Bellefontaine’s boys basketball team is still searching for answers after another lopsided loss Friday.
The Chiefs dropped to 0-8 on the season and failed to be competitive in a 70-39 defeat to visiting Springfield Shawnee.
“Once we got down, we lost our mental focus,” said Bellefontaine senior guard Simon Stolly. “We have to have a mentality that when we get down we continue to punch back. We can’t just take punches and not respond.”
The Braves built a 13-point lead at halftime and then outscored the Chiefs 36-18 in the second half.
“Early in the second quarter things started to change and we lost our fight,” said Bellefontaine head coach Jason Calton. “I am kind of at a loss for words. I am running out of ideas on how to get this team to play at a high level for a good stretch of the game. We put together a couple of good possessions at times, but then we take two or three possessions off.”
The Chiefs struggled on both ends of the floor. They could not get in sync offensively and on the defensive end, Bellefontaine allowed Shawnee to score 17 points over its season average.
“They are definitely not 31 points better than us,” said Calton. “But they played well tonight. Give credit to Coach (Chris) McGuire and his guys. They came out firing on all cylinders.”
Fighting through adversity is an area Calton said his team needs to continue to improve in.
“Early in the second half, the game got away from us and some of our guys stopped playing together and started to fight a little,” said Calton. “We can’t allow that to happen.”
Jarrid Baughman and Maverick Calton each scored 11 points to lead the Chiefs. Declan Ashcraft added nine points.
Zion Crowe scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Braves and Isaac Siemon contributed 19 points.
In the junior varsity game, Bellefontaine won 29-27. Robbie Wildermuth led the Chiefs with seven points.
Shawnee won the freshman contest 41-34. Declan Shannon led Bellefontaine with 12 points.
The Chiefs are back in action Tuesday at Benjamin Logan.
SHAWNEE 70, BELLEFONTAINE 39
SHAWNEE (5-2, 2-2)
Fultz 4 2-3 12; Lyons 1 0-0 2; Siemon 7 1-1 19; Berry 1 0-0 3; Mitch 4 3-4 11; Griffith 0 2-2 2; Crowe 7 5-7 20; Moore 0 1-2 1. Totals: 24 14-19 70.
BELLEFONTAINE (0-8, 0-4)
Stolly 1 0-0 2; Ashcraft 4 1-2 9; Baughman 5 0-0 11; Calton 5 0-0 11; Belser 1 0-0 2; Warner 1 0-1 2; Wildermuth 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 1-3 39.
Braves 13 • 21 • 20 • 16 — 70
Chiefs 9 • 12 • 9 • 10 — 39
Three pointers: Shawnee 8 (Siemon 4, Fultz 2, Berry, Crowe); Bellefontaine 2 (Baughman, Calton). Turnovers: Shawnee 7; Bellefontaine 9. Team fouls: Shawnee 10; Bellefontaine 12.