February 21, 2021 at 4:42 a.m.
Sweep success
Jay County conquers double weekend
Sweep success
The last time the Patriots had a two-victory weekend was late in the 2018-19 season.
They proceeded to lose their final four games of the year.
Coach Jerry Bomholt hopes this weekend’s sweep can be a spark for a strong finish.
Jay County High School’s boys basketball team followed Friday’s victory over Norwell by outscoring the Seton Catholic Cardinals 21-11 down the stretch for a 57-49 win.
“All in all, man, you’ve got to be happy,” said Bomholt. “We came in here — our goal was to win two games this weekend. And we did it.”
The Patriots (7-8) had lost their previous four games — the last three were by three, six and four points — before this weekend’s sweep.
“In two of those, we’re down with the ball, 30 seconds to go and down by two, and we can’t make a play,” Bomholt added. “Now we’re looking around and saying, ‘We can do this.’ And they have.
“I’m happy for them because slowly they’re getting some confidence … They’re coming through and being successful in those situations. And that’s neat. That’s neat to watch.”
Sam Casper’s 3-pointer on the Cardinals’ first possession of the fourth quarter evened the score at 41. That’s when the Patriots came through.
Josh Dowlen, who scored Jay County’s first dozen points, responded to Casper’s triple with one of his own. Then Bennett Weitzel recorded a put-back basket that caused Seton Catholic (6-8) coach Josh Jurgens to take a timeout.
After the visitors failed to score, Bomholt had his squad burn about a minute off the clock passing and dribbling the ball back-and-forth around the arc.
“They could pull away and run clock because we weren’t scoring,” said Jurgens, adding that in part his team got away from its inside game with 6-foot, 6-inch post player Jake Moynihan. “We can’t live and die by the three when we’ve got a kid like Moynihan. We’ve got to find a way to feed him, try to find a way to get him the ball the right way.”
The rest of the Patriots’ points would come from the free-throw line.
Though the home team missed a few foul shots, including one front end of a one-and-one, they went 11-of-15 from the stripe over the final four minutes to salt away the win. They were able to do so in part because they stayed under control even when Seton Catholic shifted form its two-three zone to man-to-man in an effort to increase the defensive pressure, turning the ball over just three times in the second half.
“Probably the thing that won the game for us more than anything was we took care of the basketball,” said Bomholt, whose team had eight turnovers for the game. “That’s two nights in a row now we’ve been single digits.
“We rebounded with them, which we needed to do. And then being able to knock down enough free throws down the stretch.”
Jay County executed a scoring relay in the first half. After Dowlen scored the first 12 points, Adam Muhlenkamp came off the bench to pour in nine in a row of his own. Then Ethan Dirksen, who had struggled early, tallied the last eight of the half including a 3-pointer coming off of a screen with six seconds left for a 29-23 halftime lead. Dirksen added the first two points of the third quarter to run his streak to 11 in a row.
The trio continued their run, scoring the first 39 Patriot points before Weitzel finally hit a pair of free throws with three seconds left in the third quarter.
“It sure as heck wasn’t designed that way,” said Bomholt.
Dowlen scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Patriots, while Dirksen added 16 to go along with a team-high 12 rebounds. Muhlenkamp, who made all four of his field-goal attempts, joined them in double figures with a career-high 11.
Seton Catholic got 15 points from Casper, all of which came from long distance.
Junior varsity
Jay County blanked the Cardinals in the first quarter and never looked back in a 44-21 victory.
After taking a 7-0 lead in the first seven minutes, six different Patriots scored in the second quarter as they took a 23-11 lead into halftime. They extended the advantage to 18 points in the third quarter and then hit 5-of-6 free throws in the fourth.
Blake Bogenschutz hit a trio of 3-pointers on the way to a game-high 11 points to lead JCHS. Owen Ransom added eight points, and Brady Davis scored seven.
Mike Henry and Andrew Wagner each had six points for Seton Catholic, which scored 15 of its 21 from long distance.
They proceeded to lose their final four games of the year.
Coach Jerry Bomholt hopes this weekend’s sweep can be a spark for a strong finish.
Jay County High School’s boys basketball team followed Friday’s victory over Norwell by outscoring the Seton Catholic Cardinals 21-11 down the stretch for a 57-49 win.
“All in all, man, you’ve got to be happy,” said Bomholt. “We came in here — our goal was to win two games this weekend. And we did it.”
The Patriots (7-8) had lost their previous four games — the last three were by three, six and four points — before this weekend’s sweep.
“In two of those, we’re down with the ball, 30 seconds to go and down by two, and we can’t make a play,” Bomholt added. “Now we’re looking around and saying, ‘We can do this.’ And they have.
“I’m happy for them because slowly they’re getting some confidence … They’re coming through and being successful in those situations. And that’s neat. That’s neat to watch.”
Sam Casper’s 3-pointer on the Cardinals’ first possession of the fourth quarter evened the score at 41. That’s when the Patriots came through.
Josh Dowlen, who scored Jay County’s first dozen points, responded to Casper’s triple with one of his own. Then Bennett Weitzel recorded a put-back basket that caused Seton Catholic (6-8) coach Josh Jurgens to take a timeout.
After the visitors failed to score, Bomholt had his squad burn about a minute off the clock passing and dribbling the ball back-and-forth around the arc.
“They could pull away and run clock because we weren’t scoring,” said Jurgens, adding that in part his team got away from its inside game with 6-foot, 6-inch post player Jake Moynihan. “We can’t live and die by the three when we’ve got a kid like Moynihan. We’ve got to find a way to feed him, try to find a way to get him the ball the right way.”
The rest of the Patriots’ points would come from the free-throw line.
Though the home team missed a few foul shots, including one front end of a one-and-one, they went 11-of-15 from the stripe over the final four minutes to salt away the win. They were able to do so in part because they stayed under control even when Seton Catholic shifted form its two-three zone to man-to-man in an effort to increase the defensive pressure, turning the ball over just three times in the second half.
“Probably the thing that won the game for us more than anything was we took care of the basketball,” said Bomholt, whose team had eight turnovers for the game. “That’s two nights in a row now we’ve been single digits.
“We rebounded with them, which we needed to do. And then being able to knock down enough free throws down the stretch.”
Jay County executed a scoring relay in the first half. After Dowlen scored the first 12 points, Adam Muhlenkamp came off the bench to pour in nine in a row of his own. Then Ethan Dirksen, who had struggled early, tallied the last eight of the half including a 3-pointer coming off of a screen with six seconds left for a 29-23 halftime lead. Dirksen added the first two points of the third quarter to run his streak to 11 in a row.
The trio continued their run, scoring the first 39 Patriot points before Weitzel finally hit a pair of free throws with three seconds left in the third quarter.
“It sure as heck wasn’t designed that way,” said Bomholt.
Dowlen scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Patriots, while Dirksen added 16 to go along with a team-high 12 rebounds. Muhlenkamp, who made all four of his field-goal attempts, joined them in double figures with a career-high 11.
Seton Catholic got 15 points from Casper, all of which came from long distance.
Junior varsity
Jay County blanked the Cardinals in the first quarter and never looked back in a 44-21 victory.
After taking a 7-0 lead in the first seven minutes, six different Patriots scored in the second quarter as they took a 23-11 lead into halftime. They extended the advantage to 18 points in the third quarter and then hit 5-of-6 free throws in the fourth.
Blake Bogenschutz hit a trio of 3-pointers on the way to a game-high 11 points to lead JCHS. Owen Ransom added eight points, and Brady Davis scored seven.
Mike Henry and Andrew Wagner each had six points for Seton Catholic, which scored 15 of its 21 from long distance.
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