BOYS BASKETBALL: Patience pays off for Bellevue against Huron

The Tigers opened the season by playing like a veteran team hungry to make amends for a four-win season last year.

The Redmen countered with patience and clutch shooting.

Bellevue converted half of its shots from behind the arc and got double-digit scoring from Jeff Roth, Curt Watson and Cody Ruhlman in a 46-43 victory at Huron.

“We knew going in they have a new coach and a veteran team that is excited about this season,” Redmen coach Mike Raifsnider said. “It didn’t matter if we won by one point or 10, I was going to pat them on the back. I wasn’t happy with the way we executed at the end, but it’s a win and I’ll take it.”

In the meantime, new Huron coach Bobby James figured defense and a deliberate tempo was his team’s best chance to win. The Tigers were 19-of-38 from the field with Zack Grieves tossing in a game-high 13 points and Brandon Poorman adding 10.

“We wanted to control the tempo,” James said. “That team wants to go up and down, and if you give them possessions, they are going to go. We felt if we could control the tempo into the fourth quarter, we would have a chance to win, and I thought we did that.”

Huron cut the deficit to three points four times after falling behind by a 17-10 margin in the first quarter. Bellevue had an answer for the first three challenges, and the clock took care of the last time the Tigers closed the gap.

“We needed a stop and didn’t get it; we needed a score and didn’t get it,” James said. “We need to learn to get over the hump to get a win. We did keep it close against a good team which is going to win some games in the (Northern Ohio League), but we have to learn to get over the hump.”

Bellevue used mini-runs to keep the Tigers at bay.

An 8-2 spurt early in the third quarter allowed the Redmen to build a 31-22 advantage, while five straight points from Watson early in the fourth fueled a 7-0 spurt to open up a 44-34 advantage.

“I thought we hit some big baskets at some clutch times,” Raifsnider said. “But we have to do a better job at the foul line down the stretch. But give their kids the credit because they fought to the end.”

Roth paced the Bellevue scoring with 11 points with Watson and Ruhlman each tossing in 10 points. Jake Sears added a team-leading five rebounds with Watson grabbing four.

Huron finished with a 24-21 edge on the boards with Grieves pulling down six and Derek Dowell and Poorman each adding five.

“Our kids kept battling when they could have folded,” James said. “We just couldn’t get that basket to get over the hump.”

The Redmen opened with a 54-33 win in the JV game with Trent Stamm leading all scorers with 10 for Bellevue. Brandon Krueger and Cody Crandall led Huron with seven points each.