Patriots hit road to open tournament

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DECATUR — The Patriots open on the road for the second time in three seasons.

The Starfires host the first round for the second straight year.

In the Allen County Athletic Conference basketball tournament draw held Monday, Jay County High School’s boys and girls teams received road games while the Starfires earned home games to begin tournament play.

The 96th iteration of the boys tournament and the 45th edition of the girls tournament runs Jan. 8, 11 and 12.

Jay County, which last season was not crowned champion of either tournament for the first time, travels to Monroe to take on Adams Central in the first game of the tournament. Bluffton received a bye to the semifinal and will play at the winner of Jay County and Adams Central.

South Adams, whose girls won the program’s first conference tournament title last season by knocking off three-time defending champ Jay County, hosts the Woodlan Warriors. In the other quarterfinal, Heritage hosts Southern Wells.

The quarterfinal round is slated for Jan. 8 and the semifinals will be Jan. 11. All boys games will begin at 6 p.m. with the boys contests to follow the same night.

The championship games will be Jan. 12 at South Adams. The boys final tips at 6 p.m., and the girls will begin at 8 p.m.

Heritage’s boys team, led by JCHS graduate Adam Gray, is the defending tournament champion after beating Jay County 45-36 in last year’s final.

Brackets for both tournaments are identical, so the boys and girls games will be played at the same location in the quarterfinal. The host sites for the semifinals will follow that of the girls tournament, therefore the winner between Jay County and Adams Central will host both boys and girls semifinal regardless of who wins in the boys game.

All teams are guaranteed at least two tournament games. The consolation round — the Jay County-Adams Central loser meets that of Woodlan and South Adams, while the loser of the first semifinal squares off against the loser of Southern Wells and Heritage — will be Jan. 12 at Bluffton.

The first boys consolation game will begin at 10 a.m., and each subsequent game will begin approximately 25 minutes after the completion of the previous contest.