Pats roll over Indians

GAS CITY — After 16 days away from game action, the Patriots returned Friday with a simple mission.
They wanted to establish the post.
Jay County went to Scott Schwieterman over and over again in the early going, and he delivered by scoring its first eight points and matching his season high of 10 in the opening period. He went on to lead the Patriots with 17 points as they powered past the host Mississinewa Indians 52-23.
“We had a goal tonight to go in and establish the post right away,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle after his team improved to 6-1. “We wanted to get Scott active, and I thought we did that.”
Schwieterman’s early dominance got the Patriots out to an 8-3 lead, but Mississinewa hit three 3-pointers in the opening six minutes and trailed just 10-9.
The long-distance scoring did not last.
The Indians didn’t hit a 3-pointer the rest of the way, finishing 3-of-22 (14 percent) from beyond the arc.
“We came out and hit a couple of threes early, and then we struggled,” said Mississinewa coach Mark McFarland. “Then we went inside in the second half. We shot 10 shots inside and we hit one. So we couldn’t score inside or outside.”
Jay County’s defense locked down and held the Indians (2-7) without a field goal for more than 13 minutes, including the entire second quarter. The Patriots pushed to a 36-13 lead in the third period before a driving hoop by Seth McPherson finally went down for the home team.
“I really thought besides giving up three 3-pointers early, defensively we were pretty doggone good,” said Teagle, whose team limited the Indians to just 18 percent shooting overall. “We got shots contested. We knew that they lived and died by the three. I’m pretty happy.”
Schwieterman, a 6-foot-5-inch junior, hit his first six field-goal attempts — as many as Mississinewa made as a team — and finished 7-of-9 for his game-high scoring total. He also grabbed a game-best seven rebounds to lead the Patriots to a 30-15 advantage on the glass.
Brock McFarland followed his fellow junior with 15 points, including a 6-of-6 effort at the foul line. He added six rebounds.
Trey Teagle also made all of his four free throws as Jay County finished 19-of-23 (83 percent) at the line.
“It was really good,” said Craig Teagle of his team’s foul shooting, which had been up-and-down in the 2011 portion of the schedule. “I can’t imagine very many teams spend as much time as we do at the free-throw line. It’s important, especially in close games … Hopefully tonight gave us some confidence.”
Tyler Back chipped in nine points for the Patriots, and Kegan Comer and McFarland each had three assists.
Mississinewa, which was held to a season-low scoring total, got seven points from junior Austin Branock to lead the way. Zeke Lockwood followed with five points.
Four different Indians missed at least two 3-pointers, with senior Dalton Coppock going 0-for-6 from downtown.
See Roll page 9
“We’re a 3-point based team,” said McFarland. “We knew that from the start. … We average 10 3-pointers a game.
“When we shoot really well, we look really good. When we don’t shoot very well, we look really bad.”
It was a bounce-back victory for the Patriots, who had dropped their previous game to Class 3A No. 1 Muncie Central before Christmas. They will face another strong test tonight when they host Richmond, which finished 20th in this week’s Class 4A poll voting by The Associated Press.
“We’ve got to keep them in front of us,” said Teagle. “We’ve got to contest shooters. …
“We’ve got our hands full. They’ve got nine or 10 kids who can play. We’re going to have to play our very best …”
 
Junior varsity
The Patriots controlled the second and fourth quarters Friday on the way to a 37-28 victory over Mississinewa.
Zane Shreve scored 13 points to lead Jay County (5-2), which outscored the Indians 12-4 in the second quarter and 9-4 in the fourth. Nine of his points came in the first half.
Kyle Selvey added seven points, and Jacob Schlosser scored six.
Aaron Arrendale tallied 11 points to lead Mississinewa. Alex Morrison followed with five.[[In-content Ad]]