By RYAN WALKER
DECATUR — Turnovers, free throws and foul trouble hurt Bluffton’s chances to knock off a much improved Bellmont squad 46-37 Friday night.
The Tigers (10-10) fumbled 21 possessions away that cashed in for nearly 30 of the Braves (19-3) points in the loss.
Bellmont also got to the line six more times than Bluffton, taking advantage of third-quarter foul trouble by Tucker Jenkins, Cam Williams and Kaleb Green.
Regardless if the three starters were in the game or not, the Tigers gave away the ball far too much. They had nine turnovers in the first half, and without their starting point guard, it got worst in the second half.
“We just gotta clean it up,” Bluffton head coach Criag Teagle said after the game. “We make passes that we don’t practice. You’ve got to make the passes you practice during during the day Monday through Thursday.”
Despite Bellmont’s improved 19-3 record from 12-12 last year under new head coach Peyton Selking, Bluffton hung right in there and were down just two by the break.
Kord Fuelling converted two three-point plays in the paint before Andrew James and Jack Scheumann got a pair of triples. But the Tigers fought back on Andrew Hunt’s splash and six post buckets by Jenkins.
That gave a two-point edge to Bellmont at the end of the first quarter, and there wasn’t any ground gained in the next eight minutes either.
Hunt’s second three-pointer at 6:46 in the second quarter kept a 1-point lead or tie game over the next five minutes. Scheumann’s free throws and James’ two spread the score to 24-20, but Hunter Wenger made his only basket on a layup with four seconds left.
The Tigers were responding to everything the Braves threw at them. That was until the trio got into foul trouble.
Scheumann and Fuelling jump-started the second half with 11-2 run all by themselves.
Meanwhile, Jenkins hit the only shot of the third quarter early, but the Tigers didn’t see a point until Declan Grieser posted up on the right block for two at the 2:06 mark.
By that time, it was 35-28 Braves, and Scheumann picked the pocket of Axton Beste with a few seconds on the clock left and picked up two more, accomplishing 1,000 career points on it, too.
Most of Teagle’s starting five needed to sit the bench with three fouls, and forced a new rotation on the floor. The coach didn’t want to make the excuse for it this late in the season.
“That’s your leading scorer and your second-leading scorer sitting on the bench which makes a huge difference,” Teagle said. “Cam’s our point guard along with Axton, who is getting those guys scores a lot of times. So, yeah, that hurt, but that’s why you have a team. Other guys got to step in and play and make up for that, but that definitely made a little bit of a difference in the third quarter, yes.”
When Jenkins came back in, it made a small difference, but not nearly enough.
He got two post shots to fall through and brought the lead down to seven, but his team never came within that margin for the rest of the game.
Again, it was turnovers into fast-break points.
All things considered, the Tigers still put up a fight that might not have been expected against this Braves team. Their mistakes were costly, but losing by less than double digits meant they did something right.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Teagle said. “We attacked the rim more and we got some ball reversals and some open looks. We just got out of sync in the second half when we got in foul trouble. We had some guys in spots they haven’t probably practiced or played live in the game, but I was proud of them because they went in and gave good effort against a really good basketball team.”
Jenkins led the Tigers with 14 points, while Scheumann’s 23 led the field.
Bluffton has a quick turnaround with Mississinewa coming to The Tiger Den at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17.
The Braves won the junior varsity contest 43-39. Marshall Gerber was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 11 points, followed by Coleson Teeple with six and Griffin Morgan five.
ryan@news-banner.com
BELLMONT 46, BLUFFTON 37
At Bellmont
BLUFFTON (10-10): Tucker Jenkins 7-8 0-1 14, Axton Beste 3-5 0-0 7, Andrew Hunt 2-4 0-0 6, Cameron Williams 1-4 0-0 3, Kaleb Green 0-0 3-4 3, Declan Grieser 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter Wenger 1-2 0-0 2, Eli Garrett 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-27 3-5 37.
BELLMONT (19-3): Jack Scheumann 8-15 4-5 23, Andrew James 6-8 0-0 13, Kord Fuelling 3-10 4-7 10, Dylan Velez 0-4 0-0 0, Gavin Krull 0-4 0-0 0, Job Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0.TOTALS: 17-42 7-11 46.
Bluffton 14 8 6 9 — 37
Bellmont 16 8 13 9 — 46
Three-point FG: Bluffton 4-10 (Hunt 2-3, Williams 1-4, Beste 1-2, Green 0-1), Bellmont 4-12 (Scheumann 3-5, James 1-2, Fuelling 0-1, Krull 0-3). Rebounds: Bluffton 18 (Jenkins 6, Beste 6, Green 2, Williams 2, Grieser 1, Garrett 1), Bellmont 13 (James 3, Scheumann 3, Velez 3, Fuelling 2, Krull 1, Hoffman 1). Turnovers: Bluffton 21, Bellmont 6. Fouls: Bluffton 12, Bellmont 9. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 43-39 Bellmont.
