Eagles need second-half comeback in Belle

By Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 2/26/20

Leading 33-23 at halftime of their Maries County basketball showdown, Tim Evans’ Belle Tigers appeared on their way to reclaiming the Battle of Maries County Showdown trophy from Greg …

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Eagles need second-half comeback in Belle

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Leading 33-23 at halftime of their Maries County basketball showdown, Tim Evans’ Belle Tigers appeared on their way to reclaiming the Battle of Maries County Showdown trophy from Greg Koetting’s Vienna Eagles.

In the second half however, the Eagles had other ideas.

Nearly doubling up Belle 34-18 in the second half, Vienna came from behind to defeat the host Tigers 57-51.

“I’m proud of our guys for battling back from a rough first half,” Koetting said. “We knew coming in this was going to be battle between two competitive basketball teams. I tip my hat to coach (Tim) Evans for a great basketball game.”

Five different Belle Tigers helped the home team take a 17-10 lead after one quarter led by senior Jat Ridenhour with five points.

Also scoring BHS in the first quarter were Colten Robinson (4), Lane Feeler (3), Brett Stewart (3) and Eddy Paz (2).

Trey Snodgrass paced Vienna in the first quarter with six points.

Edging their county rivals to the west 16-13 in the second quarter, Belle took their aforementioned halftime lead into the locker room.

Stewart added five points in the second quarter giving him a team-high eight first-half markers pacing Belle.

Snodgrass once again led Vienna with six second-quarter points giving him a game-high 12 first-half points for the visiting Eagles.

Whatever Koetting said to the Eagles at halftime in the locker room must have worked.

Edging Belle 13-9 to open the second half, Vienna cut Belle’s halftime lead to six points by a score of 42-36 with one quarter to play.

Bayrd VanScoy (5) and Snodgrass (6) combined to score 11 of Vienna’s 13 third-quarter points with Landon Parmeley accounting for the other two.

Helping Belle keep their lead in the third quarter was Jace Gieck leading the way with five points. Paz and Robinson each chipped in two points apiece in the third.

Going 7-7 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, Vienna completed their second-half comeback outscoring the host Tigers 21-9 in the final eight minutes.

“We simply weren’t able to play four quarters tonight,” Evans said. “You have to give credit to Vienna for not giving up when trailing by 10 at halftime.”

Almost tripling his first-half point total, Snodgrass led the Eagles with a game-high 30 points.

VanScoy also reached double digits for the Eagles with 16 points.

Layne Hogshooter added seven points in addition to two points each from Tyler Collins and Parmeley to round out the Eagle scoring against Belle.

Playing in his final Battle of Maries County showdown, Paz led the Tigers with a team-high 13 points. Robinson also reached double figures with 10 points.

Stewart just missed double figures scoring all eight of his points in the first half.

Feeler finished with six points followed by five each out of Gieck and Ridenhour.

Thomas Lingo chipped in four points in the second quarter to round out Belle’s scoring.

Opening the night with the junior varsity game, Chandler Harker’s Vienna JV Eagles took on Jacob Walton’s Belle JV Tigers.

Deadlocked 25-25 at halftime, Vienna outscoring the hosts from Belle 34-23 to take the junior-varsity contest 59-48.

Tied at 11-11 after seven minutes of basketball, Lucas Magner (Vienna) and Justin Lingo (Belle) both led their respective teams with seven first-quarter points.

Playing to a 14-14 draw in the second quarter, Belle and Vienna’s JV squads went into halftime tied at 25-25.

Landon Kloeppel led Vienna with seven second-quarter points to go along with Magner’s team-high eight points in the first half.

Shane Baumgartner paced Belle with five second-quarter points with Justin Lingo’s seven points leading the JV Tigers in the first half.

Seeing both teams combine for 40 third-quarter points, Vienna broke the quarter and halftime tie taking a 47-43 lead with seven minutes of basketball to play.

Baumgartner added to his five second-quarter points with nine third-quarter points to pace the JV Tigers.

Nic Collins led Vienna in the third quarter with eight of their 22 points.

Holding Belle to five fourth-quarter points, the JV Eagles put 12 on the board helping them to a 59-48 victory.

Collins led Vienna’s JV Eagles with a game-high 19 points.

Magner also reached double figures with 10 points followed closely with eight markers from Max Steffen.

Baumgartner led Belle’s JV Tigers in a losing cause with 13 points followed closely with 11 points from Justin Lingo.

Will Doss added seven points. Thomas Lingo chipped in six points along with five first-half points from Sam Willis.

Isaiah Sullinger kicked in four points with Cole Loughridge rounding out Belle’s scoring with two points.

District play also opened early this week for both the Eagles and Tigers.

Koetting’s Eagles opened the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 2, District 9 Boys Basketball Tournament at Laquey High School Monday night.

Seeded fifth, Vienna took on the fourth-seeded Plato Eagles.

Falling 72-33 to Plato, Vienna ended their season at 11-13.

No further information was available from that game at press time as it will be recapped in next week’s Advocate.

As the last team standing at press time, Evans’ Tigers opened their MSHSAA Class 2, District 8 Boys Basketball Tournament last night (Tuesday) at New Bloomfield High School seeded sixth against the third-seeded Linn Wildcats.

More on this game will also be in next week’s Advocate.