February 15, 2020 at 6:24 a.m.
Perfect Patriot
Jay’s Dirksen makes all 13 foul shots in lifting team to 47-43 victory
Perfect Patriot
Ethan Dirksen was sent to the free-throw line twice in the second quarter.
He made them both.
After being fouled on a 3-point attempt in the third, he made all those too.
Dirksen put his toes to the stripe seven times in the fourth quarter.
Each shot went through the hoop.
Dirksen, a Jay County High School sophomore, made all 13 of his free-throw shots, including the go-ahead pair after a technical foul late in the fourth quarter, to lift the Jay County High School boys basketball team to a 47-43 victory against the Heritage Patriots in the Allen County Athletic Conference finale for both squads.
“Whenever I got up there I just had to knock them down,” said Dirksen, whose perfect night is second to Jack Houck for free throw percentage in a game. Houck was 14-of-14 against Union City in 1982.
“I was just hoping that I knock them down,” Dirksen continued. “Just asking God to help me knock them down.”
Heritage (4-13, 2-4 ACAC), coached by 2009 JCHS graduate Adam Gray, led Jay County 28-20 in the third quarter after Dalton Wasson drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing on a Parker Tracey assist. But that’s when Jay County (6-12, 3-3 ACAC) and Dirksen started to come back.
Noah Arbuckle split a pair of free throws ahead of Dirksen’s trifecta from the line. The Patriots went into the fourth quarter down 31-29.
Jay County eventually tied it up at 36 thanks to a 3-pointer from Gavin Muhlenkamp and an Arbuckle bucket, but Heritage jumped out front again with a Hunter Teichman layup.
Dirksen, who didn’t have points away from the free-throw line, evened the score with a pair of bonus freebies, and the next trip down the court Gray, who was returning to Jay County for the first time as an opposing coach, got called for a technical foul for questioning contact to one of his players.
He made them both.
After being fouled on a 3-point attempt in the third, he made all those too.
Dirksen put his toes to the stripe seven times in the fourth quarter.
Each shot went through the hoop.
Dirksen, a Jay County High School sophomore, made all 13 of his free-throw shots, including the go-ahead pair after a technical foul late in the fourth quarter, to lift the Jay County High School boys basketball team to a 47-43 victory against the Heritage Patriots in the Allen County Athletic Conference finale for both squads.
“Whenever I got up there I just had to knock them down,” said Dirksen, whose perfect night is second to Jack Houck for free throw percentage in a game. Houck was 14-of-14 against Union City in 1982.
“I was just hoping that I knock them down,” Dirksen continued. “Just asking God to help me knock them down.”
Heritage (4-13, 2-4 ACAC), coached by 2009 JCHS graduate Adam Gray, led Jay County 28-20 in the third quarter after Dalton Wasson drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing on a Parker Tracey assist. But that’s when Jay County (6-12, 3-3 ACAC) and Dirksen started to come back.
Noah Arbuckle split a pair of free throws ahead of Dirksen’s trifecta from the line. The Patriots went into the fourth quarter down 31-29.
Jay County eventually tied it up at 36 thanks to a 3-pointer from Gavin Muhlenkamp and an Arbuckle bucket, but Heritage jumped out front again with a Hunter Teichman layup.
Dirksen, who didn’t have points away from the free-throw line, evened the score with a pair of bonus freebies, and the next trip down the court Gray, who was returning to Jay County for the first time as an opposing coach, got called for a technical foul for questioning contact to one of his players.
Dirksen made both free throws to give Jay County a lead with 1:47 to go and it never gave it up.
“I don’t want to sit here and make excuses, but it’s death by 1,000 paper cuts,” Gray said. “This is my second year as head coach at Heritage. I’ve gotten one warning in the past. I didn’t even get a warning before I got that technical.
“I didn’t curse. But if you look at it, time and score, (it was a) crucial point in the game.
“There’s a fine line between protecting your players and swinging the game. Unfortunately, those two points played a big part in the end of the game.”
In the final minute, Gavin Muhlenkamp was intentionally fouled and made both of his foul shots. Dirksen chipped in four more — two pairs sandwiched around a Luke Saylor 3-pointer — to ice it.
“Free-throw man,” JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team hosts Delta tonight, said of Dirksen. “When a kid is in rhythm shooting like that, that’s who I want with the ball in his hands … That’s huge for a sophomore to step up and make 13 free throws during a game. They were huge free throws for us tonight.”
