Jay defeats Starfires

BERNE — The Patriots’ nine straight winning seasons, which included four regional berths and a trip to the state finals, have been predicated on execution.
When they execute the offense, they end up shooting wide-open lay-ups and uncontested 3-pointers. And their defense has often made them one of the most difficult teams to score against in the state.
Great end-of-half execution gave the Jay County High School boys basketball team a boost Saturday, and the pattern continued in the second half of a 57-36 win over the host South Adams Starfires.
“They’re good at what they do,” said SAHS coach Ryan Biegel, whose Starfires fell to 2-3. “And they’re better at what they do than we are at what we do. That’s just going to take us time.
“They were able to dictate what they wanted to do, and we couldn’t do that tonight.
“I kind of thought, honestly, that this was a game that, if we played well, we could have hung with them a little bit more than we did. … They’re just a team that’s not going to beat themselves, and we’re not that way yet.”
South Adams, which lost by 33 to JCHS last season, stayed with the Patriots (3-1) for a while. It trailed by just two after the opening quarter and led 15-13 in the second. But Jay County reclaimed the lead, extended it to five points and then held the ball for the final shot of the half.
The Patriots ran one of their standard end-of-quarter plays, sending Garrett Krieg around a double screen near the top of the key. He took a pass from Brock McFarland, launched a 3-pointer from the right wing and hit it to push the JCHS advantage to 25-17 at the break.
“We did not end the second,” said Biegel. “That three (really hurt). It was a time when we knew exactly what they were going to do and we didn’t do anything to stop it.”
Jay County built on the eight-point lead, scoring repeatedly inside in the third quarter before Krieg hit another 3-pointer off a McFarland assist to push the advantage to 37-22.
It hit 9-of-10 foul shots in the final two minutes to push to the 21-point final margin.
The Patriots shot 57 percent for the game, including 10-of-16 (62 percent) in the second half.
Scott Schwieterman and Krieg led a balanced scoring effort with 11 points apiece. Tyler Back and McFarland each added nine points, and Cade Price scored eight.
Drew Houck made SAHS pay for fouling him late, hitting 7-of-8 free throws for his seven points.
“That’s pretty good, and last night was really balanced too,” said Teagle in reference to the Patriots’ 44-38 victory Friday over Monroe Central. “I think you’re hard to guard when you can get three or four guys right around double figures. … The team that went to the state championship, I think we had six or seven guys from 11.5 to 7.5 points a game.”
Jay County limited the Starfires to 38 percent shooting after holding Monroe Central to just 21 percent Friday.
South Adams had just one player in double figures as Scott Hoeppner scored 10 points. Dustin Wanner followed with six.
Blake Fox had five points and six rebounds.
“He’s been a spot player for us and he was in the mix a lot more,” said Biegel of Fox. “That was a positive for us.
“I think we are making progress … We’ve just got to continue to get better. We’re at a pretty tough stretch of our schedule right here. … We’ve just got to take what we can from these games … and build off of them.”
Jay County has now won 10 straight games against the Starfires. It has played its last three games on the road, including the wins Friday and Saturday.
The Patriots will play their next three games at home, with their next road game Jan. 8 at Richmond.
“It’s hard to win on the road. … I’m proud of this group,” said Teagle. “We’ve got a lot of growing, a lot of learning to do yet, but … I always tell everyone, ‘you can learn lessons losing, but I don’t want to. I’d rather learn mine winning.’”

Junior varsity
Kyle Selvey tied the game with a late 3-pointer and Jay County never trailed in overtime in a 32-27 victory over the Starfires.
South Adams led throughout the fourth quarter and had a chance to extend its lead to four points late in the game. However, Zach Morgan split a pair of free throws to lead the door open for the Patriots.
Selvey took advantage hitting a 3-pointer from the left side with 8.1 seconds left to force overtime. JCHS jumped in front as Jacob Schlosser and Trey Teagle hit free throws early in the extra session and it stayed ahead the rest of the way.
Teagle scored nine points to lead Jay County, and Selvey added seven. Austin Cowan and Darren Bogenschutz each scored five points.
Morgan racked up 18 points for the Starfires, including their only two in overtime. Blake Baumer added five points.[[In-content Ad]]