On December 12, 2025, Lawrence Central and Lawrence North last faced off during the regular season. In that match-up, Lawrence North came away with a narrow 78-80 victory over Lawrence Central. Junior, Jeremiah Bellamy watched that game from the bench in a boot.
A month later, on January 13th, Jeremiah made his debut as a Bear.
On Saturday, the sectional finals of the high school basketball tournament took place. The Lawrence Central Bears entered the game with one final obstacle standing between them and the sectional title: the Lawrence North Wildcats.
Bellamy played in his first sectional tournament with Lawrence Central this past week. Bellamy, who transferred from North Central, joined the Bears alongside fellow transfer Gavin Petty. Bellamy led the team in rebounds against Lawrence North with 5.3 that game. When asked about the team’s performance this past Saturday against Lawrence North, Bellamy said: “ The team played great, the whole 32 minutes we played as one team.” I talked to Jeremiah a couple of weeks ago about a sectional run: he has stated since the beginning that they would win Sectionals and go far in the postseason.
The game was back-and-forth between the two teams the whole game. Going into halftime, the Bears were down 25-27. In the locker room, Coach Washington’s message to the team was “ stick to the plan, we know it’s working, don’t change it up.”
Like the first two quarters, the third quarter remained a back-and-forth battle between the crosstown rivals. The Bears pulled ahead late in the period, taking a 42–38 lead into the fourth quarter. The momentum carried into the final eight minutes, as the two Lawrence teams continued to trade baskets down the stretch.
Jeremiah had a strong performance, scoring 19 points while contributing on both offense and defense throughout the game.
The mindset throughout the entire game was to play as one team, and that is exactly what the Bears did. They moved the ball well, communicated on defense, and supported each other on every possession. By staying focused and working together, the Bears maintained their energy and competed on both ends of the court for the full game. Leading to them causing a break through the last 5 minutes of the game to stop the back-and-forth battle between the Wildcats.
The boys went on to play Decatur this past Saturday on March 14th. The Bears didn’t have the out-come that they wanted. Taking the loss to Decatur 60-73, ends their 25-26 season. With just one win away from a regional title. Next year the bears will have returning starters Jeremiah Bellamy and Caleb Wells, along with Junior varsity player Ty Ferguson who came off the bench this year.
