BOUNCE: Looking back on the prep hoops week of February 12-17

STATE FINALS BOUND

What can really be said about Norwell‘s decimation of Bremen in the 3A north semi state title game? The Knights opened up 9-0 in the first quarter before Kennedy Fuelling ever took a shot. Not quite the start you’d want if you were a Bremen dan with the school in the final four of their class for the first time ever. That lead, it actually got worse…way worse, and Norwell led 42-4 at the half. This is not a knock on Bremen, just a certainty that Norwell maintains with their work to be the best in the state in Class 3A. Bremen managed nine third quarter points but the Knights still extended their lead and advanced to their first state title game since 1977 with a 64-20 win,

The assertiveness of the Knights was awe inspiring and it has to make next week’s opponent (Gibson Southern) really nervous as the Knights had 18 total steals. It was Makenzie Fuess leading the way with 17, Vanessa Rosswurm with 16 and Fuelling with 12 points in the game.

It was the Fuelling show in the morning game for Norwell, who proved to be way too much actually for Hamilton Heights, who was ranked #1 in Class 3A to end the season. Maybe Bounce dropped the ball on this game pick. Fuelling scored 30 points and hit five three pointers while Rosswurm added 13 points and seven rebounds and Fuess also had 13 points. It was all Norwell from the jump, getting out to a 19-10 lead after one and pushing their lead to 31-14 late in the second. Camryn Runner tried to will the Huskies back in it, scoring 20 points in the second half, but Norwell won 64-50. The Huskies were ninth in the state in defensive average coming into the game, but Norwell had nine more points than that 32.1 ppg average by halftime.

Of note, on the day Norwell advances to state, one of their best alums Maiah Shelton hit the 1,000 career point mark for Bethel.

Bishop Luers‘ morning game proved to be an overwhelming show of depth against Lapel that we kind of expected it to be. Miley Wareing led the charge with 15 points but Addie Shank added 13, Annika Davis had 11 and Reese Rhodehamel had seven. Just as asked all week, how do you deal with depth like that? Lapel couldn’t and the Knights took a 56-38 win over Lapel into their night game for a semi state title.

At night, Luers again had more firepower, using a 15-8 second quarter to pull away from Andrean. The Knights’ defense, like Norwell’s, shined to close out the game, allowing just two points in the fourth quarter to send Andrean home and themselves to the state finals behind 11 points each from Davis and Shank. Bishop Luers will now play their first state title game since 2012.

Homestead was the lone area school to fall in the semi state morning game, dropping a 55-42 game to Lake Central despite leading by five points at the half. Homestead saw Lake Central go on a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to take away their hopes of a semi state final game. The game was tied at 37 after three quarters and the Spartans did strike first in the fourth but that was before that big Lake Central run that separated things. Gabby Helmson led Homestead with 14 points in the loss but the big picture reminds us that the Spartans graduate just one senior.

BELLMONT PROVES DANGEROUS

But Bounce, they lost on Saturday. I don’t care. But Bounce, the team they just lost to (Bishop Luers) just loss this week to the last place team (Huntington North) in the conference Bellmont just won. I still don’t care.

Bellmont may be the most dangerous boys team in this area, pound for pound, heading into the postseason as they embark on a mission to win some more titles in Class 3A. They went 2-1 this week and I continued to be impressed by them being a top team and the work they are putting in to be at the top of the heap in so many areas.

On Tuesday, they closed out their Adams County schedule 2-0 with a 64-35 thrashing of South Adams behind 18 points from Dylan Velez, while Jack Scheumann scored a human like number of 10 but nine different Braves scored.

On Friday, Scheumann became just the 12th Brave to ever score 1,000 career points which is quite the accomplishment when you think about all of the high level ball players who have passed through Decatur even in the last couple of decades like Seth Colclasure, Aaron Richie and Kade Fuelling. The Braves beat a defensive minded Bluffton for their 18th win of the season.

And on Saturday, yeah they lost to Bishop Luers but they also put a fight into a high end SAC team that was extra motivated after a couple of recent losses to teams they probably shouldn’t have lost to. And Bellmont showed tremendous fight and pride in their game, even in the loss.

On Saturday, the Braves fell by just five to Luers behind a career best (and area best this season, boys or girls) 42 points from Scheumann. The scoring output from the senior was massive as he continues to lead the way as one of the brightest stars from this season. Despite shooting 11-25 in the second half, Bellmont wasn’t able to knock down threes and only got three free throws in the final half and it led to the loss. But they still fought, were still right there and Scheumann wow’d.

With just a week left of the regular season, is it too late to put those in 3A on notice? Shouldn’t they already be aware of just how dangerous Bellmont is? For all of their sakes, I hope so.

THE LAST CONFERENCE STANDING

It is now officially the last week of the season and we still don’t know who is going to win the NECC.

Central Noble was eliminated Friday night with a loss to Fremont where Eagle junior Bryce Parnin set the single season block record for his program. The Eagles can also play spoiler for Westview on the 20th when they host the Warriors, who sit a 7-2 in conference.

For Westview to even factor in though, they need Lakeland or Fairfield to lose their remaining game. Both of those teams sit at 8-1 in conference with Fairfield hosting Central Noble on February 23 and Lakeland hosting Angola that same night.

Should one team lose and the other win, then we will have an outright champion in the NECC. If they both win, they will share the title despite the fact that Fairfield beat Lakeland 55-40 all the way back on December 5.

A loss for both on December 23 and Westview could make it a three way tie for the title if the pesky Fremont Eagles don’t get them first. Of note, this season two of the main four area conferences saw outright champions (Wayne in the SAC and Adams Central in the ACAC), while just the NE8 has shared so far (Columbia City and Bellmont).

OTHER NOTES

Lakeland hit a season high 12 three pointers Tuesday in a loss to Northridge where Nate Keil had 26 points….Bishop Dwenger head coach Matt Kostoff won his 300th game on Wednesday, beating Leo in a game where Caleb Lehrman had 23 points and 17 rebounds….DeKalb won their county rivalry game on Friday over Garrett with a 32 point output from Caden Pettis….Wayne capped a 9-0 SAC schedule Friday beating Concordia behind a 22 point/12 rebound double double from Trey Dillard…Eugene Young knocked down a late three then helped seal a Saturday overtime win for North Side with a closing seconds block to defeat Adams Central. Young scored 26 and had 13 rebounds while Jaxson Fugate also scored 26; they each had 3 blocked shots including Fugate’s of Isaac Schultz at the buzzer….Blackhawk Christian standout Kellen Pickett scored a career high 30 points in Saturday’s win over South Side.

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