By RICK SPRUNGER
DECATUR–Southern Wells ran into a buzzsaw at Bellmont Wednesday night.
In the season opener for both teams, Bellmont threw a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap at the Raiders, forced 17 first-half turnovers, scored 21 unanswered points to end the first half for a 43-18 lead, and coasted to an easy 71-42 win.
“We didn’t handle their pressure very well,” said Southern Wells coach Joel Roush after it was over. “We tried to prepare for it, but it’s hard to replicate in practice because we don’t do it. Their length and their quickness caused us a lot of problems. We had to work for every completed pass.”
The Raiders got off on the wrong foot right out of the gate. After scoring on their opening possession to forge a 2-2 tie, they turned the ball over on their next seven consecutive possessions.
Even then, however, Southern Wells hung tough with their vaunted hosts, trailing just 22-18 after a three-point play by Perrin Gates and one of two free throws by Chandler Oswalt.
But then the wheels came off. Over the last five minutes of the first half, Bellmont outscored Southern Wells, 21-0, to up the count to 43-18. During that span, the Raiders committed five more turnovers while missing four one-and-done shots from the field and one from the line.
“Sometimes a turnover situation like that can build on itself,” continued Roush. “It’s like trying to run in quicksand, particularly when they’re getting runouts from midcourt. You just get buried under that mountain of turnovers, and you expend so much energy playing defense because it’s just so difficult to make that many stops.”
In the center of all this activity for Bellmont was Kord Fuelling, a 6-1 junior and the son of coach Jonathan Fuelling. Fuelling scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the first half, including 11 in that 21-0 second-quarter run.
Bellmont then started the third quarter with another 8-2 burst to open up a 51-21 lead, and the rest of the game was just a matter of playing out the string.
For his part, Bellmont coach Jonathan Fuelling was understandably pleased with his team’s 25-6 second quarter; not so much with the Braves’ 12-for-26 performance from the free throw line.
“We want to win the turnover battle, the rebound battle, and the free throw battle,” said Fuelling. “We won the turnover and rebound battles. And while I’m pleased that we got to the line 26 times, to only hit 12 of them, well …” His voice trailed off.
His team may not have been hitting free throws, but it sure was scoring from the field. The Braves were 28-for-45 from the floor for the game for a .622 percentage. Fuelling got his 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting and was joined in double figures by D.J. Kitson with 16 on 8-for-10 marksmanship and Jack Scheumann with 12 points on 6-for-9 firing.
Southern Wells, which was 16-for-35 from the field itself for a decent .457 percentage, was led by Jenson Nusbaumer and Chandler Oswalt with 12 points apiece, the latter with two long three-pointers in the early going that kept the Raiders in the game.
Bellmont made it a clean sweep with a 46-34 win in the junior varsity game and a 33-16 decision in the C-team contest.
Southern Wells’ jayvees were led by Andrew Aker with 17 points. Tucker Worster and C.J. Reber each added five points, Case Boxell four, Levi Woodward two, and Caleb Johnson one.
The Raiders’ C-team got seven points from Brohdi Church, five from Aidan Carroll, and two apiece from Eli Elmore and Wyatt Yoder.
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BELLMONT 71, SOUTHERN WELLS 42
SOUTHERN WELLS (0-1): Kedrik Sonnigsen 3-6 0-2 6, Jenson Nusbaumer 5-12 0-0 12, Evan Pennington 0-0 2-3 2, Chandler Oswalt 4-8 1-2 12, Gage Roberts 0-0 0-0 0, Perrin Gates 3-6 1-1 7, Nick Lozoya 1-3 1-2 3, Bryar Gearheart 0-0 0-0 0, Tristen Worster 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Aker 0-0 0-0 0, Tucker Worster 0-0 0-0 0, C.J. Reber 0-1 0-0 0. TOTAL: 16-35 5-10 42.
BELLMONT (1-0): Andrew James 2-7 1-2 6, Trent Geimer 0-1 2-2 2, Jack Scheumann 6-9 0-0 12, D.J. Kitson 8-10 0-3 16, Kord Fuelling 9-13 3-5 23, Dylan Velez 1-1 3-5 5, Gavin Krull 1-3 0-1 2, Job Hoffman 1-1 1-4 3, Ivan Vergara 0-0 0-2 0, Jayden Haines 0-0 2-2 2. TOTAL: 28-45 12-26 71.
Southern Wells 12 6 12 2 – 42
Bellmont 18 25 18 10 – 71
Three-point shooting: Southern Wells 5-14 (Sonnigsen 0-1, Nusbaumer 2-7, Oswalt 3-5, Lozoya 0-1), Bellmont 3-13 (James 1-3, Geimer 0-1, Scheumann 0-3, Fuelling 2-4, Krull 0-2). Rebounds: Southern Wells 19 (Sonnigsen 6), Bellmont 30 (James 7, Hoffman 6, Kitson 5). Turnovers: Southern Wells 22, Bellmont 13. Personal fouls: Southern Wells 22, Bellmont 13. Fouled Out: Oswalt, Velez. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Bellmont 46, Southern Wells 34.
C-Team: Bellmont 33, Southern Wells 16.
