JCHS falls in finale

DECATUR — The Patriots wanted the final shot.

The play was designed for Ryan Schlechty to come off a ball screen and attack the basket.

Instead, the junior had to dish to Cole Stigleman in the corner for the potential game-winning shot.

Stigleman’s 3-pointer missed the mark, and Bellmont’s Kade Fuelling got fouled grabbing the rebound. As the seventh team foul of the half, Fuelling got sent to the free-throw line with 1.6 seconds left and a chance to break the tie.

Unlike the Braves’ struggles in a loss last week to Bluffton, Fuelling didn’t miss.

The sophomore’s go-ahead charity tosses stood as the game-winning points Friday as he lifted the Braves to a 44-42 victory over the Jay County High School boys basketball team.

“I’ll be honest, and we talk about this all the time, it’s not always the best team that wins but it’s the team that plays the best, and they whooped us on both ends of the floor all night long,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team dips to 13-9 ahead of the sectional opener against Wayne on Tuesday at Huntington North. “I feel fortunate that we were good enough to tie it and make a game of it.”

Bellmont snapped an eight-game losing streak to Jay County. Its last win against the Patriots was a 39-36 triumph on Jan. 31, 2009.

The Braves, who had lost 11 consecutive games entering Friday — their last win was Dec. 29 — were a mere 5-of-13 from the free-throw line in a two-point loss Feb. 16 to Bluffton.

Against Jay County, though, Bellmont (6-18) shot better than 70 percent from the stripe.

“Tonight I think it was one of those, it wasn’t free throws at the end of the game, although it seemed like it, it was the early ones we hit early on, too,” said Bellmont coach Johnathon Fuelling. “I told the guys, big plays in the first quarter are just as big in the third or fourth quarter, they’re just magnified at the end of the game because that’s what everybody remembers.”

Kade Fuelling made five of his seven free throws, none bigger than the final two to decide the game with less than two seconds remaining.

Jay County had an inbound play with 0.4 seconds left on the clock for a chance to send the game to overtime or get a victory, but Stigleman wasn’t able to get the potential game-winning 3-pointer off before the buzzer sounded.

“I’m disappointed in our effort,” Krieg said. “I thought our kids are more mentally tough than we were tonight. It all was mental toughness. We let a team beat us (in a game) that we should have won.”

Jay County trailed 15-11 at the end of the first quarter, and Parker Grimes got the Patriots within one early in the second. But the Patriots turned the ball over on five out of six possessions, including whistles for traveling and charging, which led to Bellmont scoring seven consecutive points. Brady Manis had five of those points on a pair of free throws and a triple in the corner from a Payton Boyd assist.

Manis finished with a game-high 17 points, and Jordan Fuelling joined him in double figures with 11 points.

Bellmont led again by seven early in the fourth quarter before Jay County trimmed the deficit to one on four points from Michael Schlechty and two from Wyatt Geesaman. With 2:30 remaining, Stigleman, who was in foul trouble for most of the first half, swished a 3-pointer from the right wing on a Ryan Schlechty assist to tie the score at 42.

The Braves missed on the ensuing possession, and Jay County ran out the clock before Kade Fuelling’s heroics at home.

Michael Schlechty led the Patriots with 14 points and Geesaman was second with a dozen.

“We had that stretch where we got to the point where we tied it then we were going to sit on it and unfortunately they called a foul at the end,” Krieg said. “When you go to rebound over someone’s back there is a pretty good chance they’re going to call a foul on you.

“Right now we have to clean it up because Tuesday is the most important game of the season.”



Junior varsity

Yet another second-half surge propelled Jay County to a 47-40 victory over Bellmont.

The Patriots, who end their season at 12-8, trailed 11-8 after one quarter of play and were behind 28-17 at half. But a 15-8 edge in the third quarter helped Jay County trim the deficit before taking the lead for good in the final period.

Noah Arbuckle led all players with 19 points, including 10 in the second half, to finish one point shy of his season high. Gabe Link joined him in double figures with 10 points, and Korbin Auker contributed nine points.



C team

Despite having a lead after the first quarter, Jay County had its season end with a 34-32 loss to Bellmont.

The Patriots (6-12) were ahead 8-5 heading to the second quarter but got outscored 13-3 before half to trial 18-11. They were never able to regain the lead despite outscoring the Braves 17-13 in the final period.

Gavin Lambert and Sheldon Upp led Jay County with eight and seven points, respectively. Peyton Nichols was third on the team with six points, and Brian Williams chipped in four points.