Dowlen's day carries Jay

The Patriots’ leading scorer was held two below his average.

The team’s second-biggest threat offensively was three fewer than what he usually puts in.

So the smallest kid on the court made up the difference.

Josh Dowlen poured in a career-high 24 points in carrying the Jay County High School boys basketball team past the Adams Central Jets on Saturday, 58-50.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be able to (score) this high,” said Dowlen, a 5-foot, 8-inch sophomore who was averaging just 4.2 points per game heading into the night. “But I couldn’t have done it without my team.”

The win pushes the Patriots to 3-3 on the year and 2-0 in Allen County Athletic Conference play, while the Jets dip to 6-5 (1-1 ACAC).

“We were just working the ball, keeping up, making good passes,” Dowlen said of what was working offensively. “We’ve got good chemistry and we’re just getting better throughout the year which is good.”

JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, whose Patriot team next plays in the ACAC tournament semifinal Friday at Bluffton against the winner of tonight’s opening round game between Woodlan and Bluffton, said it’s no surprise Dowlen, one of three sophomores in his starting lineup, is capable of such a high-scoring night.

“It’s one of those things, we’re going to have games where all five of our guys may be in that spot because all of our guys can score,” he said, “Tonight it was Josh’s night, but as we go through the season we could get that from all five guys at different times.”

Dowlen got to work early, scoring eight of the Patriots’ 15 points in the first quarter.

His first bucket came on an offense rebound and gave the Patriots a 6-4 advantage. He later put in three consecutive fast-break layups, the last two on outlet passes from Gavin Muhlenkamp.

Dowlen showed his versatility in the second quarter. He drained a 3-pointer from the left corner on an Ethan Dirksen assist to surpass his previous career-high of nine points set Jan. 5 against Muncie Central. Dowlen also made a layup and three foul shots.

After Bennett Weitzel split a pair of free throws, Dowlen and Dirksen handled the JCHS offense for the next four minutes. They outscored Adams Central 13-5 — Dirksen and eight points including two 3-pointers — as the Patriots opened their biggest lead of the night, 43-28.

Adams Central rifled back, however, going on a 13-2 run that spanned the third-quarter break and cut the deficit to just four points. Kam Brown nailed a pair of 3-pointers — the Jets made eight total from long range — and Braysen Yergler added five points.

Yergler matched Dowlen’s effort of 24 points and did most of his damage from long range as he was 5-for-9 from beyond the arc.

But Jay County responded to put the game out of reach. Dusty Pearson got a jumper to fall from just inside the free-throw line, Weitzel scored on a Dirksen assist and then Dowlen hit his third and final triple on a Muhlenkamp helper to make it 52-41.

“It was crucial,” Bomholt said of the response to the Jets closing the gap. “We didn’t panic. We gave up a little bit of a lead — I don’t like that, we have to get that solved. When we did come back, possession-by-possession, showed a lot of maturity Got the ball in the right spots.”

Dirksen finished with 12 points, two fewer than his season average. Weitzel was three shy of his season average of 10 points. Pearson finished with six points and a game-high eight rebounds.



Junior varsity

Blake Bogenschutz hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds left as Jay County got its first win of the season, 35-34.

The Patriots (1-5) lost a 26-20 lead to start the fourth quarter but ended the losing streak on Bogenschutz’s heroics. He had a team-high 12 points. Trenton Alexander chipped in eight points, and Gavin Myers had seven points.

Max Hamilton, Hudson Conkling and Zach Wurm scored nine each for Adams Central



C-team

Solid defense carried Jay County to a 42-15 drubbing of Adam Central

The Patriots (5-2) allowed just two points in each of the first two quarters.

Trevin Dunnington paced the Patriots with 10 points, and Liam Garringer added nine points. Sam Myers contributed six points.