Braves invade Lions’ Den, snatch victory in overtime
LEO—Deadly shooting from both the floor and the free throw line lifted the Bellmont Braves over Leo, 80-75, in an edge-of-yourseat-and-heart-in-yourmouth overtime NE8 boys’ basketball win Saturday night in the Lions’ gym. Sharp-shooting junior Jack Scheumann led the Braves with a career-high 30 points, including five straight crucial free throws in overtime.
After a deadlocked first quarter (15-15), the Braves (8-8, 1-4 in the NE8) led in the middle two periods except for a brief two-point Lion lead late in the third quarter, which Andrew James erased with a three at the buzzer, giving Bellmont a 54-53 advantage.
Spurred by Scheumann’s seven points and Dylan Velez’s six, the Braves led by as much as five in the fourth quarter before Leo (7-9, 2-3) got consecutive buckets by Brock Schott and Nolan Hiteshew to pull within one at 70-69 with 1:27 left. Velez answered with a putback on Kord Fuelling’s miss to restore the lead to three points.
But then Leo’s Trey Hiteshew hit a wide-open layup on an out-of-bounds play—one of Bellmont’s few defensive breakdowns—and drew a foul by D.J. Kitson. He hit the free throw to tie it at 72-72, and when a short jumper in traffic by Scheumann failed to drop two seconds before the buzzer, the game went to overtime. Kitson gave the Braves the first lead in overtime when he hit one of two free throws after drawing a foul on a putback. Leo’s Trey Hiteshew responded with a fast break layup, assisted by Jackson McGee, for a one-point Lion lead.
Then, controversy. With 1:47 left, Fuelling was fouled while attempting a putback on his own miss. He crashed to the floor and remained there several seconds, unable to get up.
“Kord went down, and Bob (veteran referee Bob Childers) thought he hit his head,” explained Coach Fuelling, “and when he asked him how he was, Kord didn’t respond, so Bob said he had to get him out. By then Kord was