Dec 15, 2016 By Adam Brewer for The 4 min read

FREDERICKTOWN — After an evenly played first half, the Beth-Center boys basketball team used a 37-21 scoring advantage in the final 16 minutes of play to prevail over Jefferson-Morgan, 67-53, Wednesday night in non-section action.

“We switched some things up at halftime and adjusted our defense,” B-C coach Paul Stanley said. “We came out playing an aggressive man-to-man defense after playing a zone in the first half. We were more active in the passing lanes and stopped their penetration. On offense, we had the height advantage and we wanted to pound the ball inside.”

The second half surge for the Bulldogs (2-2) started right from the get-go in the third quarter with seven straight points to make it 37-32.

After a basket by the Rockets (1-2), B-C pushed its lead to 43-34 after back-to-back treys by Andrew White. The teams traded buckets the rest of the quarter, as B-C held a 47-39 lead going into the fourth.

“The third quarter killed us,” J-M coach Dennis Garrett said. “We were too relaxed and they took advantage of it with a 17-7 scoring edge. We can’t afford to take any quarter off. This was a competitive environment against a strong rival, and you have to play at a high level every second. We have to be able to play at a high-level all the time.”

Trailing 53-42 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, J-M went on an 8-3 run to cut the deficit to six, 56-50, but after a flagrant and a technical foul were called against the visitors, B-C countered with an 11-3 spurt that ended the game and gave the Bulldogs the non-section victory.

Out of the 11 points in the final run for the Bulldogs, seven came on the foul line. For the game, B-C shot 16-of-28 from the free throw stripe.

Beth-Center’s Brennan Stanley tallied a team-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, while JJ Green collected 18. White and Nick Pryor were also offensive factors with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

“Balance (on offense) is definitely the key with our team,” coach Stanley said. “We don’t have a guy that can average 25-30 points a night, so it’s important to get contributions from every one. Brennan and JJ are our main scorers and we are going to depend on them a lot. We just need our shooters and our role players to make those key plays and help out on offense.”

Jalen Torres scored 24 points for the Rockets, while DL Garrett chipped in 11 and Devin Stoneking scored eight.

In a seesaw opening quarter with five lead changes, the Bulldogs lead 17-15 at the end of one after scoring the final five points of the frame.

Garrett compiled the opening six points of the second quarter to give the Rockets a 21-17 advantage, but B-C countered with an 11-3 run that was capped off by a trey from Pryor.

The Rockets rebounded with a run of their own to end the quarter, as J-M went into halftime with a 32-30 lead after an 8-2 rally to close out the second.

“We have to start playing together as a team,” coach Garrett said. “We can’t just depend on one or two guys. We need everyone to chip in at both sides of the court. We had a good inside-outside game in the first half and we got some points from our transition defense. We are an athletic team and we need to get those points in transition.”

B-C picked up the win after suffering a setback to West Greene on Monday and will open up Section 4-AAA play next Tuesday at South Side Beaver.

“They came back in the second half, but we showed our poise and got some critical buckets,” Stanley said. “That’s huge for any team early in the season to be able to close out a game. We didn’t back down from the game being tight and we played our best in the second half.”

Before opening up their Section 2-AA schedule versus California on Tuesday, J-M will travel to non-section foe Mapletown on Monday.