Patriot boys beat Bruins

Copyright 2018, The Commercial Review

All Rights ReservedThe Bruins brought one of the most talked about freshmen in the state.

With him came a crowd the Jay County gym hasn’t seen in years.

Early in the second quarter, Blackford’s phenom Luke Brown hit the deck, writhing in agony at what appeared to be an ankle injury.

As he left the contest, so too did the crowd’s energy.

But a game still had to be played, and the Jay County High School boys basketball team notched yet another win over the Blackford Bruins, 59-38.

“Well when you’ve got a player that’s that important to the whole operation and he goes down it is really hard for the rest of them to come back form several different ways,” said Blackford coach Jerry Hoover, whose team has won more games (10) than the last four years combined (nine).

“Probably more mental than physical,” he added.

As the game carried on, though, Jay County (10-6), which as now won 20 consecutive games against the Bruins, was more physical than Blackford (10-5).

“They killed us on the offensive boards and they killed us with inside passing,” Hoover said. “We did real well (Friday) night on some of those things and then it just broke down.

“That is all there is to it.”

Brown entered the night averaging nearly 30 points per game, and at the time of his injury he had seven points as the Bruins trailed 13-9.

Blackford was able to keep it respectable for the remainder of the half, went into intermission trailing 25-16 and pulled as close as four points, 27-23, with 5:19 left in the third.

Just as it did the previous night, the Patriots put together another strong third period, as it went on a 17-2 run.

Wyatt Geesaman kicked off the spurt with a put-back on a Cole Stigleman miss, and Ryan Schlechty went coast-to-coast for a layup. Michael Schlechty converted an old-fashioned three-point play before Blackford’s Brandon Stroble drained a 3-pointer on an assist from Hoover to make it 34-36.

Jay County closed the quarter by scoring 10 straight points, four of which on offensive rebound put-backs and fast break buckets by both Ryan Schlechty and Geesaman.

In the fourth, the paint opened up even more for the Patriots as their rotation offense created open spots on the backside of the Bruin zone. Michael Schlechty and Stultz were able to slice through the Blackford defense to get easy backside lay-ins. Stultz had eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.

“How they rotate over the backside is wide open,” Krieg said, “Jordan Stutlz reaped the reward from that. Right guy, right time.”

With Brown out of the game, Blackford seemed out of sorts. Hoover was able to create for himself as he finished with a game-high 14 points. He had a pair of triples and made all six of his free throws. Stroble added seven points, but the Bruins needed their stud.

“We worked really hard all week focusing on Brown,” Michael Schlechty said. “We knew we had to shut him down. Him going down really helped us. We just played well, played hard, worked together as a team and got the win.”

Breathing room in the stands was hard to come by in some spots as the attendance number rivaled those seen in the 1980s and ’90s. Dean Monroe, one of the most knowledgeable mind on the history of Jay County basketball — even long before the Patriots came around in 1975 — said it reminded him of the atmosphere from ages ago.

The players took notice too.

“It was great,” Schlechty said. “I’ve never really played in front of a big crowd before. I was nervous at first but I settled down.”



Junior varsity

Jay County overcame a slow start offensively to pick up a 44-33 victory over Blackford.

The Patriots (9-4) trailed 11-7 after the first quarter but outscored the Bruins 16-5 in the second for a 23-16 halftime lead. The margin stayed the same heading to the fourth quarter during which JCHS was able to pull away.

Gabe Link led a balanced offensive attack with 10 points, as Brayden Mock, Gabe Faulkner, Noah Arbuckle and Gavin Randall has eight points apiece.



C team

All 11 players scored at least two points as Jay County picked up a 54-31 win.

The Patriots (4-7), who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season, jumped out to a 20-8 lead in the first quarter and were out front 25-14 at half. The advantage ballooned to 40-26 after three quarters of play.

Sheldon Upp paced Jay County with 14 points. Frankie Crump and Conner Tout both had eight points while Brinnin Wasson, Brian Williams and Lewis Crump each had four points.