July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Patriots chalk up a holiday victory (11/24/06)
JCHS boys basketball
Patriots chalk up a holiday victory (11/24/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
The execution was sloppy at times, but the effort was excellent.
The Jay County Patriots dominated the hustle categories Wednesday night, forcing 20 turnovers and earning a 37-23 advantage on the glass. The 2006 Class 3A runners-up also put together a quarter-and-a-half stretch of lock-down defense, holding the Elwood Panthers to just two points in a 13-minute stretch to pull away en route to the 57-37 victory.
"I think you can chalk this one up to our defense," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle. "Our defense was pretty good except for a couple of stretches. ... we've got to clean up the offense though."
While the Patriots shot just over 40 percent and gave the ball away 15 times, it was their defense which came up strong when they fell behind 11-8 after the first eight minutes.
Jay County (1-0) regained the lead on hoops by seniors Rhett Retter and Corey Comer as the host Panthers (0-1) went scoreless for nearly four minutes before Thomas Abner hit their lone field goal of the period at the 4:30 mark. Elwood would not score again for more than nine minutes as the Patriots ran off 18 straight points.
"It was kind of the same thing that happened to us in the scrimmage," said Elwood coach Kyle Hobbs, whose team is 0-6 against the Patriots over the last four seasons. "We got off to a good start, got a lead after the first quarter against an extremely talented team and then, for whatever reason, ... we just got all out of whack offensively. We quit movin', they clamped down the pressure a little bit and we made a few bad decisions with the ball. ... We really didn't get a shot in the second quarter ... that was a good shot. Then in the third quarter we came out flat again. ...
"Jay County (and) Delta are the best two defensive teams we play all year. Unfortunately for us, we have to play Jay County in the first game of the year."
By the time Nate Wills and Damon Hughes teamed to score all of the Panthers' 12 third-quarter points in the final 3:03 of the period it was far too late. Jay County's eight-point halftime lead doubled to 16 after three quarters and was never less than 14 in the fourth.
"We just wanted to try so hard to do well we got in a hurry sometimes ..." said senior guard Scott "Scooter" Bruggeman, who totaled eight points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists, of the season's opening quarter. "(After that) we were a lot more patient with the ball offensively and we stuck to our defensive plan. And we just started making shots."
"Some of that was getting into our denial pressure," added Teagle of the full-court defense. "What was happening was we were always letting one guy, after three or four seconds, get the ball. We shut them out one time, and then all of a sudden they had trouble getting the ball in and they made bad passes. ... That really gave us that little run and that little spurt and that really helped us."
The Patriot pressure forced Elwood into nine turnovers during their scoring drought. Comer led Jay County's dominance on the glass, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with his team-best 13 points as he kicked off his senior campaign with a double-double.
The turnover and rebounding disparities limited the Panthers to just 33 field goal attempts compared to 52 for Jay County.
"It feels good (to be back)," said Comer, who hit the game-winning shot in overtime against Plymouth to send the Patriots to the 2006 state championshp game. "It's been too long. Before the game we were all talking about how long it's been since summer (league). We were just ready to get back out there and play.
"The effort was good, but if we fix the small mistakes then we will be a heck of a lot better."
Senior Spencer Hummer matched Bruggeman with eight points off the bench, sophomore Billy Wellman had seven points and Retter finished with six. Junior Clint Muhlenkamp grabbed six boards and added a couple of blocked shots.
Wills had 16 points and four rebounds in the losing effort for Elwood, and Hughes added 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Thomas Abner grabbed five rebounds and was 2-of-3 from the field, but was nailed to the bench for long stretches because of foul trouble.
Junior varsity
Jay County surged in the second half, erasing a six-point deficit at the intermission for a 36-31 win over the Panthers.
The Patriots (1-0) had just a two-point lead in the final minute, but Kyle Simmons converted a pair of free throws with 15.1 seconds to go to push the advantage to four. Dexter Shreve split a pair of foul shots with 3.4 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Aaron Daniels and Simmons each made it to double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. Shreve finished with nine points.
