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‘Cats down Belpre

Waterford survives after Golden Eagles make big comeback

Belpre’s Matthew Deems (3) goes up for a shot as Waterford’s Holden Dailey (10) contests during a high school boys basketball game Friday night. Waterford won, 61-55. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

BELPRE — Belpre owned Waterford in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s high school boys basketball showdown, outscoring the Wildcats 28-12 over the final eight minutes.

Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, it wasn’t enough to overcome the first three quarters, in which Waterford put together a 49-27 cushion en route to a 61-55 victory.

Waterford, which plays host to Shenandoah Tuesday, improved to 8-3 while Belpre, which is right back in action against Fort Frye Saturday at home, dropped to 3-8.

Jarrett Armstrong scored a game-high 19 points, the bulk coming on five 3-pointers, while Holden Dailey added a monster effort with an 18-point, 17-rebound double-double. Grant McCutcheon also had a nice game for the ‘Cats, scoring nine points, dishing out a game-best seven assists and burying a 3-pointer to halt a 12-0 Belpre run late in the fourth quarter.

“Grant is just taking control,” said Waterford head coach Tom Simms. “He’s running the ship out there. He’s criticizing guys for things they’re not doing. When they’re not listening to him, he’s correcting them. Grant’s just done a great job. We’ve worked with him since his freshman year when we brought him to varsity. We kept working him, and he took a beating a couple years, but now it’s all paying off. He’s taking control of the situation. That 3 was a huge shot.”

The Golden Eagles came out on fire, scoring the first nine points of the game thanks in part to pair of baskets from Blake Church. Waterford, though, answered with a 14-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished.

“The first few minutes of the first quarter, and then there in the fourth quarter, is the team we know we have,” said Belpre head coach Tyler Leasure. “It’s just hard for them to see it. They’re still figuring each other out. A bunch of young guys making contributions and getting better every game. I’m happy with the effort in the fourth quarter and hoping to build on it tomorrow night against Fort Frye.”

The Wildcats then used a 16-0 spurt to in the second quarter to build some cushion and go up 35-19 at halftime.

The lead increased to 22 by the end of the third as it appeared Waterford was going to cruise to victory, but Belpre’s defensive pressure caused problems for the Wildcats in the final eight minutes. Waterford finished the game with 22 turnovers, with Belpre’s Jacob Smeeks tallying five steals.

Tucker Liston’s jumper with 2:18 remaining got Belpre within two and capped a 24-4 run by the Golden Eagles. That’s when McCutcheon knocked down a triple to stop the bleeding. Peyton Powers followed with a putback to make it 58-52 for Waterford, but Belpre made one last stand with a 3-pointer from Chris Copen to get back within three. Armstrong nailed a pair of free throws on the other end, and Belpre was unable to get another shot through the hoop.

“Belpre, they want to win,” Simms said of the Golden Eagles’ comeback. “I told them at halftime, I said ‘They’re going to come right us.’ Then we started getting the fouls. Now, once we get into the fouls, we start becoming hesitant. We were getting points. We were making good transition points and getting good offense, then all of a sudden we got into foul trouble and (Belpre) came up and got in our shorts — the fouls were in their head and they started getting frustrated. I call it ‘cat and mouse.’

“You’re letting the mouse out and letting it run, then you go grab it and bring it back in, well the mouse didn’t want to come in. We can’t cat and mouse teams, but that’s what we did.”

Liston and Matt Deems led the Golden Eagles with 16 points apiece. Liston also had six boards and three blocks. Copen finished with nine points, five boards and four assists. Deems chipped in three dimes and three steals.

Waterford went 23 for 52 (44.2%) from the floor while Belpre was 21 for 58 (36.2%). The Wildcats outrebounded the Golden Eagles 42-27.

Leasure gave his thoughts on how Belpre got back into the game.

“That (defensive pressure), plus our guys just kind of looking at each other in the huddle and deciding they weren’t going to go away,” he said. “They put themselves in positions, getting in passing lanes, getting steals, and being confident enough to go to the rim and get opportunities at the rim. That was huge.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.

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