Jay starts strong

Craig Teagle wanted his team to start its games with more intensity.
The Patriots granted his wish.
After allowing an average of 13 points per first quarter in its first three games, Jay County shut out the visiting South Adams Starfires in the opening period Saturday. It turned that 22-0 lead into a 67-19 victory, matching the school record for fewest points allowed in a game as its finished its season-opening homestand undefeated.
“It was a relief because we’ve been struggling lately,” said junior guard Brock McFarland, who led the Patriots with 23 points. “We’ve been struggling bad in the first quarter. We’ve been coming out and haven’t been playing very hard. I don’t think we were very intense.
“Coach Teagle talked to us about it and we knew we had to pick it up. We came out and played hard and it worked ...”
The loss was the third straight for SAHS after opening the season with back-to-back wins. The Starfires, who had averaged 57 points in their first four games, finished at just 5-of-32 (16 percent) from the field.
“Defensively, they played really well,” said first-year South Adams coach Andy Brown. “It wasn’t anything that we didn’t know they were going to do. They just played us really well and made it very hard for us to move the ball around, made it very hard for us to try to do anything offensively.”
Jay County, which was tied with Monroe Central after the first quarter Friday before pulling away for a 64-36 win, never gave the Starfires a chance.
Kegan Comer hit a 3-pointer off an assist from McFarland on the Patriots’ second possession and they just kept rolling. They were up 7-0 when Brown called his first time out about two minutes into the game, and proceeded to shoot 8-of-10 from the field en route to their massive first-quarter lead.
The defensive effort was even more important to Teagle, whose team set a school record allowing just 41.2 points per game last season. JCHS blanked the Starfires on 0-for-7 shooting in the opening period Saturday on the way to matching the school record of 19 points allowed in a game, which was set against Union in 1983.
“I just thought we were so much more focused,” said Teagle, whose team is giving up just 34.3 points per game thus far this season. “We were so much more active defensively. And then offensively we were crisper.
“I’m glad the kids bounced back. I was pretty tough on them last night, and I know that they weren’t thrilled with their execution ... It’s nice to see that they were mentally tough enough to come back and play well.”
JCHS (4-0) pushed its lead to 36-10 at the intermission, and then nearly turned in another shutout quarter in the third. It scored the first 20 points of the second half before the Starfires’ Blake Fox finally converted a basket with 47 seconds remaining.
And after Teagle cleared his bench, a group made up mostly of junior varsity players still limited South Adams to one field goal in the fourth quarter.
“I thought they all stood out because they played fundamentally sound Jay County basketball,” said Teagle.  “You show patience, you show poise, you show discipline. ... That’s what our freshman and JV have been doing this year. I’m really proud of them. It’s fun to watch.”
McFarland led Jay County’s 74-percent shooting effort by going 9-of-11 from the field. He also hit all of his four free-throw attempts and shared the game-high of five rebounds with teammate Stephen Scott.Kegan Comer hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points and three assists, and Scott Schwieterman added eight points.
South Adams got a pair of 3-pointers from Mark Muselman, who came off the bench to lead the team with 11 points. No one else had more than two.
“Mark Muselman stepped up and did a lot of things offensively,” said Brown. “He gave us a little bit of a spark.”
The victory capped a four-game run at home to open the season for the Patriots, who will play their next two games at Muncie Southside Friday and at Class 3A No. 1 Muncie Central Dec. 20.
“It feels really good,” said McFarland of the effort against the Starfires and the 4-0 start. “We want to continue winning. Our goal is to go undefeated. We don’t want to lose.”

Junior varsity
Jay County dominated the second half after being tied with the Starfires at the intermission on the way to a 38-21 victory.
Kyle Selvey scored eight points to lead the Patriots, who pulled away by outscoring South Adams 12-2 in the fourth quarter. Adam Alfont and Jacob Schlosser added seven points apiece.
Dustin Dellinger totaled eight points for SAHS.[[In-content Ad]]