Bellarmine-Jefferson boys’ basketball can’t recover from disastrous second quarter

BURBANK — A productive start turned into a nightmare in the second quarter Wednesday evening for the Bellarmine-Jefferson High boys’ basketball.

Taking on Bishop Amat in a Camino Real League game, the Guards trailed the Lancers after the first quarter by just two.

However, that all changed in the second quarter.

The Lancers began hitting their shots and the Guards went cold from the floor. In addition, Bell-Jeff committed eight turnovers in the stanza and Bishop Amat outscored it by 26, riding the lopsided quarter to an 87-54 victory at Bell-Jeff.

The Guards (2-12, 0-2 in league) took on the Lancers (16-3, 3-0) – ranked No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division III-AA -- after what has been a trying few days for the program. Bell-Jeff suited up just nine players for Wednesday’s game and one of the Guards suffered an injury early in the first quarter and never returned.

Bell-Jeff was depleted after two of its top players, juniors and all-league returners Paulius Kastackes and Tomas Butkus left the school to play in the country of Georgia. The Guards also hadn’t played a game since Jan. 11 after a league game Jan. 13 against La Salle was postponed because of what coach Ray Witt would only say was as an “administrative decision.”

“These kids are out there playing and doing the best that they can,” said Witt, who pointed out that the La Salle game will be rescheduled.

With a sparse squad, Bell-Jeff received a fine effort off the bench from junior Samuel Bouhalloufa, who scored a team-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds. Freshman Rameon Witt added 14 points on the strength of four three-pointers and junior Riny Ival scored eight points and hauled in 10 rebounds.

After trailing, 7-0, to start the first quarter, Witt drained three long three-pointers and the Guards made up most of the deficit to trail by two, 21-19, after one.

But all the momentum swung in favor of the Lancers in the second quarter, as they outscored the Guards, 31-5. In the second, Bell-Jeff turned the ball over eight times and converted just one of 11 shots from the field, including missing its first eight.

“Our team just can’t give up on our game play if we have a little adversity,” Ray Witt said. “We need to go with our game plan, be disciplined and run our offense.

“That team that we played wasn’t all that athletic and they weren’t super skilled. But they were disciplined enough to stick to their game plan. We have to get that same mentality to where we are doing what we practiced and what we need to do. …It’s not the situation, but how you deal with it.”

Bell-Jeff committed 23 turnovers in the game.

The Guards played better in the third quarter and were outscored, 20-16. Bouhalloufa had 14 of his team’s 16 points and Bell-Jeff went into the fourth quarter trailing, 72-40.

“We just have to work more together and play as a team, not as individuals,” Ray Witt said.

Sophomore Gjerard Wilson of Bishop Amat led all scorers with 28 points.