Leopards too fast-paced for Falcons
REPUBLIC — The philosophy sounds like something James Naismith jotted down on his dinner napkin: score more points than the other team is capable of scoring – the methodology, well, Belle Vernon played like James – Lebron James. The Leopards nearly scored 100 points seemingly without a designed offensive play.
Brownsville just couldn’t keep pace with visiting Belle Vernon, as the Leopards easily dispatched the Falcons, 93-73, in Section 3-AAA boys basketball action Friday night at Redstone Middle School.
“Our motto is fun, run and gun,” said Belle Vernon coach John Dudzinski. “Some teams can play that pace and some can’t.”
Brownsville couldn’t.
The Falcons (8-13, 2-10) stayed within six points early, as Kevin Garbutt scored eight straight points on four jump shots, but by the start of the second quarter, Belle Vernon (10-6, 7-5) already mounted a 14-point lead.
Matt Rowland, the WPIAL’s fifth-leading scorer with 25.4 points per game entering the week, dropped 30 points for Belle Vernon including 24 in the first half.
“Matt got off to a real quick start,” Dudzinski said. “Everything just flowed from there.”
Brownsville just didn’t have an answer after the Leopards’ full-court trapping defense prevented Garbutt and the rest of the Falcons to score.
“We just don’t have the firepower,” said Brownsville head coach George Bortz. “We don’t have good shooters. We played hard, but we just dug ourselves too deep. Rowland’s a nice player; when you have someone that’s capable of scoring 20 or 30 points a game that makes a difference.”
Rowland hit his only 3-pointer with 5:10 remaining in the second quarter to put Belle Vernon up, 32-17. He and Jacob Dudzinski later scored on two Falcon turnovers to put the Leopards up by 19 points with under four minutes left in the first half.
Brownsville turned the ball over 26 times, including 13 in the first quarter and five in the second.
“You’re not going to beat anybody with 18 in the first half,” Bortz said. “The game was basically over by halftime.”
Garbutt led Brownsville with 18 points, despite not scoring during the third quarter. Adam Kezmarsky with 15, and Scott Fraley and Neil Novack with 12 and 11, respectively, also scored in double figures for the Falcons.
Jared Podroskey and Dudzinski both poured in 18 points for BVA, while Chris Sillence also reached double digits with 10.
Belle Vernon needed the win desperately to stay alive in its playoff race. The Leopards entered the game with a season-long three-game losing streak and tied with Mount Pleasant for fourth place in the section. But with Mount Pleasant losing to Laurel Highlands last night the Leopards maintained their spot with the win.
“We pushed it more,” Dudzinski admitted. “We played well in two out of our three losses so we had a sense of urgency. We knew that if we didn’t come out strong Brownsville was going to play us tough.”