Jay upset (12/20/06)

The Patriots were left crying foul.

The rebounding numbers were even Tuesday night, as were the turnovers. And the host Centerville Bulldogs still came away with what amounted to about 11 extra possessions.

Jay County fans can infer for themselves how that happened.

"I think we're pretty mentally tough," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, who is generally not one to complain about officiating. "But adversity is one of those things that it either makes you stronger or it overwhelms you, and I just wonder if we fought so much adversity all night that it finally overwhelmed us. Because I thought in the fourth quarter we made some poor decisions we wouldn't typically make.

"Give Centerville credit, though. They just kept playing hard and they found a way to win the game."

The Class 3A No. 5 Patriots certainly made mistakes, including crucial back-to-back turnovers late in the fourth quarter, but the foul numbers stood out in an otherwise fairly even game as they suffered a 47-45 upset loss to Centerville.

Jay County (6-1) was nearly perfect from the line, hitting 8-of-9 attempts. But the Bulldogs (5-1) shot 25 free throws, including 17 as they rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final eight minutes.

Centerville was called for just 11 fouls in the game, compared to 23 on the Patriots.

There were a host of questionable calls, which fans can argue about most every game, but the one which hurt Jay County the most came with 6:03 to go in the fourth quarter. After scoring the first seven points of the game and leading by 11 after three periods, the Patriots were still up by seven when Clint Muhlenkamp was called for a techical foul.

Teagle said he was told Muhlenkamp said, "Come on, you've got to call that." He said although Muhlenkamp should have stayed quiet, he didn't think it merited the technical. But by team rule it sent the Patriots' best defender to the bench for the waning minutes of the game.

To that point, Centerville point-forward Drew Schauss had just six points with Muhlenkamp constantly in his face. He scored 11 of his game-high 17 after the junior left the game, hit eight free throws in that span and made the assist to Michael McKee on the game-winning basket with 4.1 seconds remaining.

"That took our best defender off the kid that was just sticking his head down, dribble-diving and creating contact ..." said Teagle of the technical. "Clint was strong enough to body him up and keep him from doing that."

With Muhlenkamp on the bench and several other players in foul trouble, Justin Johnson hit the technical foul shots and Schauss hit two more on the ensuing possession to complete a 7-0 Bulldog run. Jay County managed to keep the lead until Stewart (13 points) hit an open 3-pointer, one of the key mistakes Teagle pointed to from his team.

The shot also came between back-to-back Patriot turnovers, after which Centerville was able to run down the clock thanks in part to a critical offensive rebound.

Schauss split a pair of free throws at the 48-second mark, and Scott "Scooter" Bruggeman missed his only shot of the game on the other end. Schauss split two more free throws for a 45-42 Centerville lead before Bruggeman, who finished 5-of-6 from the field and 5-of-5 from the line for a team-high 16 points, responded with an outstanding conventional three-point play with 16.1 seconds to play.

But Schauss, who had 10 rebounds and two assists to go along with his game-high scoring total, came up big once more for the Bulldogs. He drove into the lane, drew the defense's attention, pulled up just inside the foul line and found McKee underneath. McKee delivered the game-winning shot - his only shot and points of the game - off the glass with 4.1 seconds to go.

"We'd been talking all night and all week about penetrating and kicking ... They really do a nice job of jumping to the basketball," said Centerville coach Ryan Chiddister, whose team was a regional finalist a year ago. "In the first half we didn't do a very good job of penetrating and kicking, and that's all that was. ... That was just good, unselfish basketball."

"This is as big a win as we've had here since our regional win last year against Knightstown. We've had some big wins in our program and that ranks right up there with any of them."

Jay County had a final chance after a timeout, going to their bread-and-butter end-of-quarter play. But Bruggeman, who also had seven assists, lost control of the ball at the 3-point line as he tried to make his way through a swarm of Bulldog defenders. Billy Wellman eventually wound up with the ball in his hands, but his shot, which bounced off the rim and no good, came just after the buzzer.

Teagle said he felt Bruggeman was "tackled" on the final play.

"(We wanted) him to attack and get a pull-up shot in the paint, and if he pulled defense to kick to somebody," said Teagle. "Having a kid like Scott Bruggeman, at the end of the game you definitely want the ball in his hands to make the decision, but he wasn't allowed to."

Wellman followed Bruggeman with 13 points for the Patriots, but no other player had more than five. Wellman and Corey Comer finished with five rebounds apiece.

The task for Jay County to bounce back from their first loss of the season will be a tall one as it hosts undefeated Class 4A No. 5 Muncie Central Friday.

"I expect us to come out and compete every possession, compete on every pass and offensively to screen hard, cut hard," said Teagle. "If the ball goes in the hole for us, then we're going to compete. ... From the team I've had for the last two years, I expect them to compete every possession for 32 minutes come Friday night."

Junior varsity

Jay County let almost all of a 12-point lead get away, but held on for a 32-27 victory over the Bulldogs.

Dexter Shreve and Aaron Daniels each finished with eight points to lead the Patriots. All of Shreve's points came in the opening quarter.

Adam Garringer also had six points.

Brent King paced Centerville with seven points, and Zac Pruitt and Ryan Carmen each added six.[[In-content Ad]]