Getting physical

At the 7 minute, 47 second, mark in the third quarter, forward Trevin Dunnington got whistled for his third foul. 

Then center Westly Bihn picked up his third at 4:18.

Three seconds later, starting point guard Parker Nichols committed his third.

Back-to-back fouls by forward Ben Crouch saddled him with three at 3:33.

The Patriots’ front court was thinning out and the Warriors were shooting as many free throws as they wanted. However, the Warriors had a problem. They couldn’t knock down foul shots and gave up easy baskets on the other end.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team survived a tumultuous third quarter and came out strong in the fourth to put away the Woodlan Warriors 55-42 in the Allen County Athletic Conference opener Friday night.

 “The way this game was going … you want to talk about a physical basketball game?” JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt said. “Two years ago we couldn’t play this game because they wouldn’t have been strong enough. 

“We spent some time in the weight room and this is the kind of time when it pays off.”

The Patriots (2-1, 1-1 ACAC) started the third quarter on a 6-2 run to build an eight-point lead. But they committed four fouls, including an early one on Dunnington, sending him to the bench.

Things got rough when Bihn picked up his third foul to put the Warriors (2-2, 0-1 ACAC) into the bonus with Drew Fleek at the line. 

After knocking down the first shot, Fleek missed but tracked down his own miss before getting fouled by Nichols, who went to the bench.

Fleek missed both free throws, but a pair of offensive rebounds led to Woodlan’s Oliver Adams going to the line. He missed the first but made the second to end the “free-throw-athon,” during which the Warriors only got two points on six shots.

“When you leave with empty possessions after you put them in a bind, that always hurts,” Woodlan coach John Baker said. “So instead of clawing and getting those two points, you end up with a zero and go to the other end and that hurts. It’s deflating at times.”

Woodlan’s Braden Smith would get sent to the line next when Crouch picked up his third, forcing him out and Dunnington back in despite having three fouls. Smith knocked both down, but the Warriors wouldn’t return to the stripe for the final three and a half minutes.

Instead, the Patriots went on a run. They scored six consecutive points that started with a steal and transition bucket by Liam Garringer. After a timeout called by Bomholt, the Patriots slowed things down by running dribble handoffs, resulting in back-to-back baskets from Dunnington and Crouch.

“We were running out of post guys … so we were trying to buy a little time,” Bomholt said. “Ended up, when we went to it we got a couple of baskets off of it, which doesn’t happen very often.”

Jay County ended the quarter on an 8-3 run.

To start the fourth, the Patriots punched the Warriors in the mouth. After sitting on the bench for most of the third quarter, Bihn converted back-to-back layups to kick off the fourth as the Patriots broke Woodlan’s press.

“We were looking to push it, score on them and play hard the first three minutes and break their will to keep playing in the game,” Bihn said. “We were communicating on the floor. We were struggling with that in the first half there we weren't communicating what we're getting into with half the team running in two different plays.”

Bihn scored seven of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, while Garringer was right behind him with six of his team-high 14. Garringer had four easy points on sideline out of bounds plays as Gradin Swoveland hit him cutting to the rim for wide open layups.

Dunnington carried the offensive load in the first half, with seven points on 3-of-4 from the field.

Only one Warrior broke double digits as Smith splashed in four 3-pointers and shot 5-for-6 from the charity stripe for a game-high 17.

“I think we just had too many kids that contributed” Bomholt said. “We had really good bench play.

“Our kids did a good job. And they hung in there and they made some plays. And once we got the lead up early and say second half, we never let them catch back up.”

Junior varsity

The Patriots staved off a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Woodlan 44-34.

Jay County (3-0) exploded for 24 first-half points led by Cole Forthofer, who had 12 through the first two periods. The Patriots doubled up the Warriors through the first two periods, leading 24-12 at the half.

Woodlan started to mount a comeback in the final period when Jordan Halsey scored eight points. 

Time was on the Patriots’ side as the clock expired before the Warriors could get within striking distance.

Forthofer led the Patriots with 16 points while Halsey was Woodlan’s leader with 15.

Kade Sommers had eight points and Eli Dirksen added seven for Jay County.