January 15, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.
Ousted in opener: Boys are unable to sustain success
Jay County Basketball
Ousted in opener: Boys are unable to sustain success
Since joining the Allen County Athletic Conference in 2014-15, at least one Patriot squad had played for a tournament title every season.
Woodlan put and end to that streak Tuesday.
The host Warriors ushered both Jay County teams into consolation games, as their girls team opened the evening with a 36-25 victory and the boys team followed with a 59-38 triumph.
The games weren’t upsets, given that both Jay County squads had lost to the Warriors earlier in the year. But this marks new territory for the girls team especially, as it had played in the ACAC tournament championship game in each of the previous five seasons, winning it in 2015, ’16, ’18 and ’19. (They had also won five straight regular-season conference crowns prior to this year.)
And while this marks the third time in the last four seasons that the boys have been bounced from the tournament in the opening round, they were coming off back-to-back regular-season ACAC titles.
Now, for the first time in their six seasons in the league, both Patriot teams will head to Bluffton for consolation games Saturday against Heritage. The girls will play at 10 a.m., and the boys will follow at approximately 2 p.m.
After a run of three consecutive games in which the Jay County boys failed to score more than six points in the opening quarter, coach Chris Krieg decided to make some lineup changes. He went with all underclassmen — sophomores Ethan Dirksen, Gavin Muhlenkamp and Quinn Faulkner, and freshmen Bennett Weitzel and Dusty Pearson — in the starting lineup.
“We lost nine in a row,” said Krieg. “We’ve got to do something different.”
The early results were good as the Patriots (2-10) scored the game’s first basket and had a 9-3 lead with less than four minutes ticked off the clock. They just couldn’t sustain that success.
The Warriors (5-5) outscored JCHS 13-2 over the rest of the first quarter and then continued to roll in the second. In all, the home team went on a 26-5 run, putting the game firmly in its control at halftime.
Three-point shooting sparked Woodlan, starting with a triple from senior Aiden Bayman and followed by a rare four-point play from Joe Reidy. Simon Haderson got three points the old-fashioned-way, and Nick Jones closed the first-quarter scoring with another triple. In second quarter it was senior Trevor Widenhoeft’s turn, as he sandwiched back-to-back long balls around a Patriot timeout much to the delight of his teammates.
“Trevor’s a kid that’s a senior that’s played varsity since his freshman year,” said Warriors coach John Baker. “He’s just struggled to see it go through. He got that gorilla off his back with the first one and then had confidence in the second one.
“For the rest of our guys to see that — they may be more excited than he is ‚ but you could definitely see a weight off his shoulders. … Confidence is an important part of this game. And I think that really lifted us up from a confidence standpoint and really carried us quite a ways.”
Despite scoring the first five points of the second half to close the gap to 31-23, the Patriots could never recover. Woodlan responded with 10 consecutive points to put the game away.
Five Warriors hit at least three field goals, led by 16 points from Reidy and 14 from senior Mitch Mendenhall. Colin Hahn, Baymen and Wiedenhoeft added eight points apiece.
“The team was just having confidence in each other,” said Baker, whose team advances to play Adams Central in Friday’s semifinal round. The ball was just moving.”
Dirksen scored 12 of Jay County’s 18 first-half points on the way to his team-high 13 to go along with eight rebounds. Gavin Lambert, a senior, came off the bench for 10 points, including going a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line, and seven rebounds.
While the score wasn’t closer, Krieg said he felt the Patriots took a step forward from Saturday’s 41-26 loss at Adams Central.
“The effort, from start to finish, compared to Saturday, was night and day,” he said. “We battled.
“I felt like we played with a purpose this evening. We’ve just got to keep battling. Good things will happen.”
Woodlan put and end to that streak Tuesday.
The host Warriors ushered both Jay County teams into consolation games, as their girls team opened the evening with a 36-25 victory and the boys team followed with a 59-38 triumph.
The games weren’t upsets, given that both Jay County squads had lost to the Warriors earlier in the year. But this marks new territory for the girls team especially, as it had played in the ACAC tournament championship game in each of the previous five seasons, winning it in 2015, ’16, ’18 and ’19. (They had also won five straight regular-season conference crowns prior to this year.)
And while this marks the third time in the last four seasons that the boys have been bounced from the tournament in the opening round, they were coming off back-to-back regular-season ACAC titles.
Now, for the first time in their six seasons in the league, both Patriot teams will head to Bluffton for consolation games Saturday against Heritage. The girls will play at 10 a.m., and the boys will follow at approximately 2 p.m.
After a run of three consecutive games in which the Jay County boys failed to score more than six points in the opening quarter, coach Chris Krieg decided to make some lineup changes. He went with all underclassmen — sophomores Ethan Dirksen, Gavin Muhlenkamp and Quinn Faulkner, and freshmen Bennett Weitzel and Dusty Pearson — in the starting lineup.
“We lost nine in a row,” said Krieg. “We’ve got to do something different.”
The early results were good as the Patriots (2-10) scored the game’s first basket and had a 9-3 lead with less than four minutes ticked off the clock. They just couldn’t sustain that success.
The Warriors (5-5) outscored JCHS 13-2 over the rest of the first quarter and then continued to roll in the second. In all, the home team went on a 26-5 run, putting the game firmly in its control at halftime.
Three-point shooting sparked Woodlan, starting with a triple from senior Aiden Bayman and followed by a rare four-point play from Joe Reidy. Simon Haderson got three points the old-fashioned-way, and Nick Jones closed the first-quarter scoring with another triple. In second quarter it was senior Trevor Widenhoeft’s turn, as he sandwiched back-to-back long balls around a Patriot timeout much to the delight of his teammates.
“Trevor’s a kid that’s a senior that’s played varsity since his freshman year,” said Warriors coach John Baker. “He’s just struggled to see it go through. He got that gorilla off his back with the first one and then had confidence in the second one.
“For the rest of our guys to see that — they may be more excited than he is ‚ but you could definitely see a weight off his shoulders. … Confidence is an important part of this game. And I think that really lifted us up from a confidence standpoint and really carried us quite a ways.”
Despite scoring the first five points of the second half to close the gap to 31-23, the Patriots could never recover. Woodlan responded with 10 consecutive points to put the game away.
Five Warriors hit at least three field goals, led by 16 points from Reidy and 14 from senior Mitch Mendenhall. Colin Hahn, Baymen and Wiedenhoeft added eight points apiece.
“The team was just having confidence in each other,” said Baker, whose team advances to play Adams Central in Friday’s semifinal round. The ball was just moving.”
Dirksen scored 12 of Jay County’s 18 first-half points on the way to his team-high 13 to go along with eight rebounds. Gavin Lambert, a senior, came off the bench for 10 points, including going a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line, and seven rebounds.
While the score wasn’t closer, Krieg said he felt the Patriots took a step forward from Saturday’s 41-26 loss at Adams Central.
“The effort, from start to finish, compared to Saturday, was night and day,” he said. “We battled.
“I felt like we played with a purpose this evening. We’ve just got to keep battling. Good things will happen.”
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