Technical fall

OSSIAN — Facing one of the best teams on their schedule, the Patriots were not at their best.
They shot just 29 percent in the first half before seeming to find their stride early in the fourth quarter. Then a call helped halt their momentum.
Jay County High School coach Craig Teagle was called for a technical fall at the 5:02 mark of the final period, and the host Knights took advantage for what amounted to a six-point play. Class 3A No. 4 Norwell went on to a 10-0 run to re-extend its lead and knocked off the Patriots 46-38.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Teagle. “I apologized to the kids. I take that one squarely on my shoulders. I cost us the momentum, probably cost us the basketball game.”
The Patriots (16-3) had closed what was once a nine-point gap down to one with a six-point run capped by a pair of Brock McFarland free throws at the 5:06 mark of the fourth quarter.
The key stretch followed as Kegan Comer was called for a five-second violation on an inbound play and Teagle voiced his disagreement. Garrett Bucher scored on the other end for Norwell, and as the official ran back down the floor past the JCHS bench he stopped, turned and called Teagle for the technical.
“When he ran by me, I said, ‘Sir, that was your two points,’” Teagle said of the call.
Norwell’s Garrett Bucher hit both free throws, and Caleb Featherston scored on a reverse lay-up on the ensuing possession. The Knights (17-2) went on to extend the run to 10 straight points for a 40-29 lead and never let their advantage slip to fewer than four the rest of the way.
“It was unfortunate,” said Norwell coach Randy Hawkins, echoing Teagle’s words. “You hate for it to come down to a technical foul, but that was almost a turning point in the game. … We hit the free throws like we needed to, and then we came back and hit a shot. That was big for us to execute and then get that separation again.”
The Patriots, who had won 10 straight, responded with six straight points and had the ball with a chance to pull within a single possession. However, Comer was called for a charge on a drive to the basket and Norwell hit enough free throws  to hold on.
Teagle said although the game ended in defeat, he was happy with the way his team fought back late.
“In fact, when I went over to the bench I said, ‘Hey, boys, I’m sorry. My fault,’” he recalled. “They said, ‘We’re OK. Don’t worry about it coach. We’ll get you back.’”
Caleb Featherston paced the Knights, whose only losses this year came to Class 4A No. 5 Homestead and Class 2A No. 10 Bluffton. He finished with a game-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds, and made an outlet pass to Bucher for a breakaway dunk in the closing seconds.
 “Offensively and defensively he really came to play tonight,” said Hawkins, who also got nine points apiece from VanMeter and Bucher. “Defensively I thought he did a great job on McFarland, just containing him as much as possible. … We did a great job defensively as a team. When (McFarland and Comer) got to the lane we were collapsing on them, making other scorers beat us.”
McFarland still led Jay County with 12 points, and Tyler Back and Scott Schwieterman added 10 apiece. But the Patriots struggled to one of their worst shooting nights of the year.
JCHS was just 16-of-44 (36 percent) from the field and missed all but two of their nine 3-point attempts. It is hitting for 55 percent on the season.
“Obviously we didn’t shoot the ball very well early,” Teagle said. “We missed a lot of open shots. Their game plan obviously was to sag off of us a little bit and not let us get to the rim … We’ve got to do a better job shooting the ball.”

Junior varsity
Jay County went scoreless in the second period in a 30-15 loss to the Knights.
Kyle Selvey tallied eight points for the Patriots (11-8), who managed just three first-half points. Zach Pryor, Nate Brackman and Zane Shreve each added two points.
Brent Bales paced Norwell in the win with nine points. Jordan Dickey followed with seven points.[[In-content Ad]]