July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
No. 2 Braves survive vs Jay (12/04/04)
JCHS boys basketball
No. 2 Braves survive vs Jay (12/04/04)
PORTLAND — The Bellmont Braves are recognized as one of the best teams in the state. Jay County made a case, and a good one, that it deserves to be thought of in a similar fashion.
The Patriots led for all but 23 seconds of the first half and got a career-high 25 points from Mark Kelly, but struggled to score in the second half in a 57-48 loss to Class 3A No. 2 Bellmont.
“I think intensity (made the difference) and we hung with it ...” said Bellmont coach Shaun Busick, who has coached against Jay County’s Craig Teagle since their days at Argos and Caston, respectively, in the early 1990s. “Jay County is such a great opponent. Coach Teagle’s teams are tough, competitive and can shoot the basketball. He just does such a great job here at Jay County.
“Give them credit. This wasn’t decided until the last minute and a half.”
Jay County (1-1) got off to a hot start, putting pressure on the Braves, forcing turnovers and scoring the first six points of the game. Its early success was punctuated by a fast break dunk by Kelly, who threw down the only slam of the night after a tip away by Scott Bruggeman and steal and assist from Zac Green.
But the Braves (3-0) finished the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 27-25 halftime lead. The Patriots got a 31-29 lead in the third, but then allowed a 10-0 Bellmont run and never put the scoreboard back in their favor.
They got as close as one point in the second half after a Busick technical foul, a 3-point play by Kelly and a 3-pointer from Bailey early in the fourth quarter. However, Bellmont finished off the home team with a 9-0 run for a 53-43 lead with just 2:19 remaining.
“I just think they’re such an outstanding team that you can’t have too many mistakes,” said Teagle, whose team coughed up the ball 13 times in the first half. “We had way too many turnovers in the first half and then in the second half we cleaned that up and we couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. We went from one thing hurting us to the next thing.”
Kelly, a senior, had the big effort for the Patriots as he scored more than half of his team’s points by going 10-of-15 from the field — including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
Fourteen of his points came after the intermission, but the Jay County offense never found another consistent threat as it shot just 33 percent in the second half. The rest of the Patriots besides Kelly shot just 8-of-30 (27 percent) for the game.
“It’s too bad too, because we found a match-up we thought we could take advantage of with Corey Comer in the post,” said Teagle. “We had two or three roll around and not go in. The ball wouldn’t go in the hoop. Some of that is good defense and some of that is just shots not falling.”
Busick credited his defense’s work against Bailey, who dropped 18 points in the fourth quarter of Jay County’s failed comeback try against the Braves during the 2003-04 regular season. The Braves, who also topped the Patriots in the 2004 regional semifinal round, held Bailey to nine points.
Bailey missed seven of his first eight 3-point tries and made just three of his 12 field goal attempts. No other Patriot score more than five points.
“I think we did a great job all night on Bailey,” Busick said. “That was our goal, to shut him down — to hold him down. That was what we were hoping for.”
Bellmont’s big three carried the load.
Aaron Richie, who is signed to play at Central Michigan next year, took over in the second quarter, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the final 6:39 of the opening half. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Adam Arnold, who will play his college ball at Indiana State, added 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Braves took a 28-21 advantage on the glass. Brian “Corky” Schultz had 11 points and seven rebounds.
“We talked about their three big guys as the three-headed monster,” said Teagle. “That’s what they got. I thought we did a pretty good job on them but they’re just so good that they made plays.”
Jay County will return to action tonight at Blackford at 6 p.m.
Junior varsity
The Jay County junior varsity team defeated Bellmont Friday, 39-38.
The Patriots led by four late in the game, but Bellmont got a chance after draining a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. The Jay County inbound pass was off the mark, but Jon Wenger dove and got enough of the ball to keep it from going out of bounds. The Braves recovered the ball, but their shot at the buzzer was well off the mark.
Wenger and John Retter shared the Patriot team high with 10 points apiece. Rhett Retter added nine points.
