January 26, 2019 at 5:54 a.m.
Game-winning Grimes
Game-winning Grimes
Parker Grimes was given a choice: right corner or left.
He didn’t care which one. The senior had the confidence to make the shot no matter where he was positioned.
So Ryan Schlechty made the choice for him.
Grimes delivered.
Schlechty drove to his right, drew multiple defenders and passed to the corner to Grimes, who swished the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to propel the Jay County High School boys basketball team to a 33-30 win over the Bluffton Tigers on Friday.
“I was just waiting there in the corner,” said Grimes, whose triple at the horn gave him a team-high 10 points. “Ryan dribbled to the right so people came up to him. Nobody was on me so I got open in the corner.”
The win kept the Patriots’ hopes of repeating as regular season Allen County Athletic Conference champions alive as they moved to 4-0 in league play and 11-4 overall.
“All conference wins are big wins,” JCHS coach Chris Krieg said. The Patriots hit the road tonight to take on sophomore sensation Luke Brown and the Blackford Bruins (10-3), who defeated Eastbrook 70-51 on Friday.
Grimes’ basket capped a slow-paced game that saw Jay County jump out to a 9-0 lead before holding off the Tigers (4-11, 3-2 ACAC) down the stretch. Bluffton’s Johnathan Irwin drained a 3-pointer on an assist from Landon McClish with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter to put the Tigers behind 19-18.
Bluffton again trailed 21-20 less than a minute later, and consecutive Noah Arbuckle baskets gave the Patriots a five-point advantage.
No matter how hard Bluffton tried, it had trouble pulling even with Jay County. A McClish triple got the Tigers back within one, 29-28, before BHS coach Chris Benedict called a timeout with 3:52 to go in the fourth quarter. The Tigers missed a potential game-tying shot the next trip down the court, and Schlechty split a pair of free throws to push the margin back to two points with 3:02 to play.
Bluffton finally pulled even at 30-all on two Irwin free tosses with 27.8 ticks left. Krieg called timeout with 14 seconds on the clock to draw up the final play.
“Ryan goes ‘Parker where do you want to shoot it, which corner?’” Krieg said, reiterating that Grimes had no preference. “Ryan said ‘Let’s go right.’”
Grimes finished 4-of-8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. Brothers Ryan and Michael Schlechty finished with six points each while adding six and five rebounds, respectively. Michael Schlechty scored all of his points in the first three minutes of the game. Arbuckle tossed in five points.
Irwin’s 11 points led the Tigers, who also got six points off the bench in the second quarter from Zach Cummins.
“It was tough because we hadn’t practiced all week,” Grimes said, noting the fact Jay County had three days canceled because of snow and extreme cold. “We only had like one practice … It was a little rough coming out.”
Jay County will have its hands full tonight with Brown, the state’s leading scorer at nearly 38 points per game. The Bruins are off to their best start in more than four decades.
“We’re going to slow the pace down,” Krieg said. Blackford’s offensive average is north of 70. “(Brown) wants to get his points. We’re going to let him. He’s going to have to work for it, but we’re going to try and take away everyone else.”
Junior varsity
Lukas Hunt nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Bluffton a 46-43 win over Jay County, despite a season-best effort by a Patriot freshman.
Jay County (10-3) led after each of the first three quarters. It was out front 10-7 at the end of the first and was ahead by four at the break. The margin was cut to just one, 26-25, heading into the final seven minutes before Hunt’s game winner.
Ethan Dirksen led all players with 25 points, 10 more than his previous season high. Gavin Muhlenkamp added five points while Quinn Faulkner and Parker Nichols had four and three points respectively.
Freshman
Jay County took a lead in the fourth quarter and hung on for a 26-23 victory.
The Patriots (6-4) and Tigers were tied at six apiece after the first quarter before the home team grabbed a one-point advantage, 12-11, at intermission.
Bluffton erased the deficit for a 20-18 lead with one quarter to play before Jay County pulled out the win.
Adrek Pogue led the Patriots with eight points. Gavin Myers and Adam Muhlenkamp collected six points each.
He didn’t care which one. The senior had the confidence to make the shot no matter where he was positioned.
So Ryan Schlechty made the choice for him.
Grimes delivered.
Schlechty drove to his right, drew multiple defenders and passed to the corner to Grimes, who swished the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to propel the Jay County High School boys basketball team to a 33-30 win over the Bluffton Tigers on Friday.
“I was just waiting there in the corner,” said Grimes, whose triple at the horn gave him a team-high 10 points. “Ryan dribbled to the right so people came up to him. Nobody was on me so I got open in the corner.”
The win kept the Patriots’ hopes of repeating as regular season Allen County Athletic Conference champions alive as they moved to 4-0 in league play and 11-4 overall.
“All conference wins are big wins,” JCHS coach Chris Krieg said. The Patriots hit the road tonight to take on sophomore sensation Luke Brown and the Blackford Bruins (10-3), who defeated Eastbrook 70-51 on Friday.
Grimes’ basket capped a slow-paced game that saw Jay County jump out to a 9-0 lead before holding off the Tigers (4-11, 3-2 ACAC) down the stretch. Bluffton’s Johnathan Irwin drained a 3-pointer on an assist from Landon McClish with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter to put the Tigers behind 19-18.
Bluffton again trailed 21-20 less than a minute later, and consecutive Noah Arbuckle baskets gave the Patriots a five-point advantage.
No matter how hard Bluffton tried, it had trouble pulling even with Jay County. A McClish triple got the Tigers back within one, 29-28, before BHS coach Chris Benedict called a timeout with 3:52 to go in the fourth quarter. The Tigers missed a potential game-tying shot the next trip down the court, and Schlechty split a pair of free throws to push the margin back to two points with 3:02 to play.
Bluffton finally pulled even at 30-all on two Irwin free tosses with 27.8 ticks left. Krieg called timeout with 14 seconds on the clock to draw up the final play.
“Ryan goes ‘Parker where do you want to shoot it, which corner?’” Krieg said, reiterating that Grimes had no preference. “Ryan said ‘Let’s go right.’”
Grimes finished 4-of-8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. Brothers Ryan and Michael Schlechty finished with six points each while adding six and five rebounds, respectively. Michael Schlechty scored all of his points in the first three minutes of the game. Arbuckle tossed in five points.
Irwin’s 11 points led the Tigers, who also got six points off the bench in the second quarter from Zach Cummins.
“It was tough because we hadn’t practiced all week,” Grimes said, noting the fact Jay County had three days canceled because of snow and extreme cold. “We only had like one practice … It was a little rough coming out.”
Jay County will have its hands full tonight with Brown, the state’s leading scorer at nearly 38 points per game. The Bruins are off to their best start in more than four decades.
“We’re going to slow the pace down,” Krieg said. Blackford’s offensive average is north of 70. “(Brown) wants to get his points. We’re going to let him. He’s going to have to work for it, but we’re going to try and take away everyone else.”
Junior varsity
Lukas Hunt nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Bluffton a 46-43 win over Jay County, despite a season-best effort by a Patriot freshman.
Jay County (10-3) led after each of the first three quarters. It was out front 10-7 at the end of the first and was ahead by four at the break. The margin was cut to just one, 26-25, heading into the final seven minutes before Hunt’s game winner.
Ethan Dirksen led all players with 25 points, 10 more than his previous season high. Gavin Muhlenkamp added five points while Quinn Faulkner and Parker Nichols had four and three points respectively.
Freshman
Jay County took a lead in the fourth quarter and hung on for a 26-23 victory.
The Patriots (6-4) and Tigers were tied at six apiece after the first quarter before the home team grabbed a one-point advantage, 12-11, at intermission.
Bluffton erased the deficit for a 20-18 lead with one quarter to play before Jay County pulled out the win.
Adrek Pogue led the Patriots with eight points. Gavin Myers and Adam Muhlenkamp collected six points each.
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