Record beginning (12/12/05)

Poise is not a problem for these Patriots. For other teams, trying to beat them, is.

For the second time this season Jay County’s boys basketball team faced a double-digit, first-half deficit. And for the second time they came back, taking control on a pair of clutch 3-pointers by Randy Evans to close the third quarter as they defeated the South Adams Starfires 51-44 to improve to 4-0 for the first time in school history.

“It feels great,” said Evans, whose back-to-back triples broke a tie at 36 to give the Patriots the lead for good. “I’ve never been on a team (that was) 4-0. ... It’s good to be a part of it. We’re real happy.”

Only two other Jay County teams had ever started 3-0 — in 1977-78 and 1994-95. This year’s squad became the first to win each of its opening four games as it beat the Starfires, who also entered the contest undefeated.

Evans shot just 2-of-7 from long distance, but the two he made changed the game.

South Adams’ Corey LeMaster hit a free throw to forge a 32-32 tie, and Evans followed with the first of his two 3-pointers to reclaim the Patriot lead with 1:12 left in the third quarter.

The Starfires (4-1) then tried to hold the ball for the final shot of the period, but were called for a charge.

Jay County took advantage of the bonus possession as Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman made a late drive to the paint and kicked the ball back out to Evans. Catching it with less than a second remaining, Evans was able to release the ball just before the buzzer and catch nothing but net for a 42-36 Patriot advantage.

“I really wasn’t expecting to get it,” Evans said. “Scott dribbled in and finally tossed it to me and I just shot it. That’s the fastest shot I’ve ever taken. I knew it had to be maybe a second, if that. I’ve never fired a shot so quick.”

South Adams scored the first three points of the second half, but got no closer as the Patriots pulled ahead by as many as 10 points in the final period.

“The play at the end of the third quarter was huge,” said SAHS coach Jason Ridge. “We’ve got to do a better job of reacting and not letting maybe what we thought was a bad call effect how we play defense.”

Jay County coach Craig Teagle used the same word, “huge”, to describe Evans’ buzzer-beater.

“And Randy has not shot the ball quite as well as we probably think he will, or he thinks he will,” he added. “He gets frustrated a little bit when they’re not falling, but if he’s squared up and has a look at the basket we’re pretty confident most of his shots are going to go down.”

After taking a 6-2 lead early on the Patriots fell behind by as many as 11 points in the second quarter. But Tyler Rigby was able to close the gap almost single-handedly.

The senior hit back-to-back 3-pointers of his own as he scored eight of his game-high 16 points in the final 3:13 of the first half. His outburst helped get Jay County back to within 26-24 at the intermission.

Zac Green scored five straight points to give the Patriots the lead early in the second half, and then Evans gave them the advantage for good with his 3-point bombs.

Jay County was able to come back “just because of the kids’ heart, as usual — heart and character,” said Teagle. “They continued to fight when things weren’t always going our way. We weren’t executing as well as we need to, but they just have that type of fight in them and that type of heart that just continues to battle.”

John Retter followed Rigby with nine points, Evans had eight and Green scored seven. Corey Comer got all of his six points in the first quarter.

Retter and Comer each had seven rebounds, and Bruggeman finished with five rebounds and five assists.

Despite suffering its first loss, Ridge said he’s proud of the way his team has started the season. The Starfires won just one, three and four games in the last three years, but opened 2005-06 with victories over Northeastern, Daleville, Union (Modoc) and Bluffton.

“Our guys should be confident,” Ridge said. “That’s one of the best teams we’re going to play all year and we gave them I felt like everything that they wanted. We battled against a team that was more talented than what we were and we hung right in there.

“Jay County just did an excellent job of defending. They are a great defensive team. They are well-coached. They pressure the ball extremely hard. ... They just started shutting us down.”

Corey LeMaster paced South Adams with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Brandon Liechty had 13 points — 10 in the first half — five boards and three assists.

Andrew Caffee finished with six rebounds.

Junior varsity

The Patriots pulled away in the second period and rolled to a 50-29 victory over South Adams.

The Starfires were within three points after the opening eight minutes. However, Jay County outscored them 19-6 in the second quarter for a 30-14 lead at the half.

Rhett Retter and Luke McClung paced the Patriots with 11 and 10 points respectively. Adam Garringer scored seven points, and Lance Franklin had six.

Daniel Bollenbacher scored 13 points to lead South Adams. Darin Toland had seven points.

Freshmen

Jay County played at the Marion Giant Classic Saturday, splitting a pair of games to move to 5-2 on the season.

The Patriots opened with a 36-32 overtime loss to the host Giants.

They followed with an easy 32-12 win over the Bluffton Tigers.

Against Marion the Patriots led at the end of each of the first three quarters, but slipped to a 29-29 tie at the end of regulation. Cole Ingram had 13 points as Jay County managed just three points in the overtime, and Dexter Shreve added 10.

Phil Powell led the victory over Bluffton with 13 points as the Patriots built a 13-4 first-quarter lead and never looked back.

Ingram finished with nine points.[[In-content Ad]]