Senior powers Patriot victory

UNION CITY — A Seth Fowler 3-pointer pulled the Indians to within five.
Jacob Schlosser wouldn’t let the home team get any closer.
The Jay County High School senior made a series of plays on both ends of the floor to help the Patriots extend their lead again. They then closed on an 11-2 run to pull away from the Union City Indians for a 47-31 victory.
“There was about a four possession swing where he either got a deflection or steal, got an assist or scored a bucket,” said Jay County High School coach Craig Teagle of Schlosser, who finished with a game-high 17 points. “That’s what a senior does. When we’re struggling, a senior helps take over the game, and I thought he really did. He made some big plays down the stretch.”
After Fowler’s 3-pointer with 1:12 to go in the third quarter, Schlosser split a pair of free throws and then buried a 3-pointer for Jay County off an assist from Zach Pryor.
After a Union City free throw, Schlosser assisted on a Trey Teagle hoop that pushed the JCHS lead to double figures.
The Indians closed to within seven, but Schlosser responded by hitting a pair of free throws to spark the game-ending run.
“They got that lead on us, and I think we kind of started to panic a little bit, trying to hurry stuff up,” said Union City coach Dustin Baldwin. “We were at a time where we had to start doing something. Them speeding us up and us speeding ourselves up forced some turnovers.”
Jay County fell behind early when Dylan Doppler and Isaac Davison opened the game by hitting a pair of long 3-pointers from the left wing. But the Patriots scored the next eight points in a row and never trailed again.
Jay Houck, a freshman, joined Schlosser in double figures with 10 points. Trey Teagle added nine points to go along with game highs of nine rebounds and four assists.
While Union City had spurts of turnovers, the Patriots gave the ball away just six times.
“That’s what you’ve got to do,” said Teagle. “You’ve got to take care of the ball, especially when it’s going to be a low possession game.”
The 28th straight victory over the Indians put Jay County, which is in a stretch of six straight road games to close the season, just one win away from securing a 13th straight winning season. It plays Muncie Central (7-9) today, Norwell (15-5) Tuesday and Bellmont (5-13) Friday.
Davison, a sophomore, was the only player to reach double figures for the Indians, who scored more than half of their points from long distance. He hit a pair of 3-pointers and shot 5-of-10 from the field for 12 points.
After the pair of early triples, open looks from beyond the arc became harder for Union City to find.
“Their switches, their rotations got a lot sharper,” said Baldwin. “They got a lot faster. They kind of pushed us off the 3-point line, and we weren’t ready to shoot when we were catching. They’re a very good defensive team.”
Fowler chipped in six points for Union City, which had won four in a row over Cambridge City, Ansonia (Ohio), Daleville and Centerville.
The game will be the last, at least for a while, between the two teams as they are not slated to play next year with Jay County preparing to join the Allen County Athletic Conference. The Patriots and Indians have played every year except four since JCHS opened in 1975.

Junior varsity
Jay County left no doubt in its 15th win of the season, roaring out to a double-digit lead in the opening quarter on the way to a 56-21 victory over the Indians.
Justin Dirksen led the way with 14 points for the Patriots, who improved to 15-2 on the season. They extended the lead to 26-8 at the half and limited Union City to three third-quarter points to put the game away.
Kyler Carvel and Adam Dirksen followed Justin Dirksen with eight points apiece.
Isaac Jefferis scored more than half of the Indians’ points as he finished with 12. Tyler Thornhill chipped in five points.


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