Hayden shoots down JC

Sometimes the Patriots failed to get a hand in Austin Hayden’s face when he was behind the 3-point line. And sometimes it just didn’t matter.
Hayden hit five of his six 3-point attempts Friday for the Norwell Knights as they defeated the Jay County High School boys basketball team 40-36.
“He’s probably one of the most athletic players we’ve played. He can go three-quarter speed and be faster than everybody we have,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team slipped to 16-6. “He’s just so good at getting his body on you. He’s strong. He elevates. I mean, he can jump out of the gym. He is a really good player. You can’t let those guys beat you, and basically, he did.”
Hayden scored 10 of his team’s first 12 points and had all of his game-high 24 with five minutes to go, but the Patriots still had a chance in the final minute.
After Norwell (14-8) extended to its largest lead of the game — 38-29 — Kyler Carvel scored on an assist from Adam Dirksen, who then blocked a shot by Ian Kissell on the other end. Dirksen hit a put-back and a free throw on the ensuing possession to pull the Patriots to within four with 23.5 seconds to play.
However, a pair of free throws from Kissell pushed Norwell’s lead back to six, and a Patriot turnover on the next possession sealed their fate.
JCHS, which dropped back-to-back games for the first time since December, slashed its turnovers to nine after finishing with 29 in Tuesday’s loss to Alexandria, but still had issues in key situations.
“We made critical turnovers,” said Teagle. “Either back-to-back, or near the end of the game we should have went ahead and drove it in for a lay-up and (instead) tried to pass it, just things that if the score is going to be low and possessions are going to be low, every turnover is magnified. We’ve got to do a much better job.”
The game was tied just once — 2-2 — and the Knights never trailed as they won at Jay County for the first time since 2007.
The Patriots had some success on offense early with back-door cuts leading to hoops for Adam Dirksen, Jay Houck and Justin Dirksen underneath, forcing Norwell to change its defensive game plan.
“Whenever they break you down, it’s going to be a lay-up,” said NHS coach Randy Hawkins. “So we switched our defense a ton tonight, going with four or five different defenses just to try and keep them off balance as much as we could.”
Jay County owned the paint, shooting 15-of-21 from two-point range and out-rebounding the Knights 21-14. But it was unable to find the touch from long distance, finishing just 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Hayden got little help on offense for Norwell, but his teammates hit 4-of-5 free throws down the stretch to help seal the win. Piercen Harnish made two of those and finished with six points.
Graham Denney grabbed five rebounds, and Kissell had three assists.
Houck’s 15 points led Jay County as he shot 7-of-8 on two-point shots. Adam Dirksen followed with 13 points, a game-high seven rebounds and two blocks.

Justin Dirksen added six points, and Zach Pryor dished out six assists.

Junior varsity
Jay County dominated the final few minutes Friday in a 43-35 victory over the Knights.
The game was tied early in the fourth quarter, but JCHS held Norwell without a field goal the rest of the way.. The Patriots (14-5) finished the game on a 9-1 run.
Cole Stigleman and Dakota Grove each scored eight points to lead JCHS, with Stigleman tallying six of those in the fourth quarter. Jason Schlosser totaled all of his seven points in the final period, and Spencer Calvert also had seven.
Koby Gibson and Cole Wilson paced Norwell with 14 and 10 points respectively.

Freshman
Points were at a premium Friday as the Patriots managed just nine over the final three quarters in a 19-16 loss to Norwell.
The game was tied at nine at halftime before the Knights took control in the third quarter. Both teams tallied three points in the fourth.
Connor Davis finished with four points to lead Jay County (10-5). Max Moser, Jordan Stultz and Collin Haines each had three points.
Christian Bohata hit a pair of 3-pointers to post a game-high six points for Norwell.