RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
DECATUR – Two second-half scoring droughts doomed the Bellmont Braves Friday night at the Teepee in a 69-61 loss to NE8 rival Norwell.
After holding a 35-31 halftime lead, Bellmont (5-7, 0-3 in the NE8) went scoreless for the first 5:07 of the third period while Norwell (8-4, 2-1) scored 11 points to go up by seven at 42-35.
The Braves fought back with an 11-4 run of their own to tie it at 46-46 before Norwell’s Josh McBride hit two free throws with 1.9 seconds left to make it 48-46.
But scoring woes came back to bite the Braves again in the final frame, as the Knights scored the first five points, on Cooper Bunn’s drive and Noah Comer’s three. The Knights gave up a bucket to the Braves’ Cam Summers, then sealed Bellmont’s fate with a devastating 10-0 run—ignited by four points each from Bunn and Drew Jolley—to put them up by 15 at 63-48 with 2:19 left.
Bellmont didn’t score again until Daniel Selking completed a rare four-point play—he was fouled on a three-pointer from deep and hit the free throw—at the 2:00 mark.
Selking scored seven more points in the final two minutes, but it wasn’t enough to get the Braves back within reach of the disciplined Norwell squad.
The two quarter-opening scoring slumps lasted a combined 11:07, during which the Braves scored just two points. What’s astounding is that in just under five minutes outside of the dry spells the Braves scored 24 second-half points.
“We have stretches where we just can’t buy a bucket,” lamented Bellmont coach Payton Selking. “That stretch there the first five minutes of the third quarter is what killed us. I thought we had great momentum going into the half. I told our guys at halftime, ‘Hey, you have to go win these first four minutes of the third, come out with energy,’ and I didn’t think we did that. We came out a little flat.”
That momentum Selking referred to came from the Braves’ 11-3 run to close the second quarter and take them from a 28-24 deficit to a 35-31 lead. The surge was capped in dramatic fashion by Selking’s three-pointer from well beyond the arc with three seconds on the clock. It was one of Selking’s eight long-range makes on his way to a game-high 31 points.
Norwell held a slight 16-14 lead after the opening quarter, with brothers Nick McBride (eight points) and Josh McBride (six points) leading the way. Jack Schultz’s seven points paced the Braves in the period.
Coach Selking liked the resilience the Braves showed at times after Norwell rallies. “We fight, and we fight, and we fight, and then we kind of flip the switch and do all the little things that are necessary to get back in the game,” he said. “We just have to limit those scoring droughts. It can’t be a five-minute drought to start the third. If you go scoreless for two minutes, fine. You trust that you can get stops on the defensive end, but when you go five minutes without scoring, a good team like Norwell, as efficient as they are offensively, they’re going to take advantage of that, and they did.”
The game was fast paced and intense, both teams playing gritty man-to-man defense. Yet there were relatively few turnovers. The Braves had 11, the Knights six. “They do a good job taking care of the basketball,” said Coach Selking of the Knights. “Very, very fundamentally sound, always have been, and as long as Coach (Mike) McBride is there, they always will be.”
Bellmont scoring: Selking 31 (2-7, 8-17, 3-5 FT), Summers 15 (6-9, 0-2, 3-3 FT), Jack Schultz 10 (2-4-2-2, 0-0 FT), Jake Hackman 3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0 FT), Beau Baker 2 (1-2, 0-0, 0-0 FT)
Norwell scoring: Josh McBride 18 (3-7, 1-5, 9-14 FT), Nick McBride 15 (2-2, 3-8, 2-4 FT), Bunn 13 (5-5, 1-2, 0-2 FT), Jolley 10 (5-7, 0-0, 0-0 FT), Comer 10 (2-9, 1-3, 3-3 FT), Cade Thornton 3 (0-0, 1-2, 0-0 FT)
Shooting stats: Norwell 17-31(55%) on twos, 7-21 (33%) on threes, 14-23 (61%) on free throws. Bellmont 11-24 on twos (46%), 11-22 (50%) on threes, 6-8 (75%) on free throws.
Norwell won the JV game, 49-48. Malachi Lavine led the Braves with 18 points. Luke Summers added nine, Lawton Bultemeier eight. Norwell was paced by Collin McAtee’s 17 and Cash Fegley’s 12.
Bellmont will travel to Northrop on Wednesday, January 21.
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