Rigby's 26 crush Panthers (03/02/05)

HARTFORD CITY — The announcer at the Class 3A Blackford sectional seemed to have trouble finding number 5’s name after he hit his first 3-pointer Tuesday night. By the time he hit his sixth, “Tyler Rigby” was rolling off the announcer’s tongue.

Rigby went wild on the Elwood Panthers in the sectional opener, scoring Jay County’s first 11 points. He assisted on the only other first-quarter bucket, a lay-up by Corey Comer.

His first-period total was already a career-high, and he went on to more than double his previous best scoring number, finishing with 26 points as he led the Patriots to a 65-54 victory.

“I knew it was a big game, so I knew I had to produce on the offensive end more than I have been to get the win,” said Rigby, whose previous career-high was 10 points earlier this year against Mississinewa. “... We talked about (hitting outside shots to break the Elwood zone) all practice.

“We had to make the zone work around the middle, which opened up the outside shots.”

Said Elwood coach Kyle Hobbs of Rigby: “He stepped up to play, give him credit. We knew he could shoot a little bit, he wasn’t the main part of our scouting report but ...”

... maybe he should have been.

Rigby didn’t waste any time hitting the outside shots, dropping his first 3-pointer off an assist from Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman 32 seconds into the game. He hit another two minutes later, and followed that with a put-back bucket to put Jay County up 8-4.

Elwood (7-14) ran off six consecutive points to grab the lead, only to have Rigby drain a third triple to put the Patriots back on top. His assist to Comer pushed the lead to 13-10 at the end of the first quarter.

He had 14 points at the half, and scored six in each of the final two quarters for his total. He was tremendously efficient in scoring those points, finishing 8-of-12 from the field, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc. He was also a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line.

As a team, the Patriots went 11-of-23 (48 percent) from 3-point land and 12-of-14 (86 percent) from the free-throw line.

Rigby had the team high in assists as well with five. He led a Jay County passing effort which notched assists on 17 of its 21 field goals. He also had three rebounds and one block.

“He had a really good game tonight, but he’s more than capable of that,” said Patriot coach Craig Teagle of Rigby, who averaged 4.5 points per game during the regular season. “He’s probably the best shooter on the team from the 3-point line. ... To see him do that didn’t surprise me.”

Jay County advances to play the Mississinewa Indians Friday at 6 p.m. The Indians eked out a win in the second game at Blackford Tuesday, topping the host Bruins 49-46.

Despite Rigby’s hot hand, neither team led by more than four points in the first half Tuesday, and Elwood was within one at halftime.

The Panthers took the lead and were up 32-30 before Scott Bruggeman hit a 3-pointer off an assist from Trent Bailey at the 5:05 mark. After Mark Kelly was fouled on the next possession Hobbs took a timeout, but his team never saw the lead again.

Kelly hit both free throws, and Rigby followed with his sixth 3-pointer. Then Kelly hit a triple of his own off a Rigby assist, and got a put-back hoop the next time down the floor. Randy Evans capped the 16-0 run to close the third quarter as Rigby assisted him on a 3-pointer.

“All year long we’ve had a four or five minute spurt in every game that we’ve played that has just killed us,” said Hobbs, who watched the two-point lead turn into a 46-32 deficit as his team went scoreless for more than six minutes. “... our shot selection was just horrendous.”

Elwood shot just 3-of-9 (33 percent) in the third period, while Jay County hit 7-of-11 (64 percent).

“I thought the real key (to the run) was some of those pull-up jumpers they’d been hitting, they didn’t hit,” said Teagle. “We contested them well enough, they missed and we rebounded and cleared. We didn’t give up a lot of offensive rebounds and we came down and found the hot hand.

“The key to the game was we had to play with the lead in the second half. We had to get a lead because if we get the lead we get to dictate what we’re going to do.”

Kelly joined Rigby in double figures with 14 points and was also quite efficient in getting his numbers. He was 4-of-8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and 4-of-5 at the line. He added a game-high eight rebounds to go along with three assists and one block.

Scott Bruggeman had six rebounds and four assists. John Retter added five boards, and Trent Bailey had four blocked shots.

Elwood’s Ryan Landrum scored 24 points, but most of those came after the game was in the Patriots’ hands. He scored 16 of his points in a fourth quarter in which the Panthers never pulled within single digits.

Tim Hovius added 10 points, and Larry Nutt finished with six rebounds and four blocks.[[In-content Ad]]HARTFORD CITY — The Blackford Bruins tried to defend their home floor, even down to the last second, but couldn’t quite pull the upset over the Mississinewa Indians.

Even after host Blackford fell behind by seven with 18 seconds left it got within striking distance again thanks to a 3-pointer by Corey Zimmerman and a steal from Mark Isenberg which led to a Jesse Fennell bucket. But, a Fennel 3-pointer from beyond half court at the buzzer went too long and Mississinewa held on in the first round of the Class 3A sectional tournament, 49-46.

“It was a close one. Blackford is just such a well-coached team,” said Mississinewa coached Chanse Young. “Their kids just fight so hard. I was proud of our guys to really not play efficiently on offense and really still hang around long enough to stay in the game.”

Jay County, which topped Elwood 65-54 in Tuesday’s first game at Blackford, will meet Mississinewa in the semifinal round Friday at 6 p.m.

Despite struggling early, Mississinewa had a seven-point lead with 2:41 to play, only to watch the Bruins pulled back within three. Cameron Branock, who paced the Indians with 16 points, then hit four free throws to push the lead back to 48-41.

Blackford still gave itself a chance when Zimmerman nailed a 3-pointer with nine seconds to go. After a time-out, Mark Isenberg stole the inbound pass and got the ball to Fennel, who dropped it in with four seconds left.

James Reed was fouled immediately on the next inbound play and hit the first free throw for a 49-46 advantage. He missed the second and Fennell grabbed the rebound, but his desperation heave to tie the game was off the mark.

Reed followed Branock with nine points for the Indians. Adam Skeens added eight points.

The Bruins opened the game on an 8-0 run as the Indians didn’t score a single point in the contest until Skeens hit a layup with three minutes left in the first quarter. Mississinewa (17-4) went scoreless again for the first 3:20 of the second period to fall behind by eight again at 13-5.

But, the Indians rallied to within one point at the half and took their first lead on a bucket by Reed on the first play after the intermission. The lead switched hands several times in third and fourth quarters before Mississinewa pulled away and held on.

Isenberg scored 16 points, nine in the third quarter, in the losing effort for Blackford. Nate Baughey scored 12 points, and Caleb Seidner added eight.