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Belpre stays in TVC driver’s seat, beats Waterford

By Kerry Patrick 4 min read

WATERFORD - Since Day 1, Belpre's sights have been set on a Tri-Valley Conference title.

Friday night at Waterford, the Golden Eagles knocked down another barrier in pursuit of their ultimate goal after defeating the Wildcats, 52-37.

Prior to Waterford, Belpre had dropped three of its last four games.

"Those four games were against pretty solid teams and we just didn't play well - we got back to work and started working on things we are good at, and it's showed in our last couple of games," said Belpre coach Ryan Leasure after his ballclub improved to 8-5 and 5-0 in the TVC. "Tonight, we circled this one to really get going. This win is a big step forward toward winning the conference."

Despite missing several key post players, Waterford stayed on Belpre's heels for the first half and trailed 25-22. Out of the break, Derek Liston found the 3-point arc to his liking and drained three in the matter of one minute then assisted on another trey from Haiden Tabler as the Golden Eagles created a 16-point bulge at 41-25.

Liston finished the game with five 3-pointers and 17 points.

"Derek is a streaky shooter and people don't know that about him," Leasure said. "He can shoot it. When he gets going, he can knock down several in a row."

The Wildcats made three of their first five shots from the floor to open the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to eight on several occasions, but any opening was closed as Belpre finished the game with a 7-0 run over the final four-plus minutes.

"We're down right now," Waterford coach D.J. Cunningham said. "We are in a tough spot and we have to dig our way out of the hole."

Providing the game-clinching buckets on the interior was Junior Bass, who scored eight of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter. Teammate Chris Copen added 10 points, including a breakaway two-handed slam dunk that resulted in an official's timeout in order to re-adjust the rim into its locked position.

"We knew we had a good matchup with Junior, so when Waterford went man-to-man we decided to attack that and get in inside, and let Junior go to work," Leasure said.

Belpre, playing without Nasaih Spencer for a second straight game due to illness, basically played five individuals the entire night with token appearances from one reserve. No Golden Eagle experienced foul trouble and no Wildcat attempted a free throw.

With point guard Blake Church running the show, the Golden Eagles committed just eight turnovers. Belpre turned the ball over just once against Waterford's zone press in the second half.

"Blake has been a good player of ours for four years," Leasure said. "He gets a lot of scrutiny from a lot of different people -- that's what happens when you are a point guard. He keeps us in the game. He is a leader. He plays hard. You never have to question how hard he is going to play."

Jarrett Armstrong led Waterford (5-6, 2-3 TVC) with 12 points, but managed just one two-point bucket after halftime. Max Roberts and Finnley Pennock both added eight points, while Alec Johnson contributed another seven points.

With Waterford's Chip Adams out for the season and Cole Sparling-Ponchak under the weather, Belpre had a decided advantage on the offensive glass in the first half against Wildcats' zone defense.

"It makes it really tough with Chip being out for the rest of the season and having our next starting big man out sick tonight," Cunningham said. "We played most of the game with two freshmen on the varsity floor.

"It's not the outcome we were looking for, but we made the most of the situation. I would say we were missing roughly 30 to 40 percent of our scoring tonight."

The rebounded totals evened out in the second half as the Wildcats switched to man on defense.

"We didn't hit shots early on - we had to try and calm down a little bit, and get it inside," Leasure said. "We had a good inside presence. We have seen zone this year and we have really been struggling with that if you watch our film. To respond like that and make adjustments to get them out of their zone , I am proud of the guys."

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

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