Big Ten

It is a streak that has been a decade in the making.
With its 24th straight victory — 49-33 — over the Union City Indians Friday night, Jay County improved to 11-6 and guaranteed its 10th straight winning season.
The Patriots’ win came with four players scoring in double figures to complement a dominating effort on the glass.
“Jay County is a good basketball team, and they’re always awfully hard to beat here at home,” said Union City coach Everett Gates, whose team’s last win over JCHS came in 1984. “They play well every place, but they play especially well here.
“We just were too passive early in the ball game. … You can’t play that way. Jay County is certainly not the kind of team that you can afford to get 10 points down to. … They’re very, very well coached. I think (JCHS) coach (Craig) Teagle is one of the best coaches anywhere in the state.”
The Patriots’ run of winning seasons began in 2001-02 when, coming off of back-to-back losing campaigns, they won their final five regular season games and finished 13-9. They have won 15 or more games five times during the streak, which included the run to the Class 3A state championship game in 2006.
Friday’s victory was also Teagle’s 175th as the leader of the JCHS program.
Senior Garrett Krieg, who has been on fire from long distance since returning to the team after missing four games with a concussion, continued that pattern to lead Friday’s win over the Indians (6-10). He connected with two 3-pointers in the second quarter, one midway through the third and another at the third-quarter buzzer to extend the JCHS lead to 22 points.
He finished 4-of-7 from 3-point range and put in a game-high 14 points.
“He shoots the ball extremely well,” said Teagle. “Now when he misses, I can’t believe he missed. He just shoots it so well. Every time he gets a clean look, I believe it’s going in. … He has a short stroke, and a really small pocket, and he’s so accurate because of that.”
Brock McFarland broke down Union City by attacking the basket, finishing 6-of-7 from the field and scoring 13 points. Scott Schwieterman also missed just one shot, going 5-of-6 for 10 points, and Kegan Comer finished with 10 points as well.
Schwieterman also had eight rebounds to lead Jay County’s 31-6 dominance on the glass as the Indians grabbed just two boards in the opening half. Comer grabbed six rebounds, and McFarland had five while no Union City play finished with more than one.
“We’re just not very big,” said Gates. “We start two 6-foots, two 5-11s and a 5-10. When you’ve got size in there, it makes a lot of difference both offensively and defensively. … It just changes the game.”
The Patriots trailed just once against Union City after Gary Williams hit a pair of free throws early in the second quarter. But they quickly reclaimed the advantage on the first of Krieg’s 3-pointers and later used a 9-0 run keyed by seven points from McFarland to push the advantage to double digits.
JCHS was up by 10 at the half, and then scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to put the game away.
The only negative for the Patriots, who close the regular season with three games next week, were their 20 turnovers.
“That’s our real big bugaboo right now offensively,” said Teagle. “We have got to take better care of the basketball. …
“Every possession you play, you should play to win that possession. And you can’t win that possession if you turn the ball over. … Each possession should be a battle. …
“But it’s a lot better sitting here talking about this … when we got a win.”
Williams finished with 15 points to lead the Indians, who went scoreless for the first five minutes of the third quarter before his 3-pointer broke the drought. Dallas Doppler added six points.
The Indians had won four straight games, including a 51-47 upset of Centerville on Tuesday.

Junior varsity
The Patriots improved to 11-6 Friday with a 31-14 victory over Union City.
Jay County jumped out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter, and allowed just a single point in the third. Trey Teagle paced the Patriots with 10 points, and Jacob Schlosser and Austin Cowan each added five.
Seth Fowler finished with seven points to lead Union City. Tre Burton scored five.[[In-content Ad]]