Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Bellbrook senior Kellen Solomon (11) drains a three as an Edgewood defender flies by during the second half of Friday’s 63-43 home win for the Golden Eagles.
Lining up a shot from beyond the arc is Bellbrook sophomore David Gregory.
Edgewood’s defense stiflied Bellbrook for much of the first half and didn’t leave much room for easy shot attempts as junior Austin Webb (5) discovered on this drive into the paint.
Bellbrook head coach Donnie Tate gets the attention of his team during a timeout.
Bellbrook students wore red and white apparel to Friday’s game in support of Hope Squad, a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program designed to teach students to recognize the warning signs of those in distress and increase connectedness in schools.
Check out a photo gallery of the halftime performance by the Firecrackers Jump Rope Team.
BELLBROOK — The season opener for Bellbrook didn’t see the Golden Eagles get in a rhythm until the fourth quarter began.
Friday they were able to get things moving a quarter earlier thanks to Kellen Solomon’s big half.
Bellbrook overcame a 7-point halftime deficit against Edgewood to win its Southwestern Buckeye League opener 63-43.
A 24-2 run by the Golden Eagles coming out of the locker room shocked the Cougars which had mostly dominated the run of play in the first half.
“There was a lot of problem solving going on,” Bellbrook head coach Donnie Tate said of the halftime talk. “Everything we’ve talked about for weeks now with our offense just being more patient with a ball in our hands, and we just went through those thing to reassert the ways we can get things done.”
With shots falling from all over the floor, Bellbrook (2-0) was near unstoppable in the third quarter. After trailing 25-18 at the break, the game was quickly tied in the opening minutes before Solomon gave the Golden Eagles its first lead at the free throw line.
He later capped what would be a 13-0 run to start the third quarter with a three from the corner as part of his game-high 21 points which all came in the second half. Solomon added another after Edgewood finally got on the board again as Bellbrook didn’t let its foot off the gas.
“The first half we didn’t shoot well at all, you could see they were deflated a little bit,” Tate said. “We had some air balls that were not characteristic of us. You hit a couple right at the beginning of the third and now everybody’s got good spirits again.”
Patience was needed in the first half due to the pressure Edgewood (1-2) applied on defense. Bellbrook was held without a point during a stretch spanning more than five minutes as halftime neared before Austin Webb hit a three, but the Cougars answered with one their own. Edgewood hit five shots from beyond the arc in the first half to build a lead as large as eight.
Tate was called for a technical foul just before the halftime whistle after having a discussion with the on-court officials. Bellbrook players grouped together after and scored five of the final seven points of the second quarter to set up their run after the break.
“Mental toughness is there with this team,” Tate said. “It’s getting them to believe in themselves they can be mentally tough and it’s good that they got that win for that reassurance.”
In addition to Solomon’s big half, Webb had 19 points in the game for Bellbrook with C. J. Scohy and Aidan Caswell both adding eight.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
