Belding next fall will be the newest addition to an O-K Silver Conference marked strikingly by its division into the haves and have nots.

The newcomers very likely will join Hopkins, Wyoming Lee and Kelloggsville in the have nots category. The Redskins gave that impression Tuesday night when they absorbed a 61-44 defeat at the hands of a Hopkins team that entered the contest with just a 1-10 overall record.

The Vikings, who have the misfortune of playing in the same league with top-ranked Godwin and Calvin Christian and Northpointe Christian, captured their second victory of the season while Belding fell to 2-9.

The Redskins simply weren’t able to score inside the paint, particularly early in the ballgame, and they could not handle 6-7 Viking center Jake Sapp.

Belding took a slim 10-8 lead when sophomore center Xavier Andino got a layup after beating a full-court press, but the visitors then went more than 10 minutes without scoring a single point.

Hopkins tallied 15 unanswered points to go up 23-10 when Mason Schaendorf dropped in a layup off the fast break with only about a minute and a half left in the second quarter.

Senior guard Lucas McNinch broke the spell with a three-point field goal at 1:05.

By intermission, the Vikings were up 25-14, thanks to a last minute slam dunk by Sapp, who took a nifty inside pass from Schaendorf and rammed the basketball through the hoop just before the buzzer.

At the half, Belding’s offensive stats were startling. The Redskins had three threes, one free throw and only two, two-point baskets. Good defense or poor offense? Both?

Sapp at the half already had 10 points, and he was just warming up.

Perhaps a critical factor was freshman forward Nolan Smith, who came off the bench in a brief stretch in the second period to score two points and grab five rebounds. He finished the game with five points and seven rebounds.

Belding continued to be ineffective in getting inside shots throughout the third quarter, and all of its six points came from a three by McNinch and another by Dylan McMaster. So here was a team that had five threes and only two regular two-point goals, trailing 36-20 before the start of the final eight minutes.

Sapp, though he missed a lot of layups, as did his teammates throughout the evening, still managed to come up with 27 points. The only other Hopkins player to reach double figures, however, was Justin Weick, who finished the game with 10.

Sapp also was credited with three blocked shots for the evening.

McNinch led Belding with 12 points and Brendan Dines collected nine points, all on threes.

Hopkins will be in search of its third victory of the season Friday night when it entertains Wyoming Lee, which was the other team the Vikings defeated this season.

Meanwhile, the Hopkins girls’ basketball team suffered a 62-21 thrashing at the hands of Belding. Details were not made available.

PHOTO: Hopkins’ Jake Sapp (21) apparently gets a kick out of dunking the basketball. He had a few against Belding Tuesday night. Also shown here in a contest earlier this season are teammates Justin Weick (2) and Mason Schaendorf (33).