Patriots win titles

BERNE — They had flashbacks.
Down early in the title game a year ago, the Patriots struggled in the second half and lost in the conference tournament championship to Leo.
Trailing at halftime Saturday, they weren’t going to suffer the same fate.
Not to be denied again, the Jay County High School boys basketball team rallied from a seven-point deficit to start the fourth quarter, forced overtime and outscored Adams Central 10-3 in the extra period for a 47-41 victory in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament championship at StarDome in Berne.
“This is a huge win for us,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team moved to 8-4 on the season. “This was our goal, to win the conference tournament. The other one is to win the outright conference and try to play for a sectional title.”
Senior Kyler Carvel, who led the Patriots 12 points, was glad to get the a win after his team struggled against Leo a year ago.
“It feels amazing, especially coming here last year and falling short,” said Carvel, who also had a game-sealing steal with 22 seconds remaining in overtime. “We didn’t play really great defense throughout, but we came out with the (win).
“That’s all that matters.”
Jay County coach Chris Krieg agreed with Carvel about defense, which has normally been the Patriots’ strong suit.
“We had to play with high intensity and high energy,” said Krieg, who cut down the nets at the StarDome for the second time in as many years. He led the JCHS girls to the conference title last season. “For three quarters I didn’t feel like we played with a lot of intensity and a lot of energy.
“That I am disappointed in, but we hung around.”
Hung around.
It’s a phrase Krieg repeated frequently.
The Patriots (8-4) hung around after losing the lead in the first quarter.
They hung around in the second quarter too, never trailing by more than four points and being behind on the scoreboard 19-17 at half.
And despite finding themselves in a 34-27 hole to start the fourth quarter, they hung around.
Then they took the lead, their first since the opening quarter.
They fell behind again.
Then they tied it up, sent the game into overtime, scored the first points of the extra period and never trailed the rest of the way.
“I thought we played really well through three and a half quarters,” said Adams Central coach Aaron McClure, whose team fell to 7-4 after losing to Jay County for the second time this season. The Patriots beat the Jets 53-35 Jan. 7 in Monroe. “We didn’t handle the pressure well late in the fourth quarter.”
Carvel scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter, Jay Houck added a fast-break hoop and Adam Dirksen — he was later named the Hilliard Gates Most Valuable Player — tallied four consecutive points to give Jay County a 35-34 lead.
Dirksen and Houck both finished with 11 points.
On the ensuing Adams Central possession, Tanner Roth sank a 3-pointer from the right corner giving the Jets a 37-35 lead — it was the only points they scored in the quarter — and Jason Schlosser tied the game a nearly a minute later.
Schlosser was fouled on his game-tying shot, but missed the free-throw opportunity to give his team the lead.
Cole Stigleman nabbed a steal on the next AC possession, and the Patriots held the ball for more than 90 seconds in an attempt to get the final shot.
Krieg called timeout with 15.1 seconds remaining, but Jay County turned the ball over and Adams Central wasn’t able to get a shot off before the end of regulation.
In overtime, Houck put his team ahead with a jumper off the glass at the 2:41 mark. Carvel blocked a 3-point attempt from Drew Schultz in the right corner, then drove the lane at the other end for two points and a 41-37 Patriot lead.
“It just seems like typically the team that scores first (in overtime) just really has an advantage,” McClure said.
 A 3-pointer from David Fox with 25 seconds remaining got the Jets back to within one possession, 44-41. They got the ball again with 22 seconds left after trapping Stigleman in the corner, but Carvel came up with the last of his four steals on the Jets’ inbound attempt to seal the win.
“We played harder than them especially in the fourth quarter,” Krieg said. “The kids wanted it. You’ve got to want it for 32 minutes, not 16, not eight minutes.”
In the opening quarter, Carvel scored on an assist from Houck for a 12-8 Jay County advantage, but Adams Central scored seven consecutive points, including a personal 5-0 run by Luke Voirol.
The 6-foot, 6-inch senior forward, who was limited to just six points Jan. 7, scored nearly at will in the early going. He had baskets in the paint on assists from Jonah Tijerina and Roth and split a pair of free throws during the first quarter.
He had four more points in the paint in the second and added three points in the third quarter to finish with a team 12 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds to share the game high with Tijerina.
But, like the Patriots’ defense did to the rest of the Jets, Voirol was held in check during the fourth quarter and overtime.