Nathaniel Jones led Elwood with 10 points, and Jordan Overdorf added nine.[[In-content Ad]]
The Jay County Patriots dominated the hustle categories Wednesday night, forcing 20 turnovers and earning a 37-23 advantage on the glass. The 2006 Class 3A runners-up also put together a quarter-and-a-half stretch of lock-down defense, holding the Elwood Panthers to just two points in a 13-minute stretch to pull away en route to the 57-37 victory.
"I think you can chalk this one up to our defense," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle. "Our defense was pretty good except for a couple of stretches. ... we've got to clean up the offense though."
While the Patriots shot just over 40 percent and gave the ball away 15 times, it was their defense which came up strong when they fell behind 11-8 after the first eight minutes.
Jay County (1-0) regained the lead on hoops by seniors Rhett Retter and Corey Comer as the host Panthers (0-1) went scoreless for nearly four minutes before Thomas Abner hit their lone field goal of the period at the 4:30 mark. Elwood would not score again for more than nine minutes as the Patriots ran off 18 straight points.
"It was kind of the same thing that happened to us in the scrimmage," said Elwood coach Kyle Hobbs, whose team is 0-6 against the Patriots over the last four seasons. "We got off to a good start, got a lead after the first quarter against an extremely talented team and then, for whatever reason, ... we just got all out of whack offensively. We quit movin', they clamped down the pressure a little bit and we made a few bad decisions with the ball. ... We really didn't get a shot in the second quarter ... that was a good shot. Then in the third quarter we came out flat again. ...
"Jay County (and) Delta are the best two defensive teams we play all year. Unfortunately for us, we have to play Jay County in the first game of the year."
By the time Nate Wills and Damon Hughes teamed to score all of the Panthers' 12 third-quarter points in the final 3:03 of the period it was far too late. Jay County's eight-point halftime lead doubled to 16 after three quarters and was never less than 14 in the fourth.
"We just wanted to try so hard to do well we got in a hurry sometimes ..." said senior guard Scott "Scooter" Bruggeman, who totaled eight points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists, of the season's opening quarter. "(After that) we were a lot more patient with the ball offensively and we stuck to our defensive plan. And we just started making shots."
"Some of that was getting into our denial pressure," added Teagle of the full-court defense. "What was happening was we were always letting one guy, after three or four seconds, get the ball. We shut them out one time, and then all of a sudden they had trouble getting the ball in and they made bad passes. ... That really gave us that little run and that little spurt and that really helped us."
The Patriot pressure forced Elwood into nine turnovers during their scoring drought. Comer led Jay County's dominance on the glass, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with his team-best 13 points as he kicked off his senior campaign with a double-double.
The turnover and rebounding disparities limited the Panthers to just 33 field goal attempts compared to 52 for Jay County.
"It feels good (to be back)," said Comer, who hit the game-winning shot in overtime against Plymouth to send the Patriots to the 2006 state championshp game. "It's been too long. Before the game we were all talking about how long it's been since summer (league). We were just ready to get back out there and play.
"The effort was good, but if we fix the small mistakes then we will be a heck of a lot better."
Senior Spencer Hummer matched Bruggeman with eight points off the bench, sophomore Billy Wellman had seven points and Retter finished with six. Junior Clint Muhlenkamp grabbed six boards and added a couple of blocked shots.
Wills had 16 points and four rebounds in the losing effort for Elwood, and Hughes added 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Thomas Abner grabbed five rebounds and was 2-of-3 from the field, but was nailed to the bench for long stretches because of foul trouble.
Junior varsity
Jay County surged in the second half, erasing a six-point deficit at the intermission for a 36-31 win over the Panthers.
The Patriots (1-0) had just a two-point lead in the final minute, but Kyle Simmons converted a pair of free throws with 15.1 seconds to go to push the advantage to four. Dexter Shreve split a pair of foul shots with 3.4 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Aaron Daniels and Simmons each made it to double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. Shreve finished with nine points.
Nathaniel Jones led Elwood with 10 points, and Jordan Overdorf added nine.[[In-content Ad]]
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