Sorry dad

UNION CITY — Honor thy father.
That is, unless you’re on a basketball court.
Kegan Comer found himself in that position Friday night, playing point guard for the Patriots against a Union City squad coached by his dad.
He responded by scoring eight of the Patriots’ 14 first-quarter points and leading Jay County to a 56-37 victory over the Indians.
“I was all hyped up about it, and then once I started playing it just felt … like a normal game,” said Kegan Comer after his 17-point effort. “I just went out there and played. I didn’t really think about it.”
Kirk Comer, who coached the JCHS girls team for five seasons, echoed his son’s thoughts.
“To be honest, once the game started … it wasn’t any different than any other game,” he said. “(Kegan) did hit a three right in front of our bench and I was standing right behind him and I did say, ‘That’s enough of that.’ And he heard me because I saw him smile as he went down the floor.”
That 3-pointer came early, and Kegan Comer was just getting started.He added a second 3-pointer, assisted on back-to-back hoops by Scott Schwieterman and then scored off a steal and assist from Cade Price to cap a 14-2 opening period for Jay County (16-2).
Comer finished the opening half 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and shot 7-of-8 for the game. He also found time to dish out six assists, and grabbed four rebounds.
“I’m pretty proud of him, because there are a lot of emotions going into a game like that,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle. “You can try to do too much … But I thought he played smart and hard. He hit some shots early for us that were big. … He played extremely well. That’s what we’ve got from Kegan all year.”
The Patriots rode Comer and Schwieterman (16 points) to a 28-9 lead at the end of the first half. They then opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run to extend the lead to 30 points on the way to their 26th straight victory over Union City.
The Indians (7-11) were just 4-of-14 from the field with seven turnovers in the opening 16 minutes.
“We were running what we call a V offense with a lot of cutting,” said Kirk Comer. “And Jay County is so good at switching that we were getting nothing out of it. I know that some people thought we were holding the ball. We weren’t holding the ball. We couldn’t get a shot.
“In the second half we just tried to dribble drive and kick and hopefully knock down some shots.
“I was proud of our effort in the second half. I thought we competed. That’s obviously an outstanding team, and obviously I hope they play for a long time in the tournament.”
Union City scored against the Patriots late, scoring more than half of its points (19) in the fourth quarter.
Schwieterman was nearly as efficient as Comer from the field, shooting 8-of-11 for the game. He also grabbed six rebounds.
“I thought he did a good job, especially early posting up around the rim,” said Teagle. “It’s good that we got both our outside and our inside going like that. I thought that helped us a lot establishing and dictating the tempo of the game.”
Tyler Back and Trey Teagle each added eight points in Jay County’s ninth straight win, and Brock McFarland totaled six points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Gary Williams was the only Indian in double figures, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and going 5-of-6 at the foul line for 15 points. Tre Burton added eight.
Although the Patriots, who lead the state in defensive average at 33.8 points per game, held an opponent to fewer than 50 points for the 12th time this season, Teagle said they still could have been better.
“We still start with defense and I thought defensively we weren’t as good as we could be,” he said. “Some of that is a credit to Union City. They tried to spread us out, drive it to the paint hard and then kick if they could. They did a nice job.”

Junior varsity
Jay County limited the Indians to five or fewer points in every quarter in a 38-14 victory.
Darren Bogenschutz and Kyle Selvey led a balanced effort for the Patriots, who led 18-5 at the half. Nate Brackman, Zach Fullenkamp and Zane Shreve added four points apiece.
Kalex Whitesel and Kyle Cross each had four points for Union City.[[In-content Ad]]