July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Simply the best (02/24/07)
JCHS boys basketball
Simply the best (02/24/07)
By By RAY COONEY-
PARKER CITY - Jay County still has a lot it hopes to accomplish. But the boys basketball team can already claim the title of best in school history - at least for the regular season.
The Class 3A No. 6 Patriots capped the pre-tournament part of their schedule Friday night, knocking off the host Monroe Central Golden Bears 66-49.
The victory lifted them to 16-4 on the year for a .800 winning percentage, the best in Jay County High School history. The previous top mark was 17-5 (.773) in 1988.
"We're trying to focus on Tuesday night," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, already looking toward his team's sectional opener against Delta Tuesday at Blackford. "You can be 16-4, but if you go 16-5 everybody forgets about it.
"I'm proud of the kids though. It's a group that just played so hard, and we had great senior leadership by Corey Comer and Scott Bruggeman. I'm so proud of those two. They've been great leaders and played well for us ... 16-4 is outstanding ... Really our focus now has to be now on Tuesday night and not letting this be the highlight of our year."
As has often been the case for the defending sectional, regional and semi-state champion Patriots, they used a first quarter run to put Monroe Central (5-14) in an early hole.
The game was tied at five early before Jay County got a hoop from Spencer Hummer, two in a row by Billy Wellman and a couple of free throws from Comer for quick 8-0 run. That spurt pushed the Patriots to their eight-point lead after the first quarter, and another rally to open the second buried the Golden Bears.
Comer scored the first four points of the second period off assists from Hummer and Heath Rigby, and Luke Goetz buried back-to-back 3-point shots from passes by Bruggeman and Comer. The 10-point run staked Jay County to an 18-point advantage with five minutes still remaining before halftime.
Goetz added another 3-point play, the old-fashioned way, as he scored nine of his 14 points in the second period. He was one of four Patriots in double figures, sharing the team-high with Wellman.
"We talked about that after the Norwell game. They weren't guarding him, so basically they were sagging that guy in the paint," said Teagle of Tuesday's 37-33 defeat. "We wanted Luke to become more aggressive. ... I thought Luke really responded well. He's a hard-nosed, tough kid and I'm really happy for him. But he's more than capable of doing that every night."
Goetz led a great Jay County effort from long distance as he hit all of his three 3-point attempts. The team finished 9-of-13 (69 percent) from beyond the arc with Wellman and Rhett Retter each hitting two and Comer and Adam Garringer connecting on their only attempts.
The Patriots, who got 11 points from Comer and 10 by Bruggeman, shot 25-of-40 (63 percent) overall.
Wellman, Bruggeman and Comer shared the team-high of five rebounds to lead Jay County to a 24-16 advantage on the glass. Bruggeman also had seven of the 17 Patriot assists.
Monroe Central got it going after Jay County scored the first four points of the second half, opting to fire away from 3-point range. The Golden Bears hit six second-half long balls, including four in the third quarter, to cut into the deficit.
Still, the home team got no closer than 13 points as the Patriots dumped them on Senior Night.
"I was a lot prouder of them in the second half than I was in the first half," said Monroe Central coach Everett Gates. "I don't know why, we just didn't play with as much enthusiasm in the first half as we needed to. I told them at halftime, 'We can either lay down and die and get beat by 40 or dig in and see if we can cut into it.' If we ever figure out how to play 32 minutes, we might be pretty decent."
Lyle Whitehead helped the Golden Bears keep the game respectable as he tossed in four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 17 points. Landon Whitehead finished with nine points and six rebounds.
Charlie Miller and Shane Ruble each chipped in eight points.
Junior varsity
PARKER CITY - Jay County's junior varsity boys basketball team used a formula which has seemed to work for them