Apollo-Ridge boys open season with win over hosts in Leechburg tournament

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, November 28, 2025 | 10:07 PM

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Brayden Myers made sure the Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team didn’t need to rely solely on the workmanship of Zane Beatty to open the Leechburg Tournament with a 52-34 win over the host Blue Devils.

Myers was perfect from the free-throw line Friday night, scoring 11 of his game-high 19 points from the charity stripe. Last season, Apollo-Ridge opened the season with a 10-point win over Leechburg in the season thanks to 21 points from Beatty.

Beatty, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, contributed six points and four boards in the opening quarter but had a tough shooting night. Beatty was 6 of 16 from the floor and 1 of 9 from the free-throw line.

“No matter what, he’s going to draw a double team,” Myers said. “That’s how good of a player he is. When he’s drawing those double teams, we can capitalize off of that and make the right cuts and get in the right gaps.”

The Vikings, as to be expected in a season opener, needed to knock off some rust. Apollo-Ridge shot 13.3% (2 of 15) from the 3-point line.

Myers missed all four of his attempts.

“I think we are confident in our ability if our shooting is not working to push the ball and pass it to our teammates,” Myers said.

Leechburg (0-1) didn’t make life easy on itself. The Blue Devils went scoreless for nearly seven minutes to start the game. Mason Scitticat broke the skid and cut the deficit to 11-2 with 1 minute, 5 seconds left in the first quarter.

“Turnovers were the big difference,” Blue Devils coach Andrew McDermott said. “We started off turning the ball over. We dug ourselves into a big hole, and it’s tough for any team.”

Leechburg didn’t earn a trip to the free-throw line until the third quarter.

Apollo-Ridge (1-0) never trailed. Jordan Mull capped an 11-0 run to open the game that included three baskets from Beatty.

“We created opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of them,” Vikings coach Greg Fox said. “Our game plan going into tonight was our run-and-jump press to create turnovers. We did create a lot of turnovers and had a lot of chances.”

Scitticat, who scored a team-high 14 points, helped the Blue Devils apply some pressure before halftime by making treys on consecutive possessions to cut the lead to 26-15.

Leechburg’s Mason Bertino made a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 28-18, but the Blue Devils never got any closer.

“Everything is geared toward section play,” McDermott said. “We have Sewickley (Academy) in our section, and they have two 7-footers. It doesn’t matter. You are going to have to get used to playing against height no matter what. I thought our bigs responded well after the first quarter to take Zane out of the game offensively.”

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Leechburg