Over the past few days, Adams County has ascended the spotlight in Northeast Indiana. Thursday night in Decatur saw fans packing the Teepee in the “Return of the Crowd” night honoring Bellmont’s 13 individual state champions and showcasing two state ranked teams.
Friday night saw another version of this type of event where ‘The Hangar’ in Monroe was packed with Bellmont and Adams Central fans watching a county rivalry boys basketball game between two teams that are off to red hot start. Let’s just say the fans showed up and were loud. But as history shows, Bellmont continues to find success as they rallied to beat Adams Central 66-62 to improve to 7-1 on the season.
Early on however, it didn’t look like it was going to be Bellmont’s night. While the Braves shot nearly 50 percent from the floor at the start of the game, they missed their first four three point attempts and committed four turnovers. As for Adams Central, they started the game making 10 of their first 17 shots. Trace Maller, by himself, scored 10 points in the first quarter and the Jets were finding success pounding the ball inside, which opened their perimeter shooting.
At one point in the first half, the Jets were shooting 50 percent just on threes alone. Everything seemed scripted to be a joyous night for the Jets when they went into the second quarter up 25-14. The second quarter started out much like the first; Bellmont kept making their shots and even got to the line a few times, but AC kept finding success shooting the basketball.
Bellmont faced a critical point in the game when Micah McClure’s three gave the Jets their largest lead of the game of 14 points and a 33-19 lead with 5:48 left in the second quarter. Bellmont’s Dylan Velez went back the other way and his jumper miraculously didn’t go in and AC had a chance to stretch this lead further.
Then, the comeback happened. Isaac Schultz was trying to attack the basket on the baseline when Kord Fuelling took a critical charge that gave Schultz his second foul. It was that play that started an impressive Bellmont run.
The Braves scored 13 of the next 14 points in the game to cut it to a 34-32 game. Gavin Krull made four of his five threes in the second quarter to cut it to a 33-32 Jets lead with 1:18 left in the second. Krull led a balanced Bellmont attack with 17 points. McClure went to the free throw line making one of two shots to make it 34-32; McClure finished with 13 points. Fuelling tied it at 34 off the feed from Andrew James with under a minute to play in the quarter.
Then on the final sequence of the half, Maller undressed the defense with a nice eurostep to score with four seconds left looking like the Jets would be up at the half, but Bellmont had other ideas. On the final play of the half, Jack Scheumann pulled up a desperation three from the volleyball line and was fouled with 0.3 left in the first half. He drained all three free throws to give Bellmont their first lead if he game at the half, up 37-36.
From there, the ball had completely shifted to Bellmont’s hands. Adams Central committed five turnovers in the second quarter alone and Bellmont shot 4-6 from three in that quarter. That quarter didn’t win the game by itself but a propelled to the monumental shift in the Braves’ favor.
To Adams Central’s credit, they continued to battle back going up by as many as three points throughout the second half. But from there, it became a continuous seesaw. Whenever the Jets made a basket or play, the Braves matched it. It didn’t help that the Jets at one point in the game had missed seven of their next eight free throws.
Once again, the Braves made a key basket before the buzzer. Down 50-49 in the final five seconds of the quarter, Fuelling faked the shot, fooling a high-flying Schultz trying to block the shot, and Fuelling scored the basket to give the Braves a 51-50 lead going into the final quarter.
Led by Schultz’s 15 of his game high 21 points in the second half, the Jets continued to battle back to take a 56-53 lead with just over five minutes left. But the Braves showed no quit and erased another deficit. After making the first free throw, Scheumann missed the second, but Fuelling grabbed the offensive rebound and made the reverse layup to tie it at 56. Both Fuelling and Scheumann finished with 16 points.
Bellmont finished the game on a 13-6 run as free throws and forcing Adams Central turnovers proved to be the deciding points of the game. Bellmont made 16 of their 17 free throws. The Jets committed 19 turnovers in the game, with 11 of them coming in the second half. Maller, who had 10 points in the first quarter, was held to zero points in the second half finishing with 12. Braylend Reber made three of the Jets’ six threes and finished with 11 points.
Bellmont extends their best start since 2004 when Shaun Busick coached the team, while the Jets fall to 3-1. This game did not win a championship or end a team’s season, but it was a statement Adams County win for the Bellmont Braves who continue to prove they have the makings of achieving championship aspirations.
Bellmont will be heading to the Richmond tournament on Dec. 28 where 16 teams will participate in that tournament. As for the Jets, it’s back to the drawing board looking to regroup against Eastbrook on Dec. 29.
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