Less than halfway through the NE8 conference slate in boys basketball in 2023-34, there are no unbeaten teams and with Bellmont’s win at home over rival Norwell Friday, it is the Braves who have the most wins in the conference.
The 51-45 win over the Knights followed a familiar script, with the Braves’ playing a high-energy game while relying on their two main scorers, Kord Fuelling and Jack Scheumann. Scheumann led the team in points with 17, while Fuelling lit up the Knights for 11 points in the second half for a 14-point contest.
A key to the Braves’ victory was an impressive turnover total of just four for Bellmont.
Norwell jumped out to an early lead with 18 points in the opening stanza. They held the Braves to just three field goals in the first eight minutes.
Jack Scheumann heated up in the second, however, knocking down four shots and Andrew James did a better job distributing the ball, finding Gavin Krull for a couple of jumpers as the Braves cut the deficit down to just four points at half at 31-27.
The Braves came out of halftime with some defensive muster, holding Norwell to five points in the third quarter.
After knocking down a three in the first quarter, Fuelling went scoreless in the second, but lit up Norwell in the second half, scoring eleven.
Bellmont led 42-36 after the third quarter and maintained that six-point lead at the end of the game.
The Knights had three players in double figures, with Ashton Federspiel leading the team in scoring with 13 points. Cohen Bailey added 12 and Adam McBride had eleven.
Kord Fuelling and Dylan Velez led the Braves in rebounding with five apiece.
The Braves face an interesting stretch in their season with the girls’ season winding down. They play just two games over the next two weeks. Coach Selking’s team will travel to Huntington North next Saturday, where they will wait for the mats to be rolled up after the conference wrestling meet before taking on the Vikings (4-9).
Bellmont will then have another full week off before facing Leo (7-5) at home.