Red Raiders dominate the paint in win over St. Marys

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 16, 2019

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – Onto the next hurdle.

In its last regular season contest of the season, the Bellefonte boys’ basketball team welcomed St. Marys in an early contest.

Defensively, the Red Raiders completely shut down the Dutchmen while its offense sizzled early and often.

When the final buzzer sounded, “The Red and Black Attack” finished with a 53-29 victory Friday to end the regular season with a 14-7 overall record as it heads into the opening round of District 6 playoff action.

“We did a nice job. I thought one of the things I was proud of was our communication in our zone tonight. I thought we talked things out. I thought we did a good job of contesting shots,” said Bellefonte coach Kris Glunt. “I thought they did a good job offensively. They tried to control the tempo. It’s lowered the game overall. But credit our guys for getting the stops. We had high active plans in our zone tonight. So it was a really good effort.”

Bellefonte finished the night with 33 boards. Three players finished with seven each. They were; Ben McCartney, Caleb Rockey and Isiah Nadolsky.

Nate Tice had it working from beyond the three-point line, posting four triples en route to a game-high 17 points.

Rockey was the only other Red Raider that finished in double figures with 10.

Two teammates, Nick Fisher and Noah Badger finishes with eight.

St. Marys’ Nick Catalone finished with 11 to pace the Dutchmen.

The Dutchmen scored the opening bucket. After working the ball around the perimeter, Catalone set his feet and sent a triple through the net.

But Tice matched his shot with a triple of his own, just seconds later.

Anthony put St. Marys back ahead as he went in the paint for a bucket to go ahead by two.

Bellefonte knotted the game on the following possession as he posted a shot in the lane.

Noah Badger put the Red Raiders up for the first time as he backed in the lane and hit a turn around jumper, upping it to 7-5.

Tice added a second triple to extend the lead to five with 1:43 left in the opening period.

Rockey posted his second bucket in the lane and put Bellefonte ahead 12-5 with 46 seconds left.

But St. Marys got the last laugh in the period as Mitchell Reiter pulled down an offensive board and put it in, ending the first quarter scoring with the Red Raiders a 12-7 advantage.

Things continued to keep rolling in the second.

Nick Fisher hit 1-of-2 from the line, upping the lead to six points.

Cahil Parrish followed with a free throw of his own, making it 13-8.

Fisher was again fouled and hit another 1-of-2 from the line to add to the lead once again.

But Parrish closed the gap to 14-11 as he stood back from beyond the three-point line and sent a shot sailing right through the net.

Bellefonte battled right back as it went on a 9-2 run the rest of the way through the half. The run was sparked by another Tice triple.

Tice finished with online points at the intermission as Bellefonte held onto a 23-12 advantage.

In the third, both teams battled toe-to-toe as they both post eight-point third quarter performances.

Bellefonte went into the final stanza leading 31-20.

But the Red Raiders saved the best for last as they scored 22 points in the quarter while its defense kept the Dutchmen to just nine en route to the victory.

With the win, the Red Raiders will be opening up its 2018-19 playoff campaign with a home game against Hollidaysburg on Tuesday.