Trouble in the third

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The Patriots turned a 10-point first-quarter deficit into a tie game at half.

But an early theme to the season reared its ugly head again.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team struggled to start the second half and this time didn’t have a lead to bail it out in a 49-39 loss to the South Side Archers on Saturday.

“The third quarter has killed us in all four basketball games,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team has been outscored 68-44 in the eight minutes following intermission. “That is their biggest scoring quarter of the game.

“We have to clean that up. A lot of that has to do with mental toughness. Basketball is such a mental game.”

Part of it was because South Side (3-0) switched to a full-court press and switched to a 2-3 zone once Jay County (2-2) got the ball across midcourt. It was an adjustment second-year Archer coach JJ Foster figured would give his team an edge.

“You’re allowed to press them because they’re not looking to attack,” said Foster, whose team was in a man defense for the first half. “If they don’t look to attack that’s in our favor. That plays to our tempo.”

Jay County had a 9-3 edge in the second quarter to go into halftime tied with South Side at 15-all.

Treveon Jones broke the tie with the first of his three 3-pointers, and after Wyatt Geesaman made two free throws South Side responded with six straight points — a pair of charity tosses from both Everett Merritt and Jones and an Ashton Johnson jumper from the free-throw line to make it 24-17.

Ryan Schlechty scored his only field goal of the night on the ensuing possession before South Side rattled off six more points yet again.

Jay County was 3-of-12 from the field in the third quarter.

“You have to go next play, not last play,” Krieg said. “No matter what sport you’re in it’s next play. We let the last play affect us for possessions. We just can’t clean that up for whatever reason.”

Jones led all players with 15 points, and Kamron Mitchell joined him in double figures with 10 points for the Archers.

Michael Schlechty led Jay County with 12 points, and Geesaman chipped in 11 to go with his game-high 10 rebounds.

But Schlechty and Geesaman combined to go 10-of-19 from inside 10 feet.

“Think about all the bunnies we missed around the basket because we are expecting contact,” Krieg said. Jay County’s three-game homestand continues Saturday against Fort Recovery before a Dec. 11 matchup with Yorktown. “You just have to finish and play through that contact.”



Junior varsity

Jay County had a narrow lead heading into the second quarter but couldn’t keep it in a 45-32 loss.

The Patriots (2-2) led 8-7 after the first period but fell behind 20-16 at halftime. The deficit increased to 31-23 with one quarter remaining and South Side pulled away down the stretch.

Ethan Dirksen led all players with 13 points, while Landon Grimes and Gavin Lambert contributed six points each. Jaron Alexander, Brinnin Wasson and Gavin Muhlenkamp all had two points.

Preshaun Boyd led the Archers with 11 points.



Freshman

A first-half deficit turned into a lead in the third quarter and Jay County stayed out front in a 34-31 victory.

The Patriots (3-1) trailed by two entering the second period and cut the margin in half at intermission before outscoring South Side 6-3 in the third quarter for a 22-20 advantage it never relinquished.

Quinn Faulkner followed Friday’s 20-point effort with a game-high 15 points Saturday. Crosby Heniser tallied eight points as Trenton Alexander finished with five points. Adam Muhlenkamp and Adrek Pogue had four and two points respectively.