Justin Hall had eight points for Bellmont. Ryan Lehrman and Drew Konkle scored six points each.[[In-content Ad]]
The Patriots led for all but 23 seconds of the first half and got a career-high 25 points from Mark Kelly, but struggled to score in the second half in a 57-48 loss to Class 3A No. 2 Bellmont.
“I think intensity (made the difference) and we hung with it ...” said Bellmont coach Shaun Busick, who has coached against Jay County’s Craig Teagle since their days at Argos and Caston, respectively, in the early 1990s. “Jay County is such a great opponent. Coach Teagle’s teams are tough, competitive and can shoot the basketball. He just does such a great job here at Jay County.
“Give them credit. This wasn’t decided until the last minute and a half.”
Jay County (1-1) got off to a hot start, putting pressure on the Braves, forcing turnovers and scoring the first six points of the game. Its early success was punctuated by a fast break dunk by Kelly, who threw down the only slam of the night after a tip away by Scott Bruggeman and steal and assist from Zac Green.
But the Braves (3-0) finished the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 27-25 halftime lead. The Patriots got a 31-29 lead in the third, but then allowed a 10-0 Bellmont run and never put the scoreboard back in their favor.
They got as close as one point in the second half after a Busick technical foul, a 3-point play by Kelly and a 3-pointer from Bailey early in the fourth quarter. However, Bellmont finished off the home team with a 9-0 run for a 53-43 lead with just 2:19 remaining.
“I just think they’re such an outstanding team that you can’t have too many mistakes,” said Teagle, whose team coughed up the ball 13 times in the first half. “We had way too many turnovers in the first half and then in the second half we cleaned that up and we couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. We went from one thing hurting us to the next thing.”
Kelly, a senior, had the big effort for the Patriots as he scored more than half of his team’s points by going 10-of-15 from the field — including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
Fourteen of his points came after the intermission, but the Jay County offense never found another consistent threat as it shot just 33 percent in the second half. The rest of the Patriots besides Kelly shot just 8-of-30 (27 percent) for the game.
“It’s too bad too, because we found a match-up we thought we could take advantage of with Corey Comer in the post,” said Teagle. “We had two or three roll around and not go in. The ball wouldn’t go in the hoop. Some of that is good defense and some of that is just shots not falling.”
Busick credited his defense’s work against Bailey, who dropped 18 points in the fourth quarter of Jay County’s failed comeback try against the Braves during the 2003-04 regular season. The Braves, who also topped the Patriots in the 2004 regional semifinal round, held Bailey to nine points.
Bailey missed seven of his first eight 3-point tries and made just three of his 12 field goal attempts. No other Patriot score more than five points.
“I think we did a great job all night on Bailey,” Busick said. “That was our goal, to shut him down — to hold him down. That was what we were hoping for.”
Bellmont’s big three carried the load.
Aaron Richie, who is signed to play at Central Michigan next year, took over in the second quarter, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the final 6:39 of the opening half. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Adam Arnold, who will play his college ball at Indiana State, added 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Braves took a 28-21 advantage on the glass. Brian “Corky” Schultz had 11 points and seven rebounds.
“We talked about their three big guys as the three-headed monster,” said Teagle. “That’s what they got. I thought we did a pretty good job on them but they’re just so good that they made plays.”
Jay County will return to action tonight at Blackford at 6 p.m.
Junior varsity
The Jay County junior varsity team defeated Bellmont Friday, 39-38.
The Patriots led by four late in the game, but Bellmont got a chance after draining a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. The Jay County inbound pass was off the mark, but Jon Wenger dove and got enough of the ball to keep it from going out of bounds. The Braves recovered the ball, but their shot at the buzzer was well off the mark.
Wenger and John Retter shared the Patriot team high with 10 points apiece. Rhett Retter added nine points.
Justin Hall had eight points for Bellmont. Ryan Lehrman and Drew Konkle scored six points each.[[In-content Ad]]
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