Braves show effort in loss to Concordia
DECATUR—On Tuesday night at the Teepee, the Bellmont boys hosted the Concordia Cadets on the hardwood. Bellmont was coming off a rather lackluster performance on Saturday in a loss to Woodlan while Concordia came in with some lofty preseason expectations, picked to be top three in the SAC conference. The Cadets prevailed on this night defeating the Braves 51 – 44, but Bellmont showed the kind of effort and scrappiness that was lacking in their previous loss.
“I told the guys in the locker room just now that I was real pleased with how hard they played and the effort they gave,” stated coach Jonathon Fuelling after the game. “We defended and rebounded well against a good, athletic team tonight, just night and day difference from our last game.”
The game started with a Jack Scheumann steal and layup to give Bellmont a two – zero lead. It didn’t last long, however as Concordia dominated the next six minutes to pull ahead 17 – 5 as seven points by sixfive center Cole Hayworth and threes by Ajani Washington and Joe Tapp put the Braves on their heels and it looked Bellmont might get run out of their own gym. The defense stiffened, though, and the Braves scored the last eight points of the quarter to pull within four at the first break.
Washington opened the second period with a long three for the Cadets but Andrew James hit a pair of free throws and a basket to keep pace. When Scheumann buried a trey, the Braves had closed to one point. Five points from Hayworth and two free throws by James made the score 26 – 22 Concordia at half-time and the Braves had kept pace with the Cadets.
The first few minutes of quarter three were all Concordia. Treys by Tapp and Washington highlighted an eight-point run and Bellmont was down by twelve. Again, the Braves showed their resiliency to come back.
A nifty fake and spin by D.J. Kitson stopped the run and Gavin Krull’s second three of the game helped close the gap temporarily. Another NBAlength trey by Washington led a Cadet run which opened the largest lead of the game at thirteen points. Bellmont had one last inbounds play with 0.8 seconds on the clock. Kord Fuelling slipped a screen and went to the basket as James threw a perfect lob to the rim which Fuelling converted as time ran out.
The alley-oop seemed to ignite Fuelling as he promptly scored eight of the first ten points in the fourth quarter as Bellmont shut out the Cadets for the first four minutes to pull within one point at 42 – 41. A basket by Tapp stopped the run but a free throw by Scheumann made it 44 – 42. The Braves then had two possessions with a chance to take the lead, but a turnover and a forced shot squandered the opportunities. Concordia then hit five of six free throws down the stretch and were able to close out the game.
“I know we could have maybe done better with a couple of those possessions late, but the mistakes were from rushing a bit and being mentally tired, not from effort. If we play that hard every game, we will be very successful this season,” said Fuelling afterwards.
The stats demonstrate the effort as Bellmont drew four charging fouls and had sixteen deflections/steals. They also grabbed twenty-seven rebounds with nine of them on the offensive end.
Kord Fuelling led the scoring with twelve points, none until the alleyoop at the end of Q3. He also drew two of the charges. James had ten points, six rebounds, six deflections/ steals and was the primary defender on Washington for an all-around good performance.
Scheumann scored nine points, led the team with eleven boards and had