Downed from distance

HARTFORD CITY — Luke Brown was on fire early.

But a hot start to the second quarter gave the Patriots a brief advantage, 14-13.

Jack Wors found his rhythm from distance before halftime, and Brown did most of his damage after intermission.

Wors and Brown hit seven 3-pointers each as the Class 2A No. 7 Blackford Bruins made 16 shots from behind the arc in handing the Jay County boys basketball team a 78-49 loss Saturday night.

“That’s one of the best shooting teams I’ve played against in a long time,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, whose team falls to 4-4 on the year. “Not just Luke but all the rest of them. They were knocking them from everywhere.

“One thing I said to the kids before the game is we can’t trade threes for twos. That eventually will get you in a big deficit.”

It was the third consecutive loss for Jay County against Blackford, and the 29-point defeat was the largest margin for the Bruins against the Patriots, who have a 36-17 lead in the all-time series.

Blackford shot 16-of-38 (42.1%) from 3-point land while Jay County had just 19 total field goals.

Brown scored the first 10 points of the game for Blackford (11-4) and the Bruins led 13-7 at the end of the first period. But seven straight points for Jay County — two each from Bennett Weitzel, Ethan Dirksen and Dusty Pearson as well as a free throw by Gavin Muhlenkamp — gave the Patriots a 14-13 lead with 5:50 to play.

But Wors, a 6-foot, 3-inch freshman who had never made more than two 3-pointers in a game or scored more than 19 points this season, hit form distance on back-to-back possessions Blackford. That gave the Bruins a 19-16 and they never trailed the rest of the way.

The Bruins later made three more treys, including two from Wors and another form former Patriot Landon Grimes, for a 30-18 lead. Wors was 4-of-5 from the arc in the second quarter and made three more on his way to a career-high 27 points.

Brown, who is second in the state in scoring at 32 points per game, ninth on the state’s career points list (2,541) and has an outside chance of eclipsing Damon Bailey’s record of 3,134, took over in the second half.

A 3-pointer in the third made it 42-24, and Blackford got treys on three straight possessions to start the fourth. Brown hit a pair from the right side before Wors nailed one from the top of the key.

“They’re not shooting 19-footers,” Bomholt said. “They’re shooting 25-, 26-footers. They played really well. They deserved to win and beat on us a little bit.”

Brown and Wors were both 7-of-13 from the arc, and Brown led all players with 32 points. Max Wors, Jack’s older brother, finished with nine points.

Ethan Dirksen posted team highs of 13 points and six rebounds for the Patriots before fouling out. Bennett Weitzel finished with eight points, and Quinn Faulkner came off the bench to score seven points in the second half.

“We can bounce back,” Bomholt said. “There was part of the game I didn’t recognize the team that was out there. We went into a slumber.

“We’ll bounce back. They’re the kind of kids that want to learn. They want to do the right things. They want to work.”



Junior varsity

Trent Alexander picked the perfect time for his only three points of the game as he lifted Jay County to a 32-30 victory over Blackford.

Alexander made a shot and got fouled with 17.9 seconds remaining, and made the subsequent free throw to put the Patriots (3-5), who have now won three straight games, ahead 31-30.

Brady Davis led Jay County, which trailed after each of the first three quarters, with 11 points. Gavin Myers totaled eight points and Blake Bogenschutz ended with five points.



C-team

Jay County had the edge after each period in getting a 27-23 victory in just three quarters of play.

The Patriots (8-2) were out front 10-4 after the first and pushed the margin by one point, 19-12, after the second.

Parker Nichols scored 10 points to lead the Patriots, and Jackson Edwards contributed five points.