By JEREMY SELLEW
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In the game of basketball, it’s all about how you finish and not how you start.
Belle Vernon Area got off to a flying start against rival Ringgold in the second game of Thursday’s cfsbank Holiday Classic, but the Rams stormed back and cruised to a 73-57 win in an exhibition game between the two section rivals.
“In both games of this thing we’ve started well,” BVA head coach Joe Salvino said. “We need to learn, though, these games are four quarters of basketball. That’s 32 minutes.”
BVA (2-7) jumped out to a fast start behind three deep 3-pointers from Cam Nusser. Two straight kicked off a 13-0 run to give the Leopards a 16-6 lead with 2:27 to go in the first quarter.
The Rams showed they weren’t afraid to shoot the trey either.
Ringgold hit six in the first, four in the final two minutes to cut down the BVA lead to 20-18 after the first eight minutes.
A 10-2 Leopards’ run started the second quarter. Nusser, who finished with 22 points, hit another pair of threes to put his team up 30-20 at the 4:05-mark of the second.’
But that lead didn’t last long.
The Rams pitched a shutout until two minutes into the third quarter and went on an 18-0 run.
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