Another shortcoming

Three days earlier, it was the second quarter that hampered the Patriots.

Tuesday night, it was the entirety of the first half.

But once again, they fought back to get within striking distance. And once again that comeback attempt came up short.

Without starting post player Bennett Weitzel because of an injury, Jay County High School’s boys basketball team lost its second consecutive game, falling 49-41 to the Yorktown Tigers on Tuesday.

“Well, offensively once again, a little bit of a struggle,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, whose team was 3-of-18 in the first half and just 9-for-28 after the break. On Saturday in a 43-38 loss to New Castle, the Patriots scored just two points in the second quarter. “We’re real hesitant, for whatever reason … we’re just not playing on the offensive end with the same amount of confidence and effort that we’re playing on the defensive end.

“It creates a problem because, the last two games we’re playing from behind most of the game. I’ll say this. They don’t give up; they keep plugging away.”

Weitzel, a 6-foot, 5-inch sophomore forward who scored a career-high 21 points a week ago in the Patriots’ season-opening win over Southern Wells, was out of the lineup because of a rib injury. Junior Adam Muhlenkamp, who is 6 inches shorter, started in his place.

Despite the poor effort from the floor in the first half — Jay County (1-2) was shooting 16.7% while Yorktown (3-1) was 8-of-21 for a 38.1% clip — the Patriots trailed by only three at half, 19-16. That was mostly because they had made nine of their 11 free throws.

Yorktown, which had made just one of its nine 3-point attempts in the first half, started to heat up from distance in the third quarter. Freshman Kieran Tewari made three from distance, and sophomore AJ Dunn had another. Then early in the fourth, Dunn made the first of his two triples in the period to give the Tigers a 37-24 advantage.

Although Yorktown continued to hit shots in the fourth quarter, Jay County methodically turned the double-digit deficit into just two possessions.

Ethan Dirksen drove the left baseline for a layup with 4:33 remaining to cut it to 42-31, but Dunn responded by splitting a pair of free throws. Dirksen sandwiched four points — a jumper from the right elbow on a Gavin Muhlenkamp assist and two free throws — around an Adam Morrow basket to cut the deficit to 10 points with 2:22 to play.

Dirksen’s free throws came after the first of four consecutive Yorktown turnovers. He added another bucket and Dusty Pearson converted one more Muhlenkamp assist to make it 45-39 with 1:19 to go.

Dunn split another pair of free throws, and Quinn Faulkner drilled a jumper from the elbow. Suddenly the Patriot deficit was just five, 46-41.

Tewari and Dunn were 3-of-4 from the stripe in the final 20 seconds to put the game out of reach.

“That was an ugly win,” Yorktown coach Matt Moulton said. “Coach Bomholt made us look really ugly tonight.

“I respect all his years of experience versus my two years of experience because they just played really hard and really scrappy and they made us throw the ball all over the gym tonight.

“I’m actually thrilled to escape with a victory.”

Led by Dunn’s 23 points and Tewari’s 16, Yorktown made nine of its 21 3-point attempts. In the last two games, Jay County has allowed Yorktown and New Castle to make 19 shots from the perimeter.

“We were just a step slow,” Bomholt said. “We’re not getting screened so how do yo not get out there? And when our guys get out there they’re long enough they affect the shot.

“We’ve got to get the problems offensively solved. That’s the big thing right now.”

Dirksen scored 13 points to lead the Patriots before fouling out with 20 seconds to go. Pearson scored 10 points, but he too was knocked out of the game with five fouls.

“Right now we can’t throw it in the daggone ocean,” said Bomholt, whose team travels to take on another sectional rival, 10th-ranked Delta, on Friday. “We’ve got to get our confidence back … We’re just going to keep plugging away until we get this thing solved.”



Junior varsity

Jay County scored one point in the first quarter of a 54-30 loss to Yorktown. It marked the third straight loss to start the season for the Patriots.

Yorktown jumped out to a 10-1 lead after the first quarter and went ahead 16-9 at halftime. Despite the Patriots finding a bit of a stride offensively, they still got outscored 28-21 in the final two periods.

Blake Bogenschutz led Jay County with 14 points, 10 of which came during the fourth quarter. Gavin Myers and Trenton Alexander had four points each.