy buckets off turnovers to expand our lead.''
The Panthers continued on their roll in the fourth quarter, which they opened by scoring the first 11 points in succession to build a 57-31 advantage.
Penn Cambria made 25 of 59 floor shots in the game for a 42.4 percent clip, while Bellwood made 13 of its 33 shots for 39.3 percent.
Bellwood, which got a game-high 21 points from senior Anthony Caracciolo, actually had a 29-26 edge in total rebounds, with junior Holden Schreier grabbing a game-high seven for the Blue Devils, who dropped to 2-4. Harrold led Penn Cambria with six rebounds.
"They got us in the second half,'' second-year Bellwood-Antis coach Tyler Mertiff said. "The way they played their pressure defense in the second half really got to us.''
Mertiff knows that his team is facing a bigger challenge this winter in its first season as a member of the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, of which Penn Cambria is one of the top teams.
"This is obviously a tougher league,'' Mertiff said. "Our effort is there, and we're battling. We're enjoying the challenge, and now we've got to take the next step and beat the established programs.''
Penn Cambria is idle today, while Bellwood-Antis faces tournament host Tyrone. On Friday night, Penn Cambria will meet Tyrone in what has become a three-team round-robin boys tournament format, after Bedford dropped out of the field.
Penn Cambria has won the boys championship in this tournament in both of the last two years.
PENN CAMBRIA (63): Harrold 5 0-2 10, E. Semelsberger 2 0-0 6, McDermott 4 2-2 11, Farabaugh 2 0-1 5, Rabish 3 0-0 7, Gibbons 4 2-2 11, Plunkett 0 2-2 2, Cherico 1 0-0 2, L. Semelsberger 1 0-0 2, Tremel 1 0-0 2, Strittmatter 2 0-0 5, Lilly 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals - 25 6-9 63.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (38): Caracciolo 7 5-6 21, Bardell 0 0-0 0, H. Schreier 2 1-2 5, Shanafelt 2 0-0 4, C. Schreier 0 0-0 0, Fatzinger 1 0-0 2, Dickinson 0 1-2 1, J. Dorminy 0 0-0 0, Shedlock 0 2-2 2, Gibbons 0 0-0 0, Gottshall 1 1-1 3, Mayes 0 0-0 0. Totals - 13 10-13 38.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penn Cambria 11 14 21 17--63
Bellwood-Antis 8 13 10 7--38
3-point goals: Penn Cambria 7 (E. Semelsberger 2, McDermott, Farabaugh, Rabish, Gibbons, Strittmatter); Bellwood-Antis 2 (Caracciolo 2).
Records: Penn Cambria (4-4); Bellwood-Antis (2-4).
Officials: Clark Adelman, Bill Pfeffer, Randy Burkett.