Tourney thriller

HUNTINGTON — It was the opening round of the sectional, but it felt like so much more.
In seven previous seasons of play in the Class 4A tournament, the Patriots had picked up just a single win. And Tuesday night they trailed by 10 points in the second half, on the opposing team’s home floor.
That’s when, in front of an electric crowd, they showed the mental — and physical — toughness they had talked about all season.
Senior Garrett Krieg buried four second-half 3-pointers to close the gap, sophomore Brock McFarland hit the game-tying lay-up with 1.2 seconds left in regulation and Jay County controlled the overtime for an exhilarating 53-48 victory over the Huntington North Vikings.
“I’m still shaking,” said McFarland after spending several minutes in the locker room following the game. “That was probably the most fun game I’ve ever played in my whole life.”
After Krieg’s triples sliced into the Vikings’ lead in the opening-round game of the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament, the key play came in the closing seconds. Austin Paul missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, McFarland grabbed the rebound and JCHS coach Craig Teagle called timeout with 7.7 seconds left to set up the final play.
With the game on the line the Patriots put the ball in McFarland’s hands at the top of the key and sent everyone to the left side of the court. He took advantage, turning the corner past defender Matt Kramer at the right side of the foul line and surging toward the basket with no one there to stop him. The defensive help was too late to make a difference, and McFarland kissed a lay-up off the glass to force overtime.
“The plan was actually just to try to get a good shot and hopefully we could sink it,” said McFarland. “And everyone turned their head and there was a wide open drive, so I took it.
“I was going crazy. Everybody was. It was a really good feeling.”
Added Krieg: “I’ve never been so excited in my life.”
The Vikings had just four personal fouls at the time, but waited too long and then were unable to get to McFarland in time.
“We just didn’t hold our ground very well and we let him get deep. He drives it hard,” said Huntington North coach Joe Bradburn, whose son is one of two seniors on the Viking squad. “Give them credit. They cleared out the side and just let him take off. We knew we had fouls to give and that was our plan. We talked about it in the huddle, and we just didn’t get that done.”
McFarland added a three-point play to start the overtime session. And although Huntington North’s Brock Gower hit a 3-pointer to pull the Vikings even, the momentum was securely in Jay County’s favor.
The Patriots scored the next five points in a row — three by Kegan Comer and two from Krieg — and went 6-of-6 at the line in the final 33 seconds to lock up the victory.
JCHS advances to play Homestead (14-5) in the semifinal round at Huntington North Friday at 6 p.m. to Friday’s semifinal round at Huntington North to play Homestead (14-5).
“I know not quite the same (thing was) at stake, but it reminded me of the semi-state game versus Plymouth,” said Teagle, referencing the one-point overtime win in the 2006 state finals run. “We were behind most of the game. Every time we made a move, they hit a big shot. But our kids didn’t give up. They kept fighting, kept battling. You never know what’s going to happen. That’s why you play 32 minutes.
“I’m so proud of our kids. They really showed some toughness tonight.”
Jay County (15-6) led just once in the opening half — 15-14 following a Comer 3-pointer — and gave up a couple of triples to fall behind again by five at halftime. And the Vikings (14-9), who had won eight in a row, pushed their advantage to 30-20 on a Paul 3-pointer with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter.
But Krieg found his touch, hitting his second 3-pointer of the quarter to cut the gap to 30-23 at the end of the third and nailing another on the first possession of the fourth. When Kramer took an ill-advised 3-pointer with his team still ahead by five and less than a minute left on the clock, Krieg struck again.
He hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game — all of them came from Comer assists — with 52 seconds left and then turned over the heroics to McFarland.
“Krieg came up big for them,” said Huntington North coach Joe Bradburn of the senior, who scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half and overtime. “We lost him in some of our switches, and he made us pay for it. … Their guys did a great job of setting him up. There were a couple of screens that really got him open extremely well.”
Huntington North pushed its lead back to four points on a couple of Paul free throws, only to have McFarland cut the JCHS deficit to two again. He drove to the hole, missed a lay-up, fought off two Vikings for the rebound and powered the ball back up and in.
And when Paul missed his free throw with 10.3 seconds to go, he yanked down the rebound that set up the game-tying play.
“I’ve coached Brock McFarland now for two years, in the summer and during the season, and I’ve never seen him give up on a ball,” said Teagle, whose team has won five in a row. “When there is a ball in his area, he never gives up, and 95 percent of the time he gets it. … He’s got that mentality. He never stops on a play.”
McFarland trailed Krieg with 14 points, and also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Comer, who hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter, also reached double figures with 13 points.
Scott Schwieterman totaled eight points on 4-of-6 shooting and had five rebounds. Senior Drew Houck also grabbed five boards as Jay County had a 25-17 advantage on the glass.
Krieg said the Patriots, whose only other Class 4A tournament win was also over Huntington North in the 2008 semifinal round, never lost confidence despite trailing by double digits.
“We just said, ‘We’re going to get back in this game,’” he noted. “Shots weren’t falling early, but we figured they’d go in eventually.
“It was really fun out there, coming back … playing hard, getting the win.”
Paul totaled a game-high 20 points for Huntington North, but struggled to a 4-of-11 mark on foul shots. The Vikings hit just 50 percent of their 16 free-throw attempts as a team.
Kyle Bradburn notched three 3-pointers and added 11 points, and Gower finished with 10.
“I thought honestly we controlled 30 to 31 minutes of the game,” said Joe Bradburn. “We led the game all the way down to that point. We had the pace we wanted. We were in the lead.
“It was a phenomenal game. I knew it would be that way. … The bottom line is, Jay made plays when they needed to. Give them all the credit.”[[In-content Ad]]