CHURCHILL – Students-athletes from the country began to sign national letters of intent on Wednesday, and the Montana State men’s basketball program scored its first official recruit from right in its backyard.
Manhattan Christian High School’s Caleb Bellach inked with the Bobcats Wednesday afternoon on his home court in Churchill. Bellach, who is now a senior, averaged over 20.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game in his junior season.
Bellach has helped lead the Eagles to the Class C state championship game the past two seasons, losing both times to Arlee. Bellach grew up a Bobcat fan, so the decision was a simple one.
“It’s my hometown, I’m only 20 minutes away and I get to play in front of all these people that come and cheer us on every night,” said Bellach. “And being close to my family, because my family is really close to me throughout this whole process, and that definitely had a part of it.”
Now that he has college sorted out, Bellach has one last piece of business to take care of before he leaves the Eagles, and the senior forward sent out a pretty big prediction on signing day.
“I’ve talked with my teammates about it, and we are definitely not going to settle this year: 2019 state champs,” Bellach smiled.
Bellach is the first Montana high schooler to sign with the Bobcats since Fish’s arrival prior to the 2014-15 season. Westby-Grenora’s Cooper Olson walked on in 2015, and MSU added Sheridan College transfer Ladan Ricketts, a Livingston native, this offseason.
