District title puts Bellis over top
KARNS CITY — Chris Bellis had high hopes that his Karns City boys basketball team would turn in a successful season.
The Gremlins did ... and then some.
KC rolled to the District 9 Class 2A title, its second crown in four years, and was one of the final eight teams left in the state before the Gremlins' season ended with a record of 23-3.
It is the most successful campaign the program has had since the 2001-02 team went 27-2, also reaching the state quarterfinals.
“We started the year off just happy to play,” said Bellis, who has guided the Gremlins for 12 seasons. “Our athletic director (Josh Williams) did a good job filling a 22-game schedule in the regular season.“We got started late because of the 3-week layoff into January and our guys responded well to a tight schedule. Sometimes when you play so many games close to each other, you can get on a roll and that's what we were able to do.”Bellis was a unanimous choice as the Butler Eagle's Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.Seniors Chase Beighley and Nathan Waltman gave the Gremlins two standouts at guard and forward, respectively, to build around this season. But the team's success was due in large part to the play of KC's supporting cast.The other starters included junior Cole Sherwin, sophomore Micah Rupp and freshman Luke Cramer.Bellis was able to effectively meld the talents and different experience levels of the starting five. Reserves Luke Garing, Eric Booher and Taite Beighley provided valuable minutes off the bench.“We knew we couldn't rely on just one or two players to score,” said Bellis. “We ended up having six players who scored in double figures in games this season and that made us tough to defend.”Bellis' varsity assistants included two of his former players in David Markel and Zach Kepple.The latter said Bellis is the same type of coach he played for a decade ago.“He's an efficient coach, has a reason for everything we do in practice,” said Kepple. “Players don't always pick up on that.“Chris treats all of them the same. It doesn't matter if you're a veteran or a new guy, he always makes a point to say something positive.”Kepple said Bellis preaches defensive-minded basketball.“We mercy-ruled a number of teams this year and our defense was a big reason for that,” said Kepple. “The players bought in to what he wanted to do.”Individual achievements came amid KC's success as a team. Chase Beighley became the program's all-time leading scorer and ended his scholastic career just shy of 1,700 points. Waltman became the 13th boys player at the school to reach 1,000 points.“Nathan and Chase led us in points, but they also provided leadership in other ways,” said Bellis. “When your top players buy in to what you're trying to get down, it makes it easier for the rest of the team to follow.“Chase led us in charges taken with 10 and Nathan had nine. They were willing to do the dirty work.”While Bellis lauded the effort from this year's team, he also took a peak at next season.“We'll be losing a lot of scoring with Chase and Nathan graduating, but six of our top eight players will be back,” he said. “We'll be ready to move forward with them.”
