Hornets survive scare at Northeast Bradford
By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | December 13, 2017
The Wellsboro Varsity Basketball team escaped Northeast Bradford with a 43-37 win on Tuesday, December 12.
After a strong first quarter that saw the Hornets outscore NEB 16-8, the host Panthers outplayed Wellsboro the remaining 24 minutes. NEB's Zak Smith scored 7 of the Panthers' 10 points in the second quarter to cut the score to 27-18 in favor or the Hornets at the half.
Once the second half started, Wellsboro went completely cold on the offensive end and were outscored 12-4 in the third and clung to a 31-30 lead entering the final frame.
A basket by senior Collin Pietropola gave Wellsboro a three point lead but NEB again cut it back to a point before junior Brandyn Tuttle again made it a three point lead at 35-32. Smith, however, hit a huge three-pointer to tie the game at 35-35. Another Pietropola basket made it 37-35, but again the Panthers came back to tie it up.
A three-pointer from junior Tanner Button would put the Hornets in front for good at 40-37 before the Panthers started to foul to slow the game down. Wellsboro made 3 out of 6 foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.
Despite the win the Hornets had their worst shooting performance of the season to this point. As a team they shot 10-for-35 (27%) from inside the paint and 5-for-20 (25%) from behind the three-point line.
Tuttle finished with his third straight double-double as he led the Hornets with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Pietropola and Button both scored 10 points each with Pietropola adding 7 rebounds, and senior Nic Ingerick contributed with 5 points. Senior Quinn Henry rounded out the scoring with 4 points and pitched in with 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
Smith led Northeast Bradford with a game-high 20 points.
Wellsboro won the JV game 46-37 for their first win of the season. Freshman Joseph Grab scored a game-high 19 points and sophomore Andrew Larson added 11.
Wellsboro (2-1, 1-0 NTL Large School Division) hosts Sayre on Thursday, December 14.
Ed Weaver is the owner of Circle W Sports in Wellsboro, PA, is the Sports Director for The Home Page Network and the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
