SHOOTING — Catholic Central’s George Harris attempts a shot while Bellaire’s Mason Sochor tries to block it during Wednesday’s game at the Watt/Nese Classic. -- Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — Bellaire jumped on Catholic Central early and cruised to a 71-24 victory Wednesday in the annual Chuck Watt/John Nese Holiday Classic.

The Big Reds, now 6-3, led 14-2 after the opening period. They put 31 on the board in the second to take a 45-15 lead at the intermission.

Junior Jake Dowling had a huge game for J.R. Battista’s club, knocking down a game-high 20 points. He connected four times from behind the arc. Dowling was named his team’s MVP by members of the John Nese family.

Owen Ward contributed 12 points while Mac Mac Pettigrew and Mayson Sochor scored 10 each.

Andrew Dorsey and Benji Rook paced Central with 5 points each. Dorsey was Central’s MVP.

The Crusaders are idle until Tuesday when they visit Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans.

Lucas Littell tallied 16 points as Bellaire took a 58-44 victory in the junior varsity contest.

Andrew Rhode and Owen Provost scored 9 each for Central. Eli Fayak and Tyler Ialenti evenly divided 16.

Bellaire 71, Catholic Central 24

Bellaire 14 31 15 11–71

Central 2 13 3 6–24

BELLAIRE (6-3): R. Pettigrew 1 1-2 3; Ward 4 3-3 12; M. Pettigrew 4 0-2 10; Bell 1 0-0 3; Kesterson 0 0-1 0; Dowling 7 2-3 20; D’Aquila 0 0-0 0; Sochor 3 4-7 10; White 1 0-0 3; Littell 0 0-0 0; Cash 3 0-0 6; Naumann 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 26 10-18 71.

CENTRAL (0-9): Long 1 0-0 3; Rook 2 0-0 5; Provost 1 1-2 3; Ialenti 0 0-0 0; Pergi 0 1-4 1; Dorsey 2 0-2 5; Bolster 0 0-0 0; Urbanczyk 0 0-0 0; Rohde 1 0-0 2; Grimm 0 0-0 0; Mihalyo 1 3-5 5; Bradley 0 0-0 0′ Harris 0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 8 5-15 24.

3-POINT GOALS: Bellaire 9 (Dowling 4; M. Pettigrew 2; Ward, Bell, White); Central 3 (Dorsey, Rook, Long).