December 13, 2020 at 4:46 a.m.
Trojans hold of Patriot rally
JCHS boys basketball drops home opener, 43-38
Trojans hold of Patriot rally
A second-quarter dry spell put the Patriots in a bit of a hole.
The Trojans’ barrage from distance sure didn’t make matters any better.
Five consecutive turnovers helped get the Patriots close in the final minute, but they ran out of time.
Jay County High School’s boys basketball team overcame a lackluster performance in the second quarter to rally late but came up short in a 43-38 loss to the New Castle Trojans on Saturday.
“The second quarter was key,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, who was making his highly anticipated home opener for his second stint leading the Patriots. “We get down (early), we’re up by one (at the end of the first quarter), we scored two points in the second quarter and then we spend the rest of the game trying to come from behind.
“We still had our chance. We had a lot of situations, a lot of opportunities or (forced) turnovers and we didn’t get conversions.”
It was the 15th straight loss for Jay County against New Castle, including a 73-33 setback last year. The Patriots’ last victory against the Trojans came during the 1987-88 season, although the teams played just once from 2002 to 2019.
Down 29-15 not even three minutes into the second half, Jay County (1-1) started to make its way back into contention by going on a 12-2 run.
Bennett Weitzel, who scored a career-high 21 points in the Patriots’ season opener Tuesday, scored from the right side to start the streak and then hit a layup from the left side on an Ethan Dirksen assist.
Cole McDaniel made a running floater for New Castle (1-2) with 2:22 left in the period. It accounted for the only points during the stretch for the Trojans, as the Patriots responded with a Dusty Pearson bucket, a Quinn Faulkner put-back jumper on a Josh Dowlen missed 3-pointer and then another Faulkner basket.
Gavin Muhlenkamp scored on a Dirksen assist before the Trojans broke the mini drought with consecutive 3-pointers, one each from Gavin Welch and Trey Miller.
Miller later hit the 10th and final triple of the night for New Castle, giving it a 40-32 lead, but that’s when Jay County’s defense forced five consecutive turnovers.
Dirksen made two shots to get the Patriots within two possessions, 40-36, but they couldn’t get any closer.
“I’m not gonna complain about our kids’ effort,” said Bomholt, whose team was 2-of-8 from the free-throw line, including missing the front end of one-and-one attempts twice. “I’m so proud of them. They could’ve folded when they got down 14 and they kept digging, kept digging, kept digging, got their way back and they had a chance to win at the end.
“For that I’m really proud of them, but we have to get to the point where we win these games. Don’t (just) come lose, we’re not in to coming close. We’re to the point where we want to win these games.”
Dirksen scored 15 points to lead the Patriots, and Weitzel scored six points before exiting the game late in the fourth quarter with an apparent rib injury. While going for a loose ball on one of the five NCHS turnovers, Weitzel collided with a Trojan player near mid-court.
Miller matched Dirksen’s 15-point effort for New Castle, which was 10-of-30 from beyond the arc and also got 13 points from Welch.
“The thing is we had some (defensive) looks where we didn’t make them put it on the floor,” Bomholt said of the Trojans taking all but 10 of their 40 shots from at least 19 feet, 9 inches away from the basket. “Our objective every time is to get on the shooter and take the shot away and make them put it on the floor.”
Jay County, which hosts Yorktown tonight, ended the opening quarter with a 9-8 lead after Dirksen made a 3-pointer from the left corner just before the buzzer.
But the Patriots went just 1-of-5 from the field and turned the ball over five times in the second, meanwhile the Trojans turned the one-point deficit into a 10-point lead at half.
After a Dirksen layup tied the game at 11-all, Welch kicked off a stretch of 13 straight Trojan points that carried over into the second half.
He sank a corner three, then after a Patriot turnover dunked on a fast break to make it 16-11. Miller nailed a corner three as well, then Welch put back a missed 3-point attempt for two more points.
Welch made another 3-pointer in the third quarter that gave the Trojans their 29-15 lead early.
With two games in Bomholt’s new era of Patriot basketball, he’s happy with how things are going so far.
“If we can continue our good defensive play and get our offense where we’re playing with a little more confidence we’re really going to improve,” he said.
Junior varsity
Jay County got outscored 17-2 in the third quarter of a 46-21 loss.
The Patriots (0-2) fell behind 10-4 at the end of the first period and went into halftime down 19-14. The JCHS offense stalled in the third quarter, scoring just 2 points.
