Bellefontaine’s boys basketball team, already struggling with its confidence, was dealt a punch to the gut in a loss to Benjamin Logan on Tuesday.
Still searching for its first win, Bellefontaine (0-9, 0-4) will try to circle the wagons as it travels to Tecumseh (1-10, 0-4) on Friday for a Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail division game.
The Chiefs saw an 11-point fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 56-53 overtime loss to the Raiders earlier this week.
BHS head coach Jason Calton is confident his players can shake off the sting of the Ben Logan loss and put together a winning performance against a Tecumseh team that is also struggling this season.
“High school kids are resilient,” said Calton. “Our program has never been a program that lingers on a win or a loss. It’s a ‘so what, now what’ mentality. They have bought into that and are moving forward with what’s up next.”
Tecumseh’s lone win came against Piqua on Dec. 14. The Arrows have lost six in a row since.
The Arrows are allowing 72 points per game while scoring 54 per contest.
Bellefontaine will see a similar style of basketball as it saw Tuesday against Ben Logan. The Arrows have launched 234 three-point attempts this season, averaging 21 per game.
“Interestingly enough, Ben Logan and Tecumseh were scheduled back-to-back and they are very similar teams,” said Calton. “They are not very big and they prefer to shoot the three.”
Bellefontaine hopes to have better luck defending the three-point arc than it did Tuesday as the Raiders converted 12 three-pointers.
“We have to do a better job of making shooters to drive instead of sitting at the three-point line and shooting from where they want to,” said Calton.
The Arrows have three players that are averaging in double figures in scoring. Easton Lewis, a 6-1 senior guard, leads the way with a 15.5-point average.
Freshman guard Collin O’Connor is scoring 12.2 points per game game and sophomore guard Evan Parker is adding 10 ppg.