BOYS BASKETBALL Beaver Local uses second half run to cruise past East Palestine, 66-36

Pat Woods led the Beavers with 16 points.
By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
EAST PALESTINE -- The Beaver Local High basketball team caught fire to start the third period Tuesday to cruise past host East Palestine, 66-36.
East Palestine (0-1) trailed by just six points (26-20) late in the second quarter, but Beaver Local went 3-for-3 in the final minute to take a 32-20 halftime lead.
Danny Wilson then hit a 3-pointer to key an outstanding 15-0 run to open the third quarter and put the game away for Beaver Local (2-0).
Chad Jones of East Palestine stopped the spurt at 3:15, but by that time the Bulldogs trailed 47-22.
East Palestine jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but got only one more basket in the final 6:03 of the period. Brett Young's basket gave the Bulldogs their last lead of the contest -- 7-6 at 2:35.
"Right off the bat we had some success," East Palestine coach Jeff Berger said. "Then our offense hit a brick wall. Couple that with the fact we made some fundamental mistakes and unforced errors and we found ourselves in trouble."
Early lead
Despite going 3-of-11 in the first quarter, Beaver Local was 6-of-6 from the foul line and hit its first 10 attempts to take a 24-12 lead at 4:48 of the first half.
Pat Woods led the Beavers with 16 points, while Derek Smith and Danny Wilson finished with 12 and 11, respectively.
"They are a big, strong team and in addition to that it was one of those nights when we couldn't hit anything," said Jones, who had 13 points. "We knew it was coming and what they were going to run offensively and defensively, I guess it was just one of those nights."
Beaver Local, who turned back Crestview last Saturday, was 11-of-24 from the field in the first half.