Gavin Myers scored 10 points to lead Jay County.
The Trojans’ barrage from distance sure didn’t make matters any better.
Five consecutive turnovers helped get the Patriots close in the final minute, but they ran out of time.
Jay County High School’s boys basketball team overcame a lackluster performance in the second quarter to rally late but came up short in a 43-38 loss to the New Castle Trojans on Saturday.
“The second quarter was key,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, who was making his highly anticipated home opener for his second stint leading the Patriots. “We get down (early), we’re up by one (at the end of the first quarter), we scored two points in the second quarter and then we spend the rest of the game trying to come from behind.
“We still had our chance. We had a lot of situations, a lot of opportunities or (forced) turnovers and we didn’t get conversions.”
It was the 15th straight loss for Jay County against New Castle, including a 73-33 setback last year. The Patriots’ last victory against the Trojans came during the 1987-88 season, although the teams played just once from 2002 to 2019.
Down 29-15 not even three minutes into the second half, Jay County (1-1) started to make its way back into contention by going on a 12-2 run.
Bennett Weitzel, who scored a career-high 21 points in the Patriots’ season opener Tuesday, scored from the right side to start the streak and then hit a layup from the left side on an Ethan Dirksen assist.
Cole McDaniel made a running floater for New Castle (1-2) with 2:22 left in the period. It accounted for the only points during the stretch for the Trojans, as the Patriots responded with a Dusty Pearson bucket, a Quinn Faulkner put-back jumper on a Josh Dowlen missed 3-pointer and then another Faulkner basket.
Gavin Muhlenkamp scored on a Dirksen assist before the Trojans broke the mini drought with consecutive 3-pointers, one each from Gavin Welch and Trey Miller.
Miller later hit the 10th and final triple of the night for New Castle, giving it a 40-32 lead, but that’s when Jay County’s defense forced five consecutive turnovers.
Dirksen made two shots to get the Patriots within two possessions, 40-36, but they couldn’t get any closer.
“I’m not gonna complain about our kids’ effort,” said Bomholt, whose team was 2-of-8 from the free-throw line, including missing the front end of one-and-one attempts twice. “I’m so proud of them. They could’ve folded when they got down 14 and they kept digging, kept digging, kept digging, got their way back and they had a chance to win at the end.
“For that I’m really proud of them, but we have to get to the point where we win these games. Don’t (just) come lose, we’re not in to coming close. We’re to the point where we want to win these games.”
Dirksen scored 15 points to lead the Patriots, and Weitzel scored six points before exiting the game late in the fourth quarter with an apparent rib injury. While going for a loose ball on one of the five NCHS turnovers, Weitzel collided with a Trojan player near mid-court.
Miller matched Dirksen’s 15-point effort for New Castle, which was 10-of-30 from beyond the arc and also got 13 points from Welch.
“The thing is we had some (defensive) looks where we didn’t make them put it on the floor,” Bomholt said of the Trojans taking all but 10 of their 40 shots from at least 19 feet, 9 inches away from the basket. “Our objective every time is to get on the shooter and take the shot away and make them put it on the floor.”
Jay County, which hosts Yorktown tonight, ended the opening quarter with a 9-8 lead after Dirksen made a 3-pointer from the left corner just before the buzzer.
But the Patriots went just 1-of-5 from the field and turned the ball over five times in the second, meanwhile the Trojans turned the one-point deficit into a 10-point lead at half.
After a Dirksen layup tied the game at 11-all, Welch kicked off a stretch of 13 straight Trojan points that carried over into the second half.
He sank a corner three, then after a Patriot turnover dunked on a fast break to make it 16-11. Miller nailed a corner three as well, then Welch put back a missed 3-point attempt for two more points.
Welch made another 3-pointer in the third quarter that gave the Trojans their 29-15 lead early.
With two games in Bomholt’s new era of Patriot basketball, he’s happy with how things are going so far.
“If we can continue our good defensive play and get our offense where we’re playing with a little more confidence we’re really going to improve,” he said.
Junior varsity
Jay County got outscored 17-2 in the third quarter of a 46-21 loss.
The Patriots (0-2) fell behind 10-4 at the end of the first period and went into halftime down 19-14. The JCHS offense stalled in the third quarter, scoring just 2 points.
Gavin Myers scored 10 points to lead Jay County.
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