July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Green money for Jay (02/04/06)
JCHS boys basketball
Green money for Jay (02/04/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
MARION — It probably shouldn’t come as any surprise. Green is, after all, the color of money.
When the Patriots needed a leader Friday night Zac Green cashed in, going on a personal 9-0 run which keyed the Jay County boys basketball team’s 53-45 victory over the host Eastbrook Panthers.
“It’s funny because just last night we talked to the whole group about a sense of urgency and about how for the four seniors you have seven games left in your regular season, and then sectional,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, who watched Green carry his team from a two-point deficit to a 37-30 lead. “I mean, (they) may not ever put on a basketball uniform again, and they definitely won’t in a high school arena ... It looked like to me Zac Green had a sense of urgency tonight.
“We got behind again and he just made plays. That’s what seniors need to do. I’m proud of him. He’s a heck of a kid. He’s worked so hard on his game. And he stepped up big tonight.”
When it seemed the Patriots (10-3) were going to be in for another nail-biter — they lost when they missed a last second shot in their first trip to Eastbrook two seasons ago — Green took over.
Jay County trailed 30-28 after a Daniel Watson hoop, but Green evened the score again off an assist from Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman. Green drove for a lay-up the next trip down the floor, then buried a 3-pointer off another Bruggeman assist with 3:35 to play in the third quarter.
The senior wasn’t finished, coming up with a steal on the ensuing Eastbrook possession and driving for another lay-up to complete his run of nine straight points.
While Eastbrook (6-7) was within five points on several occasions in the fourth quarter, it was never able to overcome Green’s outburst.
“They kind of got loose with the ball, I guess, and we just took advantage,” said Green. “It wasn’t really me, everyone worked together. (The ball) just worked its way to me, I guess.”
Green has scored an average of 13 points over the last three Patriot contests, helping overcome some team illnesses.
Fellow seniors Tyler Rigby (three points) and John Retter (four points) played, but are still working their way back to full strength after a bout with pneumonia last week. And senior Randy Evans (four points) missed three days of practice this week because of illness as well.
Bruggeman joined Green in helping to fill the scoring void. He finished with 12 points to go along with six assists and four rebounds.
He hit all five of his free-throw attempts, including a pair to seal the game with nine seconds left.
“That’s really important,” said Teagle, who always emphasizes free throws, rebounding and defense as keys to road victories. “It was nice to see Scott step up and have a good game too.”
Jay County fell behind early as the Panthers showed a pinpoint accuracy from long range. They hit 3-pointers on each of their first three possessions, and finishing 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter for a 17-9 advantage.
But the lead evaporated in the second period with Jay County tying the game on a Rigby 3-pointer with just four seconds left before halftime.
Eastbrook managed just 16 points in the second and third periods combined and made only two 3-pointers over the final three quarters in the defeat.
“When you pay as much attention to the post as they were that’s going to open up things on the perimeter,” said Panther coach Joel Roush of the hot start. “They just started playing it more straight up. That gave Levi (Williams) some inside baskets, but it didn’t give us the wide-open threes and that’s kind of been our strength.”
Point guard Jason Burnett scored a team-high 16 points for Eastbrook.
He also dished out seven assists.
Junior varsity
Jay County struggled to keep the Panthers from scoring in a 54-42 loss.
The Patriots trailed by six after the opening quarter and were down 26-15 at halftime. They gave up at least 11 points in each quarter.
Ryan Snyder did the bulk of the damage, scoring 24 points for Eastbrook. Four other Panthers finished with six points apiece.
Rhett Retter hit three 3-pointers and shared the Jay County game high of 12 points with Luke McClung.[[In-content Ad]]
When the Patriots needed a leader Friday night Zac Green cashed in, going on a personal 9-0 run which keyed the Jay County boys basketball team’s 53-45 victory over the host Eastbrook Panthers.
“It’s funny because just last night we talked to the whole group about a sense of urgency and about how for the four seniors you have seven games left in your regular season, and then sectional,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, who watched Green carry his team from a two-point deficit to a 37-30 lead. “I mean, (they) may not ever put on a basketball uniform again, and they definitely won’t in a high school arena ... It looked like to me Zac Green had a sense of urgency tonight.
“We got behind again and he just made plays. That’s what seniors need to do. I’m proud of him. He’s a heck of a kid. He’s worked so hard on his game. And he stepped up big tonight.”
When it seemed the Patriots (10-3) were going to be in for another nail-biter — they lost when they missed a last second shot in their first trip to Eastbrook two seasons ago — Green took over.
Jay County trailed 30-28 after a Daniel Watson hoop, but Green evened the score again off an assist from Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman. Green drove for a lay-up the next trip down the floor, then buried a 3-pointer off another Bruggeman assist with 3:35 to play in the third quarter.
The senior wasn’t finished, coming up with a steal on the ensuing Eastbrook possession and driving for another lay-up to complete his run of nine straight points.
While Eastbrook (6-7) was within five points on several occasions in the fourth quarter, it was never able to overcome Green’s outburst.
“They kind of got loose with the ball, I guess, and we just took advantage,” said Green. “It wasn’t really me, everyone worked together. (The ball) just worked its way to me, I guess.”
Green has scored an average of 13 points over the last three Patriot contests, helping overcome some team illnesses.
Fellow seniors Tyler Rigby (three points) and John Retter (four points) played, but are still working their way back to full strength after a bout with pneumonia last week. And senior Randy Evans (four points) missed three days of practice this week because of illness as well.
Bruggeman joined Green in helping to fill the scoring void. He finished with 12 points to go along with six assists and four rebounds.
He hit all five of his free-throw attempts, including a pair to seal the game with nine seconds left.
“That’s really important,” said Teagle, who always emphasizes free throws, rebounding and defense as keys to road victories. “It was nice to see Scott step up and have a good game too.”
Jay County fell behind early as the Panthers showed a pinpoint accuracy from long range. They hit 3-pointers on each of their first three possessions, and finishing 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter for a 17-9 advantage.
But the lead evaporated in the second period with Jay County tying the game on a Rigby 3-pointer with just four seconds left before halftime.
Eastbrook managed just 16 points in the second and third periods combined and made only two 3-pointers over the final three quarters in the defeat.
“When you pay as much attention to the post as they were that’s going to open up things on the perimeter,” said Panther coach Joel Roush of the hot start. “They just started playing it more straight up. That gave Levi (Williams) some inside baskets, but it didn’t give us the wide-open threes and that’s kind of been our strength.”
Point guard Jason Burnett scored a team-high 16 points for Eastbrook.
He also dished out seven assists.
Junior varsity
Jay County struggled to keep the Panthers from scoring in a 54-42 loss.
The Patriots trailed by six after the opening quarter and were down 26-15 at halftime. They gave up at least 11 points in each quarter.
Ryan Snyder did the bulk of the damage, scoring 24 points for Eastbrook. Four other Panthers finished with six points apiece.
Rhett Retter hit three 3-pointers and shared the Jay County game high of 12 points with Luke McClung.[[In-content Ad]]
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