TJ topples BVA in season opener

By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com

There was some local basketball action Friday night, just in the nick of time before Gov. Tom Wolf’s took effect Saturday morning.
The two lone boys’ teams in action, Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon Area renewed their rivalry on the Leopards home floor.
It was the Jaguars continuing their winning ways over the Leopards, overcoming a large first-half deficit to rally for a 65-59 win in the season opener.
“At least we got one game in,” TJ head coach Dom DeCicco said. “It just really sucks because we got a nice win here tonight and now we can’t build off that for the next three weeks.”
The Jaguars (1-0) trailed 18-10 after one quarter and by as many as 17 points in the second before outscoring the Leopards (0-1) in each of the final three quarters to chip away.
“It’s easy to play when things are going good,” BVA head coach Joe Salvino said. “But when the going gets tough, you need to get going. And we didn’t do that tonight.”
Senior Jake Haney and junior Daniel Gordon combined for seven 3-pointers in the first half and 25 points, but added only five points combined in the second half. Gordon ended up leading the Leopards with 16 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Handy finished with 14, all in the first half.
“I thought in the second half we came out really slow and sluggish,” Salvino said. “We weren’t hitting our shots and we didn’t pick it up on the defensive end of the floor while that was happening.”

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Saturday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.