BUFFALO TWP — After a frustrating first half, Freeport turned to Ben Beale to help the Yellowjackets reverse their fortunes.

The senior forward delivered in a big way.

Beale tallied 21 of his 25 points over the final two quarters, sparking Freeport to a 67-50 victory against Eden Christian at the former's holiday tournament.

It was the first loss of the season for Eden (7-1).

“Last year, we lost to them (Warriors) here,” said Beale. “We should have won. It came down to the end and there was a bad call. We had a lot of momentum coming in and wanted to get them back.”

Beale began Freeport's second-half barrage when he completed a conventional 3-point play, giving the 'Jackets a 24-23 lead with 6:17 left in the third quarter. By the time the period was over, Beale had scored nine more points and Freeport's lead was 40-33.

The 'Jackets did not let up, continuing to dominate into the fourth quarter. When Jalen Brown turned back-to-back steals into a pair of layups, Eden's deficit had ballooned to 51-33 with 6:31 remaining in the game.

Freeport forced the Warriors into 14 turnovers in the second half alone.

“Their press defense hurt us,” said Eden coach Todd Aiken. “We also got into foul trouble with our best players and weren't able to get into the offensive sets that we wanted.”

“Defensively, we were able to wear them down,” said Freeport coach Mike Beale. “When we can set up our press, it creates a lot of things for us.”

The 'Jackets missed multiple shots at the rim early on, including four in the first 3:30 of the second quarter. Freeport did manage an 8-0 run later in the quarter and, despite its lackluster shooting effort (8-of-26) in the first half, trailed just 23-21 at intermission.

“We felt that giving up 23 points, that was a solid effort defensively,” said Mike Beale. “We talked about containment in the second half.”

Seeing Freeport's offense come to life in the third period had to add some pressure to the Warriors.

“We've had some trouble with our shooting early on in games,” said Ben Beale, “but we just keep shooting and figure that eventually, the shots will fall.”

That was the key. Mike Beale did not want his team to become gun-shy.

“We had to keep attacking the rim,” he said. “Ben did a great job, but it wasn't all him. His teammates set him up for that by getting him the ball.”

Brown and Damon Shiring both added 10 points for Freeport.

Chase Haring paced the Warriors by draining 15 points.

Beale was named MVP of the tournament. Brown and Isiah Bauman were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Freeport (4-4), which defeated Curwensville 85-54 in the first round Thursday, will dive back into section play next Friday at Yough.

EDEN CHRISTIAN 50

Chase Haring 7 1-2 15, Gideon Manges 3 1-1 8, Tanner Gross 5 1-2 13, Dylan Kingan 2 0-2 4, Mickey Clary 1 3-3 5, Warren Schmotzer 1 0-0 3, Elijah Manges 1 0-0 2, Thomas Medure 0 0-0 0, Eric Gronbeck 0 0-0 0, Drew Lipinski 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 6-10 50.

FREEPORT 67

Brodey Cowan 0 4-4 4, Jalen Brown 4 2-4 10, Isiah Bauman 3 1-2 7, Gavin Skradski 1 2-3 4, Garret Schaffhauser 2 1-1 5, Damon Shiring 4 1-3 10, Ben Beale 9 5-6 25, Anthony Aulicino 1 0-0 2, Nolan Plocki 0 0-0 0, Aiden Skradski 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 16-23 67.

Eden Christian 12 11 10 17 — 50

Freeport11 10 19 27 — 67

3-point goals: Eden Christian 4 (Gross 2, Schmotzer, G. Manges); Freeport 3 (Beale 2, Shiring).

Friday: Freeport at Yough