Size, shooting, speed

MONROE — The Patriots walked into the gym with a considerable size advantage.

Then they hit seven first-half 3-pointers.

When they started adding transition offense, it was too much for their hosts to overcome.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team shot better than 50% from 3-point range, opened a nine-point lead at halftime and used an 11-0 fourth-quarter run to put the game well out of reach Saturday in a 74-53 victory over the Adams Central Jets.

“I didn't think it was my best coached game, which kind of trickled down, but I give a lot of credit to the guys. They responded in the second half,” said JCHS coach Tyler Rigby, whose team won its fifth in a row. “We used our defense to create some offense, which that's probably what we do best when we really lock down defensively and we're engaged. We can get a lot of easy buckets on the other end, and that fueled that run that we had to break it open a little bit.”

Rigby pointed to a lack of energy early that led to the Patriots (7-2, 2-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) trailing Adams Central (2-7, 2-1 ACAC) by five twice early in the second quarter. Three-pointers erased the deficit.

Jay County closed the half on an 18-4 run that included triples from Benson Barnett, Jayden Comer, Brock Wasson and Gabe Overton at the buzzer following an airball 3-point try by the Jets on the opposite end of the floor.

Overton opened the second half with another 3-pointer for an 18-point lead, pushing the Patriots shooting percentage from long distance to 57.1%

“I thought we took some really good ones,” said Rigby. “If you shoot that well, then good things are going to happen.”

The Jets were able to close to within seven points by the end of the third quarter, but their offense went flat while Jay County ran away with the game. The decisive 11-point run started with a second-chance hoop from Cole Forthofer followed by the junior converting a traditional three-point play. Aiden Phillips, Gradin Swoveland and Overton got into the scoring as the lead ballooned to 23 points.

“Just going to the rim. I think getting to the rack tonight was a big deal,” said Comer, who led the effort with four triples en route to a 21-point effort. “And I think that's what got us going, and then I think it ended pretty well. 

“When you get it in there and they all trap it, especially how big we are … they kick it out and we're a pretty good shooting team.”

Forthofer followed Comer with a dozen points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. Swoveland added 10.

Overton and Wasson each drained a pair of 3-pointers as they finished with 10 and eight points, respectively. Barnett had the other long-distance shot and hit all of his four free-throw attempts for seven points.

The depth of scoring helped the Patriots overcome 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from Braylend Reber, 15 from Lawson Deathe and 12 from Kolten Combs.

The Patriots have strung together wins over New Castle, Delta, Wapahani, Muncie Central and Adams Central since falling on the road to Fort Recovery on Dec. 6. 

“We're playing great, and I love it,” said Comer. “We're gonna do big things this year. I know. I see it right now. We're gonna be a really good team …

“Offensively, I think we’ve got it going. We know what we're doing offensively.”

Jay County’s next test will be the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament, starting with a home game Tuesday against a Woodlan squad it thrashed by 24 in early December.

Junior varsity

Jay County’s defense was good in the first half. It got even better in the second.

After limiting Adams Central to two first-quarter points and building a 22-point halftime lead, the Patriots shut out their hosts in the second half of a 52-8 win.

JCHS broke the game open with a 26-point second quarter. The Jets could not catch a break in the second half, going without a field goal and failing to get to the foul line.

Alex Miller’s 12 points led a deep scoring effort for the Patriots. Nick Snow followed with 10.

Brady Collins added five points and Brayden Barlow and Brady Millspaugh each had five as nine players hit at least one field goal.