July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Santa clawed
JCHS boys basketball
Santa clawed
MUNCIE - A single play turned the tide.
The Patriots were trying to hold for the final shot of the first half when Muncie Central came up with a steal. It resulted in a hoop for the Bearcats on the other end, and kicked off a 14-1 run.
Jay County managed to fight back to within four points late in the game, but suffered its second straight defeat by a 38-33 final.
Coach Craig Teagle shouldered some of the blame for the stale start to the third quarter after the game.
"Boy I was mad at halftime," said Teagle, referencing the final play of the opening half. "At the very least, you should be down one. Garrett (Krieg) did a great job of keeping (Jeremiah Davis) from getting a lay-up, and I have three kids jogging back and they get an offensive rebound put-back.
"I was not a happy camper when I went in there.
"When we came out in the third quarter, we looked whipped. We played flat for about five minutes and did not compete. This is a team that I have not seen that happen with. I'm disappointed with that, but I'll take some of the blame ..."
Davis came up with a steal, but Krieg knocked the ball away to deny the Central junior's first attempt. But with no one else hustling down the floor to help, Davis was able to corral the loose ball and put it in to give the Bearcats a 20-17 halftime lead.
Central (4-3) proceeded to score the first six points of the second half before Krieg split a pair of free throws with 5:40 on the clock. The home team added another six points in a row before Josh Beaty finally scored with 1:17 left to give the Patriots their first field goal of the second half.
"Against good teams you can't have a five-minute period where you're mentally and physically out of it," said Teagle, whose team shot 1-of-7 in the third.
The Bearcats went to a clock-killing offense in the fourth quarter, in which neither team scored for the first three minutes.
"We felt like they couldn't score enough points - we were up 32-18 - and if we had to do it over I'd do the same thing again," said Central coach Matt Fine. "It was great experience for us ...
"We're going to have to play with a lead at some point to win big ball games. We didn't do the best job of it, but we'll learn from our mistakes that we made."
Central committed a few turnovers in the closing minutes, allowing the Patriots to close the gap to four points on an Eric Homan tip-in in the final minute. However, Mark White hit a pair of free throws with 40 seconds to go and Brad Horn missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing JCHS possession.
The lead was eight points for the Bearcats before freshman Brock McFarland knocked down a triple at the buzzer for the final margin.
Teagle said Central's slow-down tactics didn't bother him.
"If you're the Jay County coach, that's exactly what you wanted to see, because the fewer possessions, the lower the score, the better chance we've got to win," he said. "We were able to fight back in, but they did a pretty good job. When those athletes get you spread out ... it was hard for us. ... We got some deflections and we stuck with it pretty well."
While the steal may have been his biggest play, Davis hurt the Patriots with three 3-pointers in the first half. He had 13 of Central's 20 points at the intermission and finished with 18 points and five rebounds.
Mark White added seven points, and Nick Osborne had six boards and two blocks.
"Hitting those threes was huge for us," said Fine. "We had to knock some shots down to spread them out just a little bit because they do such a great job with their team defense and trying to keep the ball out of the lane."
Homan led Jay County with nine points and four rebounds, and McFarland added eight points. Horn scored six points, and Kegan Comer dished out three assists.
After opening the season 5-0, the Patriots have lost back-to-back games in Muncie. Teagle said Central's size - the Bearcats out-rebounded JCHS 22-13 - and length caused his team more problems than Southside's speed.
"Muncie South was quicker than them," he said. "But Muncie Central was much longer and much stronger. That bothered us more probably than the quickness of Muncie South."
Junior varsity
The Patriots went without a field goal in the opening quarter on the way to a 41-26 loss to Central.
Jay County managed just two first-quarter points and trailed by 11 at the half. The home team outscored the Patriots 12-4 in the third quarter to put the game away.
Kegan Comer scored all of his seven points for JCHS in the second half. Matt Landfair added six points, and Cade Price scored five.
