Jay Co. fend off Braves

DECATUR — A couple seniors did most of the damage in the first half for the Patriots.



Two sophomores put the game away in the end.



Seniors Brayden Sprunger and Gavin Lambert combined for 17 of the Patriots 22 first-half points, and sophomores Gavin Muhlenkamp and Ethan Dirksen were a collective 3-for-3 at the stripe as the Jay County High School boys basketball team held on to beat the host Bellmont Braves 38-37 on Friday.



“Once we got the lead we never gave it up,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team ends the season 7-15 and opens sectional play on Friday at New Castle against either Hamilton Heights or the host Trojans. “(We) did a great job of taking care of the basketball. Zero turnovers in the fourth quarter, unofficially 11 for the game, which is huge if you’re going to limit possessions.



“We really took care of the basketball.”



Jay County trailed Bellmont (11-12) by five, 15-10, at the end of the first quarter, but held a 12-7 margin in the second.

Sprunger had seven of his 10 points in the second stanza, and Lambert chipped in five of his team-high 12 in the frame as well as the score was knotted at 22-each at intermission.

The swing in momentum was in part because of sophomore Quinn Faulkner hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter.

Bellmont jumped back out front at the end of the third, 31-29, and the Braves were ahead by four when Jay County slowed the game down a bit.

A layup brought the margin to two, and then Muhlenkamp and Dirksen put the Patriots out front for good.

“I’m really proud of the kids,” Krieg said. “What scared me tonight is we didn’t get to practice the last two days (because of school being canceled). I was concerned how we were going to be.

“Obviously the kids were fresh. They were itching to play.”

Noah Arbuckle contributed six points for Jay County, which also got four points from Muhlenkamp.

Bellmont’s Kade Fuelling scored 23 points, five above his per-game average, to lead all players. Tyler James was second for the Braves with eight points.



Junior varsity

Bellmont was 9-of-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to hand Jay County a 65-48 loss.

The Patriots trailed 17-8 at the end of the first quarter and were down 33-12 at half. A 20-5 margin in the third quarter pulled Jay County to within six before the Braves’ stout shooting from the stripe put the game away.

Dusty Pearson paced Jay County with 11 points. Josh Dowlen was second on the team with nine points, and Crosby Heniser collected seven points.



Freshman

A slow start doomed Jay County in a 39-25 loss to the Braves.

The Patriots only managed three points in the first quarter and were down 14-3 after one period of play. They cut into the deficit with a 11-8 margin int he second quarter and trailed at halftime 22-14. They were outscored 17-7 in the final two periods.

Blake Bogenschutz and Brady Davis scored 10 points each for Jay County. Simon Dirksen added four points.