Hornets survive scare at Northeast Bradford

By: Ed Weaver  /  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.