Jay boys stumble vs. Jets

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MONROE – Michael Schlechty tipped in an air-mailed 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

It put the Patriots back in contention after falling behind by as many as 10 points in the third quarter.

An ill-advised pass midway through the extra period proved costly, and the Jets did all their damage from the free-throw line.

Three days after winning by more than three touchdowns on its home court, the Jay County High School boys basketball team got tripped up by the Adams Central Flying Jets in a 51-45 overtime defeat to the Adams Central Flying Jets in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal.

“We just tried to force a pass … that just wasn't really there,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team will play in the tournament consolation at 10 a.m. Saturday at Bluffton. “That's how the whole day went.”

Adams Central advances to the tournament semifinal against the Bluffton Tigers on Friday at Jay County – the Patriot girls knocked off the Jets later Tuesday night.

“Sometimes scores are a obviously a little bit misleading,” Adams Central coach Aaron McClure said. “That game Saturday night, we probably played about as bad as far as giving them some easy things … We did do a much better job defensively tonight.”

Jay County (8-4) won the tip to begin overtime, and it was Krieg's plan to work his offense to play possession basketball, get an easy shot and not try to force anything. The Patriots passed the ball back and fourth around the perimeter, occasionally tossing it to the Michael Schlechty at the elbows, looking for an opening in the Jets' zone defense.

They took more than 90 seconds off the clock before Colton Yergler came up with a steal with 2:15 remaining.

A dozen seconds later, Kevin Brown, who had a game-high 30 points, did precisely what Adams Central needed to do in the final two-plus minutes.

Make free throws.

Brown, who was lethal from distance in the first half by making all five of his 3-point attempts, put the Jets out front 43-41 with a pair of charity tosses. Dylan Miller, Brown and Yergler each split a pair of freebies to make it 46-41 while Jay County missed four shots on three possessions at the other end.

Brown was 6-of-8 from the stripe in overtime and 9-of-14 for the game.

“Obviously had a great game on the offensive end,” McClure said of Brown, who hit contested shots from beyond the arc with six seconds remaining in each of the first two quarters. “Didn't have a good offensive night against them on Saturday (11 points) but sometimes he gets in a rhythm and he's just on fire.”

Adams Central made just eight of its 17 free throws in the first four quarters, was 10-of-14 in the final 123 seconds of overtime and didn't take a single shot from the field in the extra period.

Jay County, which now turns its focus to defending its regular season conference title, scored the first seven points of the game. Adams Central didn't hit the scoreboard until nearly five minutes were gone off the clock and surged to take an 11-8 lead heading into the second quarter thanks to Brown's triple before the horn.

As the Patriots tied the game at 11-all two minutes into the second, the Jets closed the half on a 12-3 run and eventually led by as many as 10 points, 28-18, with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter.

Slowly but surely the Patriots got back into it, trimming the margin to 39-38 on a Matthew Franks 3-pointer. Trailing 40-38 in the final seconds, Franks' potential game-winning 3-pointer was too long and Schlechty, who led the team with 14 points, grabbed the air ball and put it back up to send it into overtime.

“I'm disappointed in our kids' effort in the first half,” Krieg said. “Obviously we worked our tail off to get back in the ball game and send it to overtime. That's a plus.

“As a whole, the team that played the best tonight won and it wasn't us.”