Rivals to face each other in title game
B-A to play West Branch for District title
Jarrett Taneyhill, Noah D’Angelo and the rest of the Blue Devils will be in a battle with West Branch tonight for the District 6-AA championship.
February 26, 2016
The senior class of Blue Devil basketball players have been hearing, “Wait until you guys are seniors,” since they were freshman, and now that their senior year has arrived they are living up to expectations.
So far this season Bellwood-Antis, which is 23-2, has won the ICC Championship, and now after winning two playoff games they are looking to bring home the title of District 6 champions.
No. 1 B-A will be playing No. 2 West Branch in the District 6 championship tonight at the Altoona Fieldhouse at 7:30 in a game that is sure to be remembered for years to come. Bellwood and West Branch have faced each other twice this year and in both competitions it was a close game. They split the series with each team winning at home, so tonight’s game is winner takes all.
B-A and West Branch each have a senior scoring leader: for B-A it is Nathan Davis, who averages 22 points per game, and for West Branch it is Austin Krise. Both players lead their team in points so their match-up against each other will be a deciding factor in who wins tonight.
The Blue Devils have had trouble making their shots in their first two playoff games which kept the score close.
Bellwood will have all of its starters suited up and ready to go tonight, while West Branch will be without Brandon Zwick, who suffered a season ending knee injury. The loss of Zwick, who was a big part of the Warrior offense, will cause some problems for West Branch. West Branch only plays about six players per game while Bellwood is a team that has depth. B-A plays eight players per game on average, pulling Noah D’Angelo, Trent Walker, and Nevin Wood off of the bench.
West Branch averages 81.2 points per game, and B-A follows closely with an average of 72.4 points per game.
In order to bring home the win tonight B-A will need to make almost all of their shots. They will also need to stay out of foul trouble so they can keep their starters in. In the first round against Richland, B-A’s Jarrett Taneyhill, who plays a critical part on defense, got into foul trouble and had to sit part of the second half allowing Richland to almost win.
If B-A comes out and plays the way they did against West Branch at home in January, they should easily be able to bring home the District 6 Championship trophy.
