Falcons control Jay Co.

First-quarter issues are becoming an all-too-familiar story.

In their first ever loss to Mississinewa Wednesday, the Patriots trailed 12-5. Friday night they fell behind 16-2 in their final game against Olympic Athletic Conference rival Anderson Highland.

And Saturday the Class 2A No. 7 Winchester Golden Falcons took a 16-4 lead on the way to handing the Jay County High School boys basketball team a 52-42 defeat.

"We turned it over way too much in the first quarter obviously, but we can't hit a shot right now," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team trailed by as many as 19 points before closing the gap late. "It puts so much pressure on your defense when you're not hitting shots."

After the Patriots (7-6), who have lost three in a row, took a 4-3 lead on a Garrett Krieg hoop, Winchester (14-2) scored the next 13 consecutive points. The Golden Falcons led by 11 at the quarter break and halftime, and added a 10-0 third-quarter run capped by a Cody Woodbury 3-pointer to extend the advantage to 19.

"I just think our kids were ready to play," said Winchester coach Chip Mehaffey. "We have the utmost respect for the Jay County program. This is always a big game for us."

Junior center Brandt Miller had a monster first half for Winchester, scoring all of his 12 points before the break. He finished his impressive showing with a fast-break dunk on an assist from Neal Beshears, bringing the Golden Falcon fan base to its feet.

He was hit with a technical foul for hanging on the rim after the dunk, but the call was a mere blip on the radar for Winchester.

The visitors shot 11-of-16 (69 percent) in the opening half and finished at 60 percent for the game.

"For the year, we give up 37 or 38 (percent)," said Teagle.

"That says a lot about them. They were able to get a lot of good shots because they were stronger and bigger than we were. I thought Mississinewa and them were just so much more physical ... and that really hurt us.

"Miller inside just dominated us. He was just physically putting it to us inside. We were trying to swarm ... and he still made some tough shots. ... (Beshears) can shoot contested shots. I thought we played well on him, and he ends up with 14."

In addition to being the game's top scorer, Beshears also had game-high totals of six rebounds and four assists. Woodbury also reached double figures with 12 points.

The Golden Falcons were efficient from long distance, shooting just six 3-pointers and hitting four of them. They also outscored JCHS 14-7 at the foul line.

"We've worked hard at learning how to take good shots," said Mehaffey, whose team has won seven in a row. "We've got three sophomores and we played out of control a good portion of the season. But our kids are learning how to play more under control and take fundamentally sound shots."

While Winchester torched the nets, the Patriots struggled against a zone defense that forced them to fire away from the outside. They attempted by far their most 3-pointers of the year, hitting just 4-of-22 (22 percent).

"I was just pleased with the way we executed defensively," said Mehaffey, whose team limited JCHS to just 16-of-47 (34 percent) shooting overall. "We really wanted to take away Homan's ability to score. I felt like that was the No. 1 key to what Jay County does."

Homan was the only Patriot to reach double figures with 11 points, but he was limited to 3-of-10 shooting from the field. Brad Horn added nine points, and Brock McFarland scored eight.

Homan, McFarland and Josh Beaty each grabbed four rebounds for Jay County, which finished the game on a 10-2 run for the final margin.

Junior varsity

The Patriots took a seven-point lead in the opening quarter and stayed in control throughout a 33-26 victory over Winchester.

Cade Price totaled 14 points for Jay County, which was up 11-4 after the opening six minutes. Scott Schwieterman added 10 points, and Drew Houck scored six.

Quenton Fair finished with eight points for the Golden Falcons. Noah Berry added six points.[[In-content Ad]]