This year, the Bellefonte Area High School boys’ basketball team became co-champions of the Mountain League, where they tied with Tyrone. Bellefonte finished 19-5. Last year their record was 6-12. This is the first time the Bellefonte boys’ basketball team won against Tyrone in three years. 

The boys’ coach, Rick Hall, explains what he did differently this year that he changed from last year. 

“As a staff we did not change our style of coaching, we did adjust during games and let the players play instead of coaching too much. We did change some offenses to utilize our talent better,” Coach Hall said.

 This is what Coach Hall believes will change from this year moving forward to the next season of basketball. 

“We are going to miss our seniors, and they will be hard to replace. But the work ethic of the younger players and their development shows promise. The seniors set the bar for the program and next year we will try to reach that bar,” Coach Hall said.

Coach Hall’s favorite memory is beating Clearfield after they lost a previous game. 

“It is hard to say it was just one moment, it was the whole season, and if I had to pick a game, it would have been the last regular season game versus Clearfield, when the team bounced back after a lost and won and became league champs for the first time since 2005,” he said.

The main reason Coach Hall believes the team won is through teamwork, and he had pride in the work they accomplished this season. 

“Because they played like a team, no one ever worried about how many points they scored as long as the team won. In addition, they took pride in their defense,” he said.

Senior Ty Kroell’s favorite memory was when the team and their coach had a nice little celebration of dancing and yelling after their game. He can clearly recall his favorite memory. 

“The locker room after beating Tyrone and seeing Coach Hall dancing, my father hitting the griddy, and Hall yelling ‘BOOYAH,’” Ty said.

  Beating Tyrone for the first time in three years will stick out in Ty’s mind for awhile. 

“It was something we’ve worked really hard to do and it was such an amazing feeling to finally make it happen,” Ty said. 

 But winning and celebrating aren’t the only things Ty will take from the season. 

“My friendships and knowing that I was apart of one of the greatest teams in Bellefonte history,” he said. 

Senior Nick Way had many good memories, but there was one that stuck out as a favorite.

“My favorite memory was the locker room after beating Tyrone at home,” he said. 

Every boy on the team worked as hard as they could to be able to accomplish this goal.

“[It was] amazing, something we all worked towards for years to achieve,” Nick said. 

There were many lessons learned throughout the season, but perhaps one that stands out the most.

“Hard work beats everything,” Nick said.

Senior Blair Eleckly-Jones has had many memories while being on the team, but beating Tyrone and getting the hype from his coach was his favorite memory of the season.