Braves let lead slip away in final minute

PORTLAND—A 12-0 run early in the fourth quarter gave Bellmont a sixpoint lead over the Jay County Patriots Friday at Portland, but the Braves’ defensive lapses and costly turnovers in the closing minutes allowed the Patriots to come back and claim a 44-43 win.

The Patriots’ Dusty Pearson delivered the game winner with an exclamation point when he slammed a two-handed dunk on the Braves with just under 30 seconds left after teammate Josh Dowlen had stolen an inbounds pass and quickly dished the ball to him.

Bellmont (12-11) had a chance to win, but Dylan Velez’s desperation jumper on a broken play rimmed out at the buzzer.

The Braves’ fourth-quarter lead shrank to one point when Jay County’s Abraham Dirksen hit a fast break layup off a Bellmont turnover to make it 39-38 with 2:51 to go. Jack Scheumann responded with a twisting, acrobatic drive to put the lead back to three points, but the Braves’ defense let Bennett Weitzel get loose underneath for an easy bucket to cut the lead to one again at the 1:53 mark.

Things were looking up for Braves when Kord Fuelling stole the ball at midcourt and drove in to make it 43-40 with 57 seconds left.

But then Dowlen drove uncontested from the left elbow to the right block, hitting the layup and bringing the Patriots (9-11) within one again, setting up Pearson’s heroics.

Neither team looked sharp in the first three quarters, as they combined for 38 turnovers, 20 by the Braves.

Jay County led 12-6 after one quarter. Bellmont, on the strength of a trio of three-pointers—two by Andrew James, one by Fuelling—outscored the Patriots 13-9 in the second quarter to pull within two, 21-19, at the half.

A 10-8 Patriot advantage in the third quarter gave Jay County a 31-27 lead, and Weitzel’s layup to start the final period gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the second half at 33-27.

That’s when the Braves went on their 12-point run, highlighted by threes from Fuelling and James, along with four points from Velez.

“Uninspired” was Bellmont coach Jonathon Fuelling’s assessment of the Braves’ play. He thought his team wasn’t strong enough with the ball, leading to their 22 turnovers, well over their season average of 10.

James led Bellmont with 12 points. Fuelling added 10. Weitzel led Jay with 14.

Jay County won the JV game, 61-45. The Braves’ Will Baker took game scoring honors with 18 points. Maddux Miller added 11 points, Beau Baker 10. Bellmont’s JV team ended the season with a 6-14 record.

Bellmont plays Maconaquah (15-7) in the Peru sectional Wednesday at 6:00.