Teagle's 250th

MUNCIE — In 13 seasons at Jay County High School, coach Craig Teagle has had his share of success.
He’s won four sectional titles and one regional championship. He coached the Patriots to the Class 3A state championship game in 2006.
And he’s led the team to nine straight — likely soon to be 10 — winning seasons.
Using 3-point shooting and fast-break scoring Thursday night, Teagle’s players got their coach a milestone victory. Their 61-53 win over host Delta was the 250th of his career.
“I think that just means I’m old,” Teagle joked.
He said that when Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long, JCHS principal Phil Ford and JCHS athletics director Bob Lutton presented him with the game ball Thursday, he was unaware of the reason. But he credits his successes to the people around him.
“I think it says a lot about the type of players I’ve had and the coaches I’ve worked with,” said Teagle, whose next win will be his 175th at JCHS and will guarantee his team a 10th straight winning campaign.“I feel pretty fortunate. I’ve always had a really good staff and players who executed and did what we needed to do to be successful.”
Sophomores Brock McFarland and Kegan Comer keyed that effort against the Eagles (11-5), combining for 41 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
The Patriots (10-5) were a little sluggish at the start, turning the ball over six times in the first quarter. But they took control with a 10-0 spurt in the second period that included a pair of Garrett Krieg 3-pointers. The run ended with Comer throwing a long alley-oop pass to McFarland for a soaring lay-up.
Three-point shooting was the key to the third quarter, as Jay County hit all of its five long-distance attempts. Krieg hit his third of the game to start the 23-point quarter, Drew Houck buried three in a row and McFarland added another for the Patriots.
“We did a nice job of getting out in transition, beating them down the floor and getting some nice looks at the basket,” said Teagle, who is 250-166 overall with previous coaching stints at Caston and Knox. “And then, in the third quarter, we executed really well offensively.  …
“I thought our cuts were deeper, harder, sharper. I thought we read the defense better. I just thought we got open without the ball, and sometimes this group has not done that.”
Jay County pushed ahead by as many as 18 points early in the fourth quarter before the Eagles tried to rally back. They scored 13 straight points, but never closed the gap to fewer than five.
McFarland shot 9-of-13 from the field for his game-high 22 points, and also had six rebounds and five assists. Comer scored 16 of his 19 in the second half, and dished out seven assists.
Krieg and Houck each scored all of their nine points from 3-point range.
“They shot it extremely well,” said Teagle. “We had Kegan and Brock getting out in transition, which is their strength. We had Drew and Garrett hitting threes, which is their strength. … Scott Schwieterman didn’t score, but he got us a lot of good looks because of getting the ball inside and kicking it back out. They had to collapse down on him.
“If we can do that, then we’re hard to guard.”
Jay County finished 7-of-9 (78 percent) from 3-point range and 21-of-35 (60 percent) from the field overall. It had 14 assists on 21 made field goals, and out-rebounded the Eagles 29-18.
“I think part of it was we weren’t defending as well as we would like, and part of it was just they just hit shots,” said DHS coach Stan Daugherty, whose team had won four in a row and eight of its last nine. “(Houck) hit some shots that we haven’t necessarily seen him consistently hitting. He really stepped up.
“I think Jay’s a tough team to come back and play after 11 days off.”
Jake Bryan paced Delta with 17 points and six rebounds. Brian Capstick added 11 points.

Junior varsity
A dominant second quarter was key for the Patriots as they defeated Delta 41-32.
Jay County led by just two after the opening period before outscoring the Eagles 14-3 in the second to take control. Jacob Schlosser racked up 13 points to lead the Patriots, and Trey Teagle joined him in double figures with 10 points.
Matt Nichols finished with seven points to pace Delta, and Bryce Dishman scored seven.[[In-content Ad]]