Something Special: Bengals’ Wright scores 25 on Bellefonte

By TOM FOX - tfox@lockhaven.com










BELLEFONTE — Danny Miller admits he may never see a player like the caliber of Cleveland Benedictine’s Cameron Wright ever take the court against his Bellefonte Red Raiders again.

Fortunately for Rob Stircula, he’ll have an opportunity to coach him for the remainder of this season — and the next two.

Wright showed why he’s worth the hype Thursday evening, scoring 25 points on an 11-for-17 shooting night from the field as the Ohio school knocked off Bellefonte 70-34 in the opening round of the Red Raider Holiday Tournament.

The Red Raiders fall into today’s third-place game at 1 p.m. to face off with Penns Valley, which lost to Bedford, while Benedictine moves into the 3 p.m. championship.

“I don’t know if I will ever see a player of that caliber again coaching. It was nice that the kids saw that,” the Bellefonte head coach said. “It was an opportunity to play against them and you have to respect him. He played within their team concept and let the game come to him. When it was time for some flashes, you can see it. The impressive thing with it was how he played within their system.”

A sophomore, Wright — considered one of the top recruits in the United States for the Class of 2010 — has already given an oral commitment to join head coach Thad Matta at Ohio State University.

Benedictine was coming off a small layoff itself, losing in its last game to nationally-ranked St. Edward — which also houses two Division I recruits.

Now, the sophomore and his Bengal teammates are just looking to capture state glory.

Wright netted nine of his first 12 shots, which included three 3-pointers and a pretty reverse layup under the hoop with two defenders on him.

He played limited minutes in the second quarter, stepped on the court for half of the third and watched his teammates from the sidelines in the final eight minutes.

This was Wright’s first full game back after sustaining an injury earlier in the season.

“Cam works as hard on the floor as he does in the classroom,” Stircula said. “He missed a few games, but he’s definitely getting there. He deserves everything he accomplishes.”

The Bengals’ pressure defense — whether in the half-court or a man-to-man press — was something Bellefonte won’t see in the Mountain League or anywhere else in District VI.

Benedictine (5-3) forced 15 turnovers in the first half and held Bellefonte to a mere five field goals in the game’s first 16 minutes.

Using a 15-5 run to start the second quarter, the Bengals continued to pressure and trap the Red Raiders (0-7). Bellefonte’s first field goal of the quarter was by Joseph Davis, who drained a trifecta from the wing with less than three minutes left. By that time, though, the Centre County school was down 20 points and were trailing by 28 at halftime.

“We like to play an up-tempo game,” Stircula said. “We try to use our athleticism as much as possible, and play a style where we use a lot of guys and try to wear teams down.

“We’re still a young team, and it’s important that a young team learns to win on the road. It’s a different kind of game compared to what it is like in Cleveland. It’s helping us for our tournament.

“We are an independent team, so we’ll go anywhere to play a game. You always want to get that experience.”

Bellefonte attempted to scrap back in, but Benedictine used a 21-6 third-quarter surge to all but seal the victory.

“We looked at this game as a positive,” Miller said.

“We had some objectives we needed to cover in the second half, and I think we did. We survived a game like this, and came out the other side. Now, we are looking to get back after it and come away with a win. I was impressed with the attitude, and how the kids kept fighting after halftime. When you do those things, you learn. That’s what we are looking to do each day: Learn and get better.”

Robbie Irwin and Seth Tressler each had six points to lead the Red Raiders, while Davis added five off the bench. For the Bengals, Derek Jackson and Robert Stallion had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Red Raider Holiday Tournament

ST. BENEDICTINE 70,

BELLEFONTE 34

SB 20-26-21-3 — 70

BE 10-8-6-10 — 34

SB (70)

Rodney Bryant 0 0-0 0, Chris Hunnicott 0 0-0 0, Jason Pinkston 1 1-2 3, Romel Dismuke 3 0-0 6, Robert Stallion 4 2-4 10, Dan Williams 0 0-0 0, Matt Vanni 2 0-0 5, Cameron Wright 11 0-1 25, Lewis Brooks 0 0-0 0, Matt Mohar 1 2-4 4, Tim Kendig 0 0-0 0, Derek Jackson 4 2-2 11, Excel McClain 0 0-0 0, Justin Thomas 1 0-0 2, Justin Jamison 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 29 7-13 70.

BE (34)

Robbie Irwin 2 2-2 6, Ryan Lynch 0 0-0 0, Nick Harter 0 0-0 0, Robbie Proper 1 0-0 3, Seth Tressler 2 0-3 6, Logan Strouse 1 0-0 3, Marcus Maggs 1 0-0 2, Ethan Kline 0 0-2 0, Zach Tressler 1 0-0 2, Doug Benscoter 1 0-0 3, Mitchell Colpetzer 2 0-0 4, Joseph Davis 1 2-2 5, Chris Irwin 0 0-0 0, Michael Shearer 0 0-0 0, Billy Nadolsky 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 4-9 34.

3-point field goals: SB 5 (Wright 3, Vanni, Jackson), BE 6 (S. Tressler 2, Proper, Strouse, Benscoter, Davis). Halftime: SB 46-18. Fouled out: none. Records: SB 5-3, B 0-7.