By RICK SPRUNGER
Southern Wells pried the lid off the 2023-24 boys’ basketball season Wednesday night when the Raiders played host to Bellmont.
Bellmont proved to be rude guests as it handed the Raiders a 71-37 thrashing.
Southern Wells coach Joel Roush was unfazed by the one-sided loss, preferring instead to focus on his team’s development.
“Bellmont is a much improved team from last year, and I thought they were pretty good last year” said Roush after the game, tipping his hat to the other side. “They have skill, they have quickness, and they have length.”
Bellmont enjoyed a considerable size advantage over the Raiders, who gave away an average of three inches per starter.
And that kind of length proved pivotal in the game’s opening moments.
After Southern Wells earned an early 2-2 tie, Bellmont ran away with the game on the strength of an effective 2-2-1 press that forced the Raiders into five turnovers, five straight misses from the field, and two timeouts, all in the span of just four minutes.
Bellmont took the lead for good on a pair of free throws by Jack Scheumann, then connected on seven straight field goal attempts, all of them from directly under the basket.
Gavin Krull turned a steal into one layup, then took an outlet pass after a steal by Kord Fuelling for another within 14 seconds of each other, driving Roush to his first timeout.
Scheumann then scored on back-to-back layups, Dylan Velez and Fuelling both connected from underneath, and Andrew James punctuated the Braves’ dominance with another steal and dunk for an 18-2 score with still 3:04 left in the first quarter.
The lead ballooned all the way up to 49-16 after Krull’s desperation, off-balance three-point heave from the left corner found its way into the basket at the halftime buzzer.
To add insult to injury, Krull was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.
“We needed to communicate better defensively, and we needed better movement on the defensive side,” said Roush of his team’s first-half struggles.
“Once we started communicating better on defense in the second half, we were noticeably better.”
Southern Wells also tried some things offensively.
Although the Raiders struggled on the perimeter against Bellmont’s relentless pressure, once they got past the Braves’ perimeter defense, they were consistently able to get the ball into the post.
They had a hard time finishing, but Bellmont’s considerable size advantage had plenty to do with that.
“It’s much easier to shoot from the outside when you’re set rather than having to create your own shot off the dribble,” explained Roush of his team’s offensive strategy.
“When three-pointers get made, it’s because we’ve driven the gap and pitched it back out.
“We want to play below the free-throw line.
Or from well behind it.
Chandler Oswalt rifled five three-pointers, all of them in the second half, and most of them from well behind the arc.
He ended up with a game-high 26 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field.
Even the opposing coach noticed.
“Oswalt shoots as well as anyone we’ll see this year,” complimented first-year Bellmont coach Peyton Selking, knowing full well that “anyone-we’ll-see-this-year” includes considerably faster company than Southern Wells runs in.
“Not only can he shoot it,” pointed out his own coach, Roush, “he is a much more complete player than he was last year.
“He is the one who started our communication on defense in the second half.
“He and Evan Pennington are our team leaders.”
Southern Wells also had moments when it tried to run with the fleet-footed Braves.
“We want to run selectively, if we can get the floor scattered and get the ball in the middle,” said Roush.
“But right now, we have only six varsity players, so we’ll pick our spots.
“We dress nine, but only six are ready for varsity ball right now.”
Bellmont placed three players in double figures, led by Scheumann with 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting, James with 16 on 5-for-8, and Fuelling with 13 on 6-for-9.
None of those three played in the fourth quarter.
Bellmont finished 29-for-48 from the field for a red-hot .604 shooting percentage.
Southern Wells was 13-for-33 for .394.
Bellmont won the junior varsity contest by a 57-24 score.
Southern Wells got seven points each from Trey Slusher, six from Joshua Aulbach, and four from Wade Tappy.
BELLMONT 71,
SOUTHERN WELLS 37
at Southern Wells
BELLMONT (1-0): Andrew James 5-8 6-6 16, Jack Scheumann 9-12 0-0 20, Kord Fuelling 6-9 0-0 13, Dylan Velez 1-2 0-0 2, Gavin Krull 2-3 0-1 4, Will Baker 2-6 0-0 6, Job Hoffman 1-1 0-1 2, Daniel Vogel 0-1 1-2 1, Maddux Miller 1-2 0-0 3, Beau Baker 1-3 0-0 2, Jake Hackman 1-1 0-0 2. TOTAL: 29-48 7-10 71.
SOUTHERN WELLS (0-1): Andrew Aker 1-4 0-0 2, C.J. Reber 0-2 1-2 1, Evan Pennington 3-7 0-1 6, Chandler Oswalt 8-15 5-7 26, Perrin Gates 1-3 0-2 2, Caleb Johnson 0-2 0-0 0. TOTAL: 13-33 6-12 37.
Bellmont 27 22 15 7 – 71
Southern Wells 8 8 12 9 – 37
Three-point shooting: Bellmont 6-18 (James 0-2, Scheumann 2-4, Fuelling 1-1, Velez 0-1, Krull 0-1, W. Baker 2-5, Vogel 0-1, Miller 1-2, B. Baker 0-1), Southern Wells 5-12 (Aker 0-1, Reber 0-2, Oswalt 5-9). Rebounds: Bellmont 29 (Fuelling 5), Southern Wells 15. Turnovers: Bellmont 9, Southern Wells 17. Personal fouls: Bellmont 16, Southern Wells 12. Fouled Out: None. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Bellmont 57, Southern Wells 24.
