Remembering the run VII

The 2015-16 basketball season marks the 10-year anniversary of the Jay County High School boys team making a run to the 2006 Class 3A state championship game. This is the seventh in a series of weekly looks back at that season.


Jan. 27, 2006
A 10-point lead slipped away as the Patriots gave up a 20-2 run and lost 47-45 to Anderson Highland.
Gary McGhee, a 6-foot, 10-inch center who went on to play for Pittsburgh, imposed his will late, scoring 12 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. The loss left Jay County with a 1-2 Olympic Athletic Conference record.
Randy Evans hit six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points for the Patriots, with 22 of those coming in the first three quarters before he was double- and triple-teamed in the fourth. Zac Green followed with nine points for JCHS, which was without seniors Tyler Rigby and John Retter because of pneumonia.

Jan. 28, 2006
An 11-point run in the first quarter gave the Patriots (10-3) the lead for good as they rolled to a 72-42 victory over the Blackford Bruins.
Still missing Rigby and Retter, the other seniors led the way with Evans scoring 18 points and Green adding 16. They also combined for seven assists, and freshman Billy Wellman hit both of his 3-pointers and scored a career-best 10 points.
The win improved the Patriots to 11-1 at Blackford, where they would return for the sectional and regional, in regular-season and tournament games since the start of the 2002-03 season.