Bellbrook senior Kellen Solomon (11) drives to the basket as part of a 20-5 fourth quarter run that allowed his team to pull away from Eaton for a 67-49 win Friday at home.
Pulling down a rebound for Bellbrook is sophomore Aidan Caswell (10).
Bellbrook junior Austin Webb (5) led the team with 20 points against Eaton.
The Bellbrook bench had plenty of fun and chances to celebrate the many makes from three the Golden Eagles had in the second half of Friday’s win.
BELLBROOK — There is not such a thing as too many scoring options being on the floor at one time for Bellbrook.
When as a group they seemingly cannot miss, it’s a nightmare for opponents to try and figure out how to guard them all.
Eaton did its best to stick with the Golden Eagles but eventually succumbed to its offensive onslaught in a 67-49 win for Bellbrook at home Friday.
“We just have shooters on the court everywhere,” head coach Donnie Tate said. “I’ve been here for a couple years where we didn’t have those guys that could shoot and we completely relied on defense to help win.
“Defense is starting to come together now but I think we were 8-for-12 from three in the second half, so yeah, it’s just one of those nights.”
Prior to heating up from deep, Eaton’s zone defense took away the paint during the first half and slowed down the Bellbrook attack.
Bellbrook used an 8-0 run fueled by the fast break to take a 20-10 lead in the second quarter but without assisting itself in transition, its offense couldn’t find much room as Eaton stormed back with its own 13-0 to lead near the break and be tied at 25 at halftime.
Once the second half began, Eaton was able to keep pace with Bellbrook’s shooting prowess for a brief few minutes before hitting a dry spell that lasted the final five-plus minutes of the game.
“It was scary for a few minutes because they hit some threes, but then in a stretch of about four straight where they hit two we also got two and there was no change it let us keep our lead,” Tate said. “But [Eaton] played great.”
Four different players connected from beyond the arc for Bellbrook. Aidan Caswell had four in the first half as part of his 14 points, but when he came up empty after halftime it was time for others to step up.
Kellen Solomon and David Gregory combined for two first half points, but had 25 in the second and had five makes from deep.
Those efforts spanned just a half, but Austin Webb came up with a game-high 20 points as the only player to score in each quarter.
“What we really talked about at halftime was getting the ball to the paint with a pass or a dribble,” Tate said. “It made the defense collapse and gives some room to the guys out there shooting the basketball. And it makes coaching a lot easier.”
Ramy Ahmed for Eaton entered the game as the league’s second leading scorer and was able to match his 20ppg average, but didn’t get enough of the same production from his teammates.
One scorer for Eaton couldn’t match the many options Bellbrook can turn to on any night.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