Marcus Haynard totaled 15 points to lead the Bearcats, who poured in six 3-pointers. Demarr Porter added 14 points.[[In-content Ad]]
The Patriots were trying to hold for the final shot of the first half when Muncie Central came up with a steal. It resulted in a hoop for the Bearcats on the other end, and kicked off a 14-1 run.
Jay County managed to fight back to within four points late in the game, but suffered its second straight defeat by a 38-33 final.
Coach Craig Teagle shouldered some of the blame for the stale start to the third quarter after the game.
"Boy I was mad at halftime," said Teagle, referencing the final play of the opening half. "At the very least, you should be down one. Garrett (Krieg) did a great job of keeping (Jeremiah Davis) from getting a lay-up, and I have three kids jogging back and they get an offensive rebound put-back.
"I was not a happy camper when I went in there.
"When we came out in the third quarter, we looked whipped. We played flat for about five minutes and did not compete. This is a team that I have not seen that happen with. I'm disappointed with that, but I'll take some of the blame ..."
Davis came up with a steal, but Krieg knocked the ball away to deny the Central junior's first attempt. But with no one else hustling down the floor to help, Davis was able to corral the loose ball and put it in to give the Bearcats a 20-17 halftime lead.
Central (4-3) proceeded to score the first six points of the second half before Krieg split a pair of free throws with 5:40 on the clock. The home team added another six points in a row before Josh Beaty finally scored with 1:17 left to give the Patriots their first field goal of the second half.
"Against good teams you can't have a five-minute period where you're mentally and physically out of it," said Teagle, whose team shot 1-of-7 in the third.
The Bearcats went to a clock-killing offense in the fourth quarter, in which neither team scored for the first three minutes.
"We felt like they couldn't score enough points - we were up 32-18 - and if we had to do it over I'd do the same thing again," said Central coach Matt Fine. "It was great experience for us ...
"We're going to have to play with a lead at some point to win big ball games. We didn't do the best job of it, but we'll learn from our mistakes that we made."
Central committed a few turnovers in the closing minutes, allowing the Patriots to close the gap to four points on an Eric Homan tip-in in the final minute. However, Mark White hit a pair of free throws with 40 seconds to go and Brad Horn missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing JCHS possession.
The lead was eight points for the Bearcats before freshman Brock McFarland knocked down a triple at the buzzer for the final margin.
Teagle said Central's slow-down tactics didn't bother him.
"If you're the Jay County coach, that's exactly what you wanted to see, because the fewer possessions, the lower the score, the better chance we've got to win," he said. "We were able to fight back in, but they did a pretty good job. When those athletes get you spread out ... it was hard for us. ... We got some deflections and we stuck with it pretty well."
While the steal may have been his biggest play, Davis hurt the Patriots with three 3-pointers in the first half. He had 13 of Central's 20 points at the intermission and finished with 18 points and five rebounds.
Mark White added seven points, and Nick Osborne had six boards and two blocks.
"Hitting those threes was huge for us," said Fine. "We had to knock some shots down to spread them out just a little bit because they do such a great job with their team defense and trying to keep the ball out of the lane."
Homan led Jay County with nine points and four rebounds, and McFarland added eight points. Horn scored six points, and Kegan Comer dished out three assists.
After opening the season 5-0, the Patriots have lost back-to-back games in Muncie. Teagle said Central's size - the Bearcats out-rebounded JCHS 22-13 - and length caused his team more problems than Southside's speed.
"Muncie South was quicker than them," he said. "But Muncie Central was much longer and much stronger. That bothered us more probably than the quickness of Muncie South."
Junior varsity
The Patriots went without a field goal in the opening quarter on the way to a 41-26 loss to Central.
Jay County managed just two first-quarter points and trailed by 11 at the half. The home team outscored the Patriots 12-4 in the third quarter to put the game away.
Kegan Comer scored all of his seven points for JCHS in the second half. Matt Landfair added six points, and Cade Price scored five.
Marcus Haynard totaled 15 points to lead the Bearcats, who poured in six 3-pointers. Demarr Porter added 14 points.[[In-content Ad]]
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