Fatal first

MUNCIE — The Patriots dominated the first eight minutes of the season.

Since then, the first quarter has not been their friend.

That was the case again for Jay County on Saturday night at Muncie Fieldhouse as they fell behind by 18 en route to a 58-42 loss to the Muncie Central Bearcats.

It was the eighth straight loss for the Patriots, marking the longest losing streak since dropping nine in a row during the 2000-01 season.

“Where we’ve come into trouble is they’ve shot the three really well,” said JCHS boys basketball coach Chris Krieg, whose team saw New Castle bury six first-quarter triples three weeks ago. “Like tonight, we have to give up something to a certain degree. Central is very explosive going to the basket. So we’ve been working on our zone. You’ve just got to get there, you’ve just got to contest the threes. For the most part, we contested the threes they hit in the first quarter.”

Muncie Central (4-5) came out firing, making five 3-pointers in the opening period. They were 6-of-8 from the field in the first six minutes, building a 15-1 lead before Ethan Dirksen connected for the Patriots’ first field goal with 1:03 on the clock.

Dylan Stafford made his second 3-pointer of the game just eight seconds later and added another in the closing moments of the first quarter for a 21-3 Bearcat advantage.

“We worked hard this past week of practice, got up a lot of shots. The kids, from us playing against Brownsburg, really wanted to get this win today,” said Muncie Central coach Chandler Thompson, whose team lost by eight to the Class 4A No. 7 Bulldogs last week after getting off to a slow start in the game. “And I think they came out more focused than what they have.”

It marked the third time this season that Jay County (2-8) has trailed by double digits at the end of the first quarter. It was down 23-2 to New Castle on Dec. 14 and 20-6 to Merrillville last week in the Huntington North Holiday Tournament.

Unlike those two games, losses by 40 and 60, respectively, the Patriots were able to get on track, especially in the second half. They outscored Muncie Central after the intermission, often making the extra pass to get a good look or a foul near the basket. 

But JCHS was still never able to put any serious pressure on the Bearcats. It closed the gap to 47-33 on a Noah Arbuckle hoop early in the fourth quarter, but Victor Young scored his team’s next six points to make sure its advantage would stay in double figures.

Young’s 14 points paced Muncie Central, which began making wholesale substitutions midway through the second quarter.

“He came through at the end, getting a couple points, a couple baskets, to open that lead up for us,” said Thompson. “He’s been a good leader for us this year, doing the things that we ask for him to do.”

Stafford recorded all of his nine points on the three first-period long balls as 11 players scored for the home team.

The Patriots got as close as 12 points in the last minute before Muncie Central scored the last four points for the final.

Dirksen and Brayden Sprunger led Jay County with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Arbuckle had team bests of nine rebounds and three assists.



Junior varsity

Jay County fell behind early and never recovered in a 51-32 loss to the Bearcats.

The Patriots (4-3) were down by six after the opening quarter and trailed 35-20 at halftime. Their deficit extended to 21 after three periods in the loss.

Malik Hasani finished with 13 points to lead Muncie Central, which used 15 different players in the victory. Jordan Ivy followed with a dozen.

Dusty Pearson and Gavin Myers each scored six points for JCHS. Jaron Alexander and Adam Muhlenkamp had five apiece.