Apollo-Ridge holds off hosts at Leechburg tournament

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, November 29, 2024 | 10:14 PM

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Apollo-Ridge forward Zane Beatty believes the Vikings boys basketball team learned an essential lesson during its season opener Friday night at the Leechburg Tournament.

When the Vikings build double-digit leads, they want to stay on top of their opponents. Apollo-Ridge survived a late comeback from the host Blue Devils to open the season with a 54-44 win.

“We need to learn to not let them do that,” Beatty said. “There are going to be games where we struggle to keep up. If we get a small lead and let that happen, we won’t win.”

Mason Scitticatt made a 3-pointer for Leechburg with 5 minutes, 41 seconds remaining to cut the Apollo-Ridge lead to 37-35. The Vikings (1-0) had built their lead to 12 when Leechburg started to claw back into the game.

Blue Devils coach Andrew McDermott said his team’s pressure was finally working.

“The pressure was what we wanted to do going in,” McDermott said. “We weren’t consistent with it throughout the game, which hurt us. We finally got the pressure going, got a little momentum and knocked down the outside shots. We took it from there.”

The Blue Devils (0-1) had a 3-point attempt that would have given them the lead go off the rim. Logan Shrock then made a layup for the Vikings to stretch the lead back out.

Apollo-Ridge coach Mark Fox said his team wasn’t in the right position to handle Leechburg’s pressure in the fourth quarter.

“We had to make sure kids were in the right spots,” Fox said. “We wanted to get odd-number breaks, attack the basket and get the lead back up.”

Both teams had difficult nights shooting. Neither team scored for the first 90 seconds of the game. Leechburg only opened the scoring with two free throws from Brady Rollinger after the Vikings were assessed a book technical for having the wrong number for Beatty in the score book.

“I sort of expected the beginning of the game,” Fox said. “The kids were nervous and excited. There were first-game jitters.”

Beatty finished with a game-high 21 points. He scored a layup early in the second quarter to give Apollo-Ridge the lead for good, 10-9.

Leechburg went through a 5-plus minute stretch in the third quarter where it didn’t score at all. Rollinger, who finished with a team-high 21 points, made a free throw with 2:12 left before halftime to cut the deficit to 17-10.

If the Blue Devils looked like a team that hadn’t played a lot together, it’s because they haven’t.

“We haven’t had a full practice with our five starters,” McDermott said. “Today was the first time they played together. Jelling and chemistry is a big part of that. We have a couple of new starters. It’s a learning process.”

Apollo-Ridge took a 20-16 lead into halftime.

Beatty said the Vikings were happy with the energy they brought to start the season.

“We came in knowing this was a rivalry game,” Beatty said. “We had the energy to start off. We needed to keep it, especially on defense.”

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Leechburg