As a team, Jay County was 19-of-21 (90.5 percent) from the free-throw line.
“In the five years I’ve been a coach, by far the best free-throw shooting team we’ve had,” Krieg said. “It’s all about getting the right people up there at the right time of the game.
“I said all along, Ethan Dirksen is probably one of our better free-throw shooters. Him and Gavin Muhlenkamp that we see night in and night out in practice. Those are the kids I want with the ball in their hands."
Saylor led Heritage with 13 points to match Dirksen, and Wasson was second for the visiting Patriots with 12 points, all from long range. Heritage took 38 shots from the field, all but 14 of them were from behind the arc.
Jay County, meanwhile, was 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from long range and finished 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) from the field.
Gray is now 0-3 against his alma mater as Heritage’s coach. The losses have come by a combined seven points.
“It was fun to be back,” he said. “Would have been nice to finish it off, but life goes on.”
Junior varsity
An 18-point second quarter carried Jay County to a 44-35 victory against Heritage.
The host Patriots (9-4) led 12-6 after the first quarter before breaking the game open. Heritage outscored Jay County 22-14 in the final two quarters but was unable to make up the difference from the first half.
Josh Dowlen paced Jay County with 13 points, and Adam Muhlenkamp joined him in double figures with 10 points. Crosby Heniser tallied eight points, and Trenton Alexander tossed in six points.
Freshman
Jay County gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter and lost to Heritage 36-33 in overtime.
After leading by five after each of the first two periods, JCHS pushed its advantage to seven, 18-11, heading into the fourth.
But Heritage edged Jay County 17-10 in the fourth and kept momentum into the extra period.
Brady Davis had 10 points to lead Jay County, while Blake Bogenschutz and Owen Ransom had seven points apiece.
“I don’t want to sit here and make excuses, but it’s death by 1,000 paper cuts,” Gray said. “This is my second year as head coach at Heritage. I’ve gotten one warning in the past. I didn’t even get a warning before I got that technical.
“I didn’t curse. But if you look at it, time and score, (it was a) crucial point in the game.
“There’s a fine line between protecting your players and swinging the game. Unfortunately, those two points played a big part in the end of the game.”
In the final minute, Gavin Muhlenkamp was intentionally fouled and made both of his foul shots. Dirksen chipped in four more — two pairs sandwiched around a Luke Saylor 3-pointer — to ice it.
“Free-throw man,” JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team hosts Delta tonight, said of Dirksen. “When a kid is in rhythm shooting like that, that’s who I want with the ball in his hands … That’s huge for a sophomore to step up and make 13 free throws during a game. They were huge free throws for us tonight.”
As a team, Jay County was 19-of-21 (90.5 percent) from the free-throw line.
“In the five years I’ve been a coach, by far the best free-throw shooting team we’ve had,” Krieg said. “It’s all about getting the right people up there at the right time of the game.
“I said all along, Ethan Dirksen is probably one of our better free-throw shooters. Him and Gavin Muhlenkamp that we see night in and night out in practice. Those are the kids I want with the ball in their hands."
Saylor led Heritage with 13 points to match Dirksen, and Wasson was second for the visiting Patriots with 12 points, all from long range. Heritage took 38 shots from the field, all but 14 of them were from behind the arc.
Jay County, meanwhile, was 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from long range and finished 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) from the field.
Gray is now 0-3 against his alma mater as Heritage’s coach. The losses have come by a combined seven points.
“It was fun to be back,” he said. “Would have been nice to finish it off, but life goes on.”
Junior varsity
An 18-point second quarter carried Jay County to a 44-35 victory against Heritage.
The host Patriots (9-4) led 12-6 after the first quarter before breaking the game open. Heritage outscored Jay County 22-14 in the final two quarters but was unable to make up the difference from the first half.
Josh Dowlen paced Jay County with 13 points, and Adam Muhlenkamp joined him in double figures with 10 points. Crosby Heniser tallied eight points, and Trenton Alexander tossed in six points.
Freshman
Jay County gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter and lost to Heritage 36-33 in overtime.
After leading by five after each of the first two periods, JCHS pushed its advantage to seven, 18-11, heading into the fourth.
But Heritage edged Jay County 17-10 in the fourth and kept momentum into the extra period.
Brady Davis had 10 points to lead Jay County, while Blake Bogenschutz and Owen Ransom had seven points apiece.
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
250 X 250 AD