Five by 30

The Patriots were not pleased with their first-half defense.
That was not good news for the Panthers.
Jay County regrouped at the intermission and limited visiting Eastbrook to just six points in the second half Friday as it earned its fifth straight 30-point win, 67-32.
“Coach Teagle was not happy with us. … That was probably some of the worst defense we’ve played all year,” said JCHS senior Brock McFarland, who racked up a season-high 29 points, of his team’s defense in the first half. “We kind of came together in a little huddle in the locker room and talked about what we needed to do and what we needed to change.
“We actually played hard,” he added of the second-half effort. “At the beginning we were just being a little lazy — not really talking; not really helping each other.
“In the second half we talked. We were getting down in our defensive stance. We were just more into the game.”
Despite the defensive issues, Jay County (14-2) was up by 10 at halftime and pushed its lead to 15 midway through the third quarter. It then went on a 13-point run to put the game well out of reach.
The 35-point blowout followed up road wins over Alexandria (71-34), Winchester (60-25), Centerville (56-23) and Blackford (61-30). The Patriots have won eight games by 30 points or more this season.
JCHS, which leads Class 4A in defensive average at 34.7 points per game, held the Panthers to 1-of-13 shooting with 10 turnovers in the second half. Eastbrook shot just 29 percent for the game.
“For the first half, I thought we did what we wanted to do coming into the game. In the second half we got away from it for whatever reason,” said Eastbrook coach Brian Childs, whose team dropped to 4-10. “We weren’t as aggressive. Give them credit. They got after it a little bit more and really pressured us in the second half.”
McFarland shot 8-of-10 from two-point range on the way to his game-high scoring total. He needs 88 points to break Jay County’s career scoring record of 1,155 set by 1993 graduate Dan Ferrell.
Scott Schwieterman was 8-of-12 from the field for 18 points. He hauled down 14 rebounds for a double-double, and also had three blocks and two assists.
The Patriots, who have shot at least 50 percent from the field in every game this year, shot 28-of-51 (55 percent)
“Instead of living by the three we went inside first, which we talked about at halftime,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle.
“We really tried to base our offense in the second half on getting Scott looks … and getting him some shots around the basket.”
Trey Teagle added seven points, and Jacob Schlosser and McFarland each dished out four assists.
Jacob Singer hit Eastbrook’s only field goal of the second half and led the Panthers with 13 points. A.J. Alexander added nine points, and Josh Neideck grabbed six rebounds.
Jay County played its third straight game without senior point guard Kegan Comer (broken wrist), but reserves Zach Pryor, Kyle Selvey and Zach Fullenkamp returned to the lineup for the first time in several weeks.
Pryor, who had missed five games with a fractured hip, saw significant varsity playing time and had three rebounds and an assist. Fullenkamp celebrated his birthday with a basket off of a Justin Dirksen assist for the final points of the game.
“It does help,” said Teagle. “I think Zach Pryor is a real key. … The big thing with him is just going to be experience. We’ve just got to keep throwing him in varsity situations so he gets more comfortable. … The next six games, we’ve got to get him as much floor time as possible.”
Junior varsity
Jay County rolled out to a 15-point lead in the opening period on the way to a 42-24 victory over the Panthers.
Kyle Selvey returned after missing five games because of a concussion to score 13 points for the Patriots (13-2), who limited Eastbrook to two points in the first quarter. He hit three 3-pointers and scored 10 of his points in the third quarter.
Nick Clemens added seven points, and Zach Pryor had five.
Caleb Young tallied a game-high 15 points to lead the Panthers. Clayton Mansbarger finished with five.


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