OWENSVILLE — Starting 2020 with a tough home loss to Hermann’s Bearcats, Tim Evans’ Belle Tigers went into the Owensville Tournament looking to collect their first win of 2020.

Following a loss to top-seeded Steelville last Monday, the Tigers dropped to the consolation side of the bracket taking on Osage’s Indians last Tuesday night at Owensville High School.

Building a 14-5 lead after one quarter, Belle was outscored 48-24 the rest of the game before being eliminated from the tournament following a 53-48 loss to Osage.

“It’s tough to win a basketball game when you only score two points in a quarter,” Evans said.

Trailing 2-1 at the 5:05 mark of the first quarter, a Brett Stewart 3-pointer gave the Tigers a 4-2 lead.

That started a 13-2 run capped by consecutive 3-point shots from Lane Feeler and Jat Ridenhour for a 14-4 Belle lead with 1:38 remaining in the first quarter.

Taking a 14-5 lead into the second quarter, the Tigers saw the Indians score the first nine points of the quarter tying the game at 14-14 with 1:25 until halftime.

An Eddy Paz basket at the 1:06 mark put Belle back in front 16-14.

Two Drew Edwards free throws in the final 39.1 of the half helped the Indians go into halftime tied at 16-16 with Belle.

Paz (5), Feeler (4) and Ridenhour (4) combined for 13 of the 16 first-half points scored by the Tigers.

Points from the above-mentioned trio kept Belle’s deficit in single digits to start the third quarter before Osage went on a mid-quarter run.

Trailing 34-23 with 1:47 for the third, Belle answered with a run of their own.

Jace Gieck started the 9-2 run with a pair of free throws at the 1:30 mark before a Gentry Dunn 3-pointer trimmed the Indian lead to 34-28 with :40 ticks left.

A bucket by Feeler and a Thomas Lingo shot beating the third-quarter buzzer put the Tigers right back into the game trailing Osage 36-32 heading into the fourth quarter.

A Lingo free throw and a Feeler 3-pointer pulled Belle to within two at 38-36 with 6:55 remaining from Owensville.

Able to get within two points one more time at 44-42 on another Feeler bucket with 3:13 to go, the Tigers could not get any closer before seeing their stay at the 31st Owensville Tournament come to an end.

Feeler led the Tigers in a losing cause with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Ridenhour recorded a double double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with two steals and two blocked shots.

Paz just missed scoring in double digits with eight points.

Gentry Dunn scored all five of his points of the second half in addition to three points each from Lingo and Stewart.

Hosting Fatima’s Comets Monday night in a freshmen, junior varsity and varsity tripleheader, it was not a good night for the hometown Tigers.

Falling 56-28 in the freshmen game, Belle was led in scoring by Sam Willis with 10 points.

In spite of seeing three Tigers in double figures, Fatima also took the JV game, 70-53.

Thomas Lingo led Belle with 17 points followed by 14 markers from his brother Justin Lingo and 11 points from Will Doss.

Seeing Fatima hit 11 3-pointers in varsity action, the Tigers dropped a 90-17 decision to the visiting Comets.

Paz and Gentry Dunn scored six points apiece to led Belle in scoring. Colten Robinson added three points.