By John Bombatch
BELLBROOK — Visiting Fairborn went on a third-quarter scoring binge and spoiled Bellbrook’s home opener, 66-55, Tuesday night at Bellbrook High.
The game was going along pretty evenly in the first half, with the Skyhawks holding a narrow 30-27 lead. Fairborn hit five 3-pointers in the half, and Bellbrook hit three of its own to keep things close. But apparently Fairborn was just getting warmed up.
The Skyhawks drained five more shots from behind the 3-point arc just in the third quarter alone as part of a 25-9 run to grab the lead for good.
Jordan Pumroy hit five of Fairborn’s 12 converted 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points. Fellow sharpshooters Branden Lilley and Leslen Switzer each drained three 3-pointers in the game and finished with 14 and 11 points respectively.
“That was good execution by our guys, especially in the third quarter,” Fairborn coach Nathan Chivington said. “Pumroy got hot for us, and even when he’s hot he still makes good decisions with the basketball. … (Ryan) Profitt did a nice job pulling down rebounds, and a lot of guys stepped in and knocked down some outside shots. So it was a good first victory. I think defensively, we stepped it up in that third quarter as well, and that was a good run for us.”
John Bush, Bellbrook’s lone starting senior, led the Golden Eagles with 15 points. Sophomore Donnie Crouch was next with 12 points, junior Trent Nartker had nine and Brady Tincher finished with eight in the season opener for both schools.
“That third quarter, they started knocking down some shots and the momentum started going their way,” Bellbrook coach Perry Caldwell said. “I tried to take a couple timeouts to stop it, but they were doing a great job defensively, too. We had some young guys out there playing varsity basketball for the first time. We talked about just learning from this and taking advantage of it later. We played hard. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.”
Bellbrook has a week until it plays again. They’ll visit Miamisburg on Tuesday, Dec. 8 for their next game. The Golden Eagles were originally supposed to play Brookville later this week, but with a good portion of the Blue Devils’ basketball team having made a deep football playoff run, the game has been pushed back to later in the season.
Fairborn’s next scheduled game is against another area school vying for a state title. The Skyhawks are scheduled to visit Huber Heights to take on the Warriors of Wayne High School. While the game is still listed on the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s website as a go, Wayne is in the Division I state title football game this weekend. Fairborn will likely also have a week off before returning to the hardwood. They’re scheduled to play at Troy on Dec. 8.
