A balanced effort

The Patriots had been looking for a more balanced attack.

They got it Thursday.

Three players scored in double figures, helping the Jay County High School boys basketball team to a 48-41 victory against the Oak Hill Golden Eagles.

“I thought once again we had a good team win,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, whose team is now 5-4 on the year and has won four of its last five games.

After Ethan Dirksen ended the first quarter by banking in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Jay County a 15-13 lead, Oak Hill (9-8) fired right back on back-to-back buckets by its own No. 15, Landon Biegel.

Biegel’s baskets put the Golden Eagles on top, but Josh Dowlen responded with his only 3-pointer on a Dusty Pearson assist to put the Patriots back on top, 18-17.

They never trailed again.

Jay County opened a 12-point lead, 40-28, after the third quarter before appearing to do everything it could to give the game away. It missed its first two shots of the period before four consecutive turnovers, including a charge, against Oak Hill’s press.

Thankfully for the Patriots, though, Oak Hill didn’t do much to help itself. It managed to get points from Biegel and Matthew Strange, but those baskets were peppered between five missed shots from the perimeter.

In all, the Golden Eagles were 7-of-25 from the arc.

“This team is having a little bit of trouble turning the jets on, playing fast, getting under control, getting good shots, then turning around and the same game you might have to back off the accelerator and still attack … we can’t right now do that,” Bomholt said. “If we have to take our foot off the accelerator to try to buy some time off the clock or whatever, we end up being real passive.”

Because of the Patriots’ struggles offensively, it took more than six minutes for them to score in the fourth quarter. The Golden Eagles had pulled to within single digits, 40-32, but five straight JCHS points — two from Pearson and three by Dowlen — put the margin back in double figures.

“Good teams have to play a variety of ways and right now when people press us we struggle,” said Bomholt, whose team puts its 3-0 Allen County Athletic Conference record on the line Saturday afternoon as it travels to Woodburn to take on the Woodlan Warriors (5-8, 1-2 ACAC). “We’re just making some really poor decisions. We’ve got to do a better job against the press.”

Dirksen led the Patriot charge offensively, scoring nine of his team-best 18 points during the first quarter. He also led Jay County in dominating Oak Hill in rebounds. Dirksen pulled down 10 boards for his second double-double of the season, and the Patriots had as many offensive rebounds (15) as the Golden Eagles had total rebounds.

“We absolutely pounded them on the boards,” Bomholt said. Jay County racked up 41 rebounds.

Dowlen, who had just four points at halftime, scored six in the fourth quarter as he finished with a dozen points. Pearson added 10 points to give the Patriots three players in double figures for the first time this season, and he added a career-high nine rebounds, one shy of his first career double-double.

Biegel led Oak Hill with 19 points, and Kian Hite chipped in 13 points.



Junior varsity

Blake Bogenschutz hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining, lifting Jay County to a 38-36 win, their fourth in a row.

Jay County (4-5) led after each of the first three quarters, including an eight-point advantage at the end of the first. But the margin turned into a 36-29 deficit in the fourth quarter before the home team scored the final nine points for the win.

Brady Davis, Trent Alexander and Bogenschutz each had 10 points for the Patriots, who also got six points from Gavin Myers and a pair from Adrek Pogue.