By Lori Brown
GRAHAMSVILLE — January 22, 2010 — The Tri-Valley Bears hosted the Eldred Yellowjackets last Friday night in a non-league basketball game.
Both teams played a very intense and aggressive game and T-V prevailed, 41-31.
At the end of the opening eight minutes of play, the Bears led by a single point, which was an indication of how close the remainder of the contest would be. Eldred’s Blair Flanagan scored all five points for his team during the quarter.
Eldred (4-2) took the lead in the second period, but the Bears remained close. T-V’s Mike Alvarez scored a basket with only 27.1 seconds remaining on the clock to even the score at 15-15 at halftime.
T-V (6-5) started the third quarter off with a basket by Logan Ackerley.
Then Eldred’s Steven Combs answered to tie the game. T-V scored again, but Combs quickly evened the score.
After the Bears took a four-point lead, the Yellowjackets responded to tie the contest yet again. Eldred’s Nick Mehedin then scored the go-ahead basket and teammate Patrick Reiser made a basket with 7.8 seconds on the clock.
At the buzzer, T-V’s Bobby Beale made a 3-pointer to cut the Eldred advantage to 29-28.
At the beginning of the fourth period, the Bears made good on some opportunities at the free-throw line to take the lead. T-V’s Peter DiMilia rebounded his own missed foul shot for another two points. Thirty-six seconds later, DiMilia scored again to extend the home team’s lead.
After Reiser made two foul shots, the T-V defense did not allow the Yellowjackets to score for the rest of the quarter.
DiMilia scored a total of eight points in the quarter to help lead his team to victory. DiMilia finished the game with 10 points, while teammate Ross Bonnell recorded a game-high 11 points.
Combs and Reiser each scored six points to lead the Yellowjackets.
“This was an intense game and a defensive battle,” Eldred Coach J.J. Gass said. “During the fourth quarter, they made shots and we didn’t.
“Tri-Valley’s Ross Bonnell was tremendous on the boards, he had a soft touch on his shots,” Gass added.
For his team, Gass praised junior center Chris Pitcher in particular.
“He penetrated the zone and made key passes,” Gass said.
“Tri-Valley is a tough place to play because of the crowd, but we had a chance to win,” Gass added. “There were a lot of fouls, but it was an intense game. The game was a lot closer than what the scoreboard looked like.”
T-V made 13 of 24 free throws (54 percent), while Eldred shot 4 of 7 (57 percent) at the foul line.
“We like to make teams get up and down the court fast,” T-V Coach Brian Tingley said. “We were aggressive tonight, we would rather go to the basket against them instead of settling for outside shots.”
The Bears are not scheduled to play another game until next Friday, Jan. 29, when they will host the Chapel Field Lions in a non-league contest.
“We need to work on things before the game,” Tingley said.