Photo by Kim North Bridgeport’s Jaleel Vincent (5) drives around a pick by teammate Evan Clark (4) on Bellaire’s Alex Padgett during Tuesday night’s boys’ basketball game inside the ‘House of Champions’ in Bellaire. Vincent scored 26 points as the Bulldogs cruised to a 62-33 victory.

BELLAIRE — Bridgeport made a successful debut Tuesday night in boys’ high school basketball action.

Behind a tenacious half-court defense that forced multiple first-half turnovers, the Bulldogs ran away to a 62-33 victory over Bellaire (1-1) inside the ‘House of Champions.’

“I thought we played really good defense in the first half,” veteran Bridgeport head coach Donnie Cash said. “Our shot selection was poor at times early on, but we’ve just got to continue doing what works for us.

“I’m happy for us and everything, but it’s back to work tomorrow,” he added. “In practice is where it all starts for us. Do we butt heads at times, yes, but that is what makes us better.”

The contest was knotted twice early before the visitors took a 9-4 advantage they would never relinquish.

A 16-0 run to start the second quarter all but sealed the deal as Bridgeport ran out to a 25-5 margin before the Big Reds scored on an Alex Padgett free throw. However, the Bulldogs extended the margin to 29-5 in what might have been one of the worst halves of play in Bellaire boys history.

The Big Reds made just 2 of 19 shots from the floor and turned the ball over 14 times, nine coming in the second quarter.

“It wasn’t great, but that’s a tribute to Bridgeport,” veteran Bellaire head coach J.R. Battista said of the second quarter. “Their defensive pressure and their length and athleticism was too much for us.”

Jaleel Vincent and Jaki Threet did most of the offensive damage for Bridgeport with 12 and six points, respectively. They finished as the game’s lone double-figure scorers with 26 and 13.

“Jaleel is a gym rat. He’ll probably go back and put up a couple hundred shots tonight,” Cash said of his junior sensation. “I’m not putting any extra pressure on him. As Jaleel goes, we go and I think pretty much everyone knows that. I thought he attacked the basket more in the second half and he can do that. He doesn’t have to rely on the jump shot all the time.”

Bellaire made a run in the third quarter, scoring 8 of the first 9 points to make it 30-13. Three consecutive treys got the hosts to within 12, 34-22, with a little less than 90 seconds left in the third quarter.

However, back-to-back turnovers led to four quick points as the Bulldogs bumped the count to 19, 41-22, after three quarters.

“We cut it to 12 in the third quarter, but we couldn’t get any closer,” Battista said. “We had a couple of opportunities, but we turned it (the ball) over, not that Bridgeport caused, and they made a couple baskets to extend their lead again.”

Michael Dippel, Jace Violet and Brae Schmidli all found the range from three-point land during Bellaire’s run.

“We knew they were going to make a run in the third quarter,” Cash noted. “We had to come out and stay focused, which I thought we did as we weathered that storm.”

Bridgeport led 29-28 off the glass as Evan Clark pulled down seven. Threet and Vincent evenly divided a dozen. Padgett had a game-best nine and Dippel eight. Dippel led Bellaire with eight points. Violet had seven and Trevor Dowery six.

“We’ll get back at it tomorrow (Wednesday,” Battista added. “We’re off until next week at Cambridge. I hope we have a better showing.”

Bellaire finished with 22 turnovers compared to just five for Bridgeport.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Saturday at Tuscarawas Catholic. The JV tips at 4 p.m.