Jay Co. falls at Richmond

RICHMOND — For 16 minutes Saturday, the Patriot boys basketball team stayed close with the Red Devils.
It even had a four-point lead on four separate occasions.
But 19 points in the third quarter gave Richmond a comfortable advantage, and it hung on for a 51-45 victory to hand Jay County its first loss of the season.
“The main thing was not getting the ball in the correct position,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team plays its fourth of five straight road games Friday at Leo. “We know the first few minutes of the second half are really important because you’re going to dictate how the rest of the half is going to be played.
“They came out, dictated their tempo and played their game. We’re not very good at playing that game.”
After the break, Jay County (4-1) turned the ball over on its opening possession leading to two easy points by Richmond’s Joel Okafor. After Justin Dirksen drained a 3-pointer from the left corner, the Red Devils (4-2) capitalized on two Patriot misses and a turnover to score 10 straight points. During the run, Davious Webster sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around two buckets in the paint by Auntonio Brown.
Then, Tommy Luce hit a pair of threes on Richmond’s next two trips down the court to give the home team its biggest lead of the game, 38-25, late in the third quarter.
“They got in a flow,” Teagle said of Richmond erupting in the third quarter. “The Webster kid is one of the best shooters we’ve seen all year. We did a good job on him in the first half, but he gets in a flow and hits two (threes).”
“Luce, his strength is hitting the three. The first one is OK, the second one we lost him. He was on the baseline, our kids got sucked in too far and couldn’t get to him.”
Webster finished with a game-high 12 points, and Luce followed with 11. All of their points came after intermission.
With the Patriots trailing 47-35 in the final 70 seconds, Pryor connected on two free throws to get his team within 10. After Adam Dirksen recorded the second of his two blocks in the game — he’s turned away at least one shot in every game this season — Zach Pryor’s basket at the other end made it a three-possession game.
Luce pushed Richmond’s advantage back to 10, 49-39, with 23 seconds left on a pair of double-bonus free throws. Nick Clemens sank a 3-pointer from the right wing, making it 49-42, and Webster answered with two free throws with nine seconds remaining.
Despite shooting nearly 50 percent (11-of-23) from the field, Teagle said he was not pleased with his team missing a lot of easy shots.
“I don’t know how many layups we missed,” he said. “Instead of powering and squaring up, (they were) just trying to flip and get it up there. Physically we’re not very strong and we continue to work on trying to be stronger finishers.
“This week we’ll work on that.”
While free throws kept Jay County close in the opening half — it was 12-of-16 and a perfect 8-of-8 after the break — they ultimately did in the Patriots in the final quarter. Richmond made all eight of its attempts from the stripe in the final period to preserve its victory.
Still, Teagle had mixed emotions about the Patriots’ performance from the free-throw line.
“I’m happy about it, except I’m mad about the four we missed,” he said. “You like to go up there and knock them all in.”

Junior varsity
The Red Devils led by 23 at half, 33-10, and pushed their lead to as many as 40 in the fourth quarter in a 68-30 victory.
Richmond scored 20 points in the first quarter while Jay County (2-3) managed just three. The Patriots scored seven or fewer points in each of the first three quarters.
The Patriots got 16 of their 30 points from the free-throw line, and Richmond hit a whopping 13 3-pointers.
Ryan Burkett led the Patriots with seven points. Jared Schlosser followed with five, and Cole Stigleman and Joey Springer each added four.