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Belpre boys play in district semifinals Tuesday

BELPRE – P.E. + P.A. = Success.

That’s “a little motto” Belpre head boys basketball coach Chad Williams and his staff came up with during the latter part of the season that now has the Golden Eagles in Division IV district tournament play Tuesday.

“It (the motto) is something we go by; I put it up on the board,” said Williams. “It reads: Positive Effort plus Positive Attitude equals Success. Before every game, I ask the boys to ‘give me those two things and we’ll be successful.’ And it’s worked out – really turned us around.”

So much so that Belpre went from struggling early in the season to “playing our best basketball lately,” said Williams, whose team – although only 12-10 now, but with a sectional championship under its belt – will face 20-4 Sciotoville East in a 6:15 p.m. district semifinal Tuesday at the Ohio University Convo.

The 2015-16 Golden Eagles, already having doubled their wins from last season, are “really peaking at the right time,” said Williams. “We played a really tough schedule and I think learned a lot, win or lose. We were playing well at the end of the (regular) season and took that into the tournament.”

Williams, a former Belpre basketball standout, is “really looking forward to getting back to the Convo. It’s been six years since Belpre got (to the district) there. It’s an honor to be one of the first players, now head coaches to make it to the Convo. I just can’t wait for Tuesday.”

“Solid” is the way Williams described Tuesday’s foe, Sciotoville East, noting that the Tartans have a 6-5, 300-pound player in sophomore Blaine Scott, “a lineman in football who apparently has already gotten offers from Ohio State and Ohio U.” as well as “a nice guard” in 5-11 junior Akia Brown, “who has scored 40 points in a game this year, with a lot of 25 and 30-point games too, so he’s a shooter.

“But I like our speed; I think we can beat ’em up and down the court. And I believe it’s going to take more than one guy to beat us the way we’re playing right now. So our goal is to stop him (Brown), contain him and get up and down the court and force turnovers. I really like our press the latter half of the season; it’s looking really good.

“Right now, I believe we’re playing the best ball we played all year.”

Belpre starts 6-2 junior Deijon Bedgood, 6-0 senior Tavian Miller, 5-10 senior Ethan Williams, 5-9 junior Mythius Houghton and 6-4 senior Nathan Mason.

Off the bench, coach Williams will use 5-9 senior Brayden Longfellow, 5-9 freshman Ryan Simoniette, 6-3 junior Kaurice Waderker and 6-3 sophomore Bailey Sprague. “So we can go nine or 10 deep,” said the coach, “as we also have (5-8 senior) Trevian White and (5-9 sophomore) Cole Knotts as well as a couple guys too who played mostly JV in (sophomores) Nate Godfrey (6-1) and Zach Becker (6-2).”

On the season,” we battled all year,” said Chad Williams. “Our record doesn’t really indicate how good we were this season. We’ve been in every ball game.”

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