By RICK SPRUNGER
DECATUR — A bad third quarter spelled defeat for Norwell at Bellmont Friday night.
The Knights dropped the big Northeast 8 Conference clash, 51-45, to fall into a first-place tie with the Braves, Leo and Columbia City.
It was a game that might have gone Norwell’s way but for a bad third quarter.
Bellmont outscored the Knights 15-5 in the period to turn a 31-27 halftime deficit into a 42-36 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and Norwell was never able to draw closer than two points after that.
The quarter started with Bellmont getting back-to-back offensive rebounds for putbacks by Kord Fuelling and Dylan Velez to erase that four-point deficit.
It ended with Norwell turning the ball over on five consecutive possessions, allowing Bellmont to outscore the Knights 11-0 over the final 3:45 of the period.
“(Bellmont) went to a 2-3 zone in the whole second half, and we made some bad decisions,” pointed out Norwell coach Mike McBride after the game. “They packed it in on Ashton (Federspiel) in the second half. They really sold out on him.”
The strategy worked as Federspiel, who scored 10 points in the first half, was limited to just three in the second, all on free throws.
“We finished the third quarter with five straight turnovers, and we also turned it over on our first possession of the fourth quarter,” added McBride “So of our 12 turnovers, six of them came on six straight possessions.”
The last two of those Bellmont buckets off turnovers were huge.
With Norwell trailing just 38-36, Dylan Velez stepped in front of a Knight pass, then took a feed from Jack Scheumann underneath for an easy one that made it 40-36 with 1:05 remaining.
Then, with Norwell playing for the last shot of the quarter, Scheumann stole the ball and sailed in for a layup and that 42-36 edge with 0:11 to play.
“Four of those turnovers were live-ball turnovers that got Bellmont in transition, and Bellmont is a transition team,” said McBride later.
Norwell stayed hot on Bellmont’s heels in the fourth quarter.
The Knights got back to within 48-45 on two Federspiel free throws with 0:37 remaining.
Kaedyn Quintanilla then stepped with a defensive play that gave Norwell a chance.
With the Knights in fullcourt press mode, Scheumann got loose on the other end for a long pass and what appeared would be a game-clinching, one-on-nothing layup.
But Quintanilla caught up to him and viciously rejected the shot off the backboard.
Shelton picked up the rebound, and the Knights called time out with 0:24 left.
“Kaedyn made a great play, and he deserves a lot of credit,” praised his coach. “If he doesn’t make that play, we don’t have a chance at the end.
“We wanted to get it to Ashton at the rim for a quick two and then call time out,” continued McBride about his team’s strategy at the end.
But Bellmont denied both him and Adam McBride the ball.
Freshmen Nick McBride, inserted into the game as a possible shooter, got a wide-open look for the tie from the left wing but missed, and Bellmont closed it out from the line.
Norwell got off to a blazing start in the game and roared out to an early 16-6 lead.
With Bellmont hanging on by a thread, Scheumann picked the Braves up and put them on his shoulder in the second quarter, scoring nine of his game-high 17 points in the period.
“Jack Scheumann is an unbelievable player,” said his coach, Bellmont mentor Payton Selking. “He does a lot for us. He’s the kind of player our guys look to when things get hard.”
He started the second quarter with a drive through the lane and a little five-footer while being clouted by Cohen Bailey to get Bellmont back in the game at 18-13.
Then, with Norwell leading 24-15, he scored underneath, then went outside for a three-pointer to spark a 10-0 Bellmont run that gave the Braves their only lead of the first half, 25-24.
Federspiel responded with back-to-back inside shots of his own, the first off a nice feed from Shelton, the second on a pretty spin move in the lane.
Job Hoffman muscled back a Scheumann miss for Bellmont, but Adam McBride got a 12-footer to bounce through at the buzzer for that 31-27 halftime edge.
Then came the disastrous third quarter.
After hitting on 12 of 22 shots with just three turnovers in the first half, Norwell connected on a mere five of 15 from the floor in the second half with nine turnovers.
“A big key in the second half was that Bellmont got a majority of what I would call the 50-50 balls,” said McBride. “That’s really what it came down to, Bellmont getting more loose balls in the second half and our bad streak at the end of the third quarter.”
Bellmont shot an even .500 from the field while committing just five turnovers for the game.
Fuelling joined Scheumann in double figures with 14 points.
Federslpiel scored 13 points, Bailey 12, and Adam McBride 11 for the Knights, who finished 17-for-37 from the floor for .459.
Norwell won the reserve game, 40-21.
Nick McBride scored 13 points, Brady Smith eight, Drew Jolley seven, Will Case six, and Caiden Petrie and Garry Riley three apiece for the Knights.
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BELLMONT 51, NORWELL 45
At Bellmont
NORWELL (7-6, 2-1 NE8): Cade Shelton 3-4 0-0 6, Kaedyn Quintanilla 1-3 0-0 3, Adam McBride 4-7 0-0 11, Cohen Bailey 6-10 0-0 12, Ashton Federspiel 3-10 7-8 13, Owen Wallis 0-1 0-0 0, Nick McBride 0-2 0-0 0, Brady Smith 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 17-37 7-8 45.
BELLMONT (11-3, 2-1 NE8): Andrew James 2-5 1-2 5, Jack Scheumann 8-14 0-1 17, Kord Fuelling 5-12 2-2 14, Dylan Velez 2-6 0-0 4, Gavin Krull 3-4 2-3 9, Job Hoffman 1-1 0-0 2. TOTAL: 21-42 5-8 51.
Norwell 18 13 5 9 — 45
Bellmont 9 18 15 9 — 51
Three-point shooting: Norwell 4-11 (Quintanilla 1-3, A. McBride 3-4, Federspiel 0-2, Wallis 0-1, N. McBride 0-1); Bellmont 4-13 (James 0-1, Scheumann 1-2, Fuelling 2-7, Velez 0-1, Krull 1-2). Rebounds: Norwell 24 (Federspiel 8, Shelton 6, A. McBride 5); Bellmont 19 (Fuelling 6, Velez 5). Turnovers: Norwell 12, Bellmont 5. Personal fouls: Norwell: 12, Bellmont 10. Fouled out: Shelton. Technical fouls: None.
JV: Norwell 40, Bellmont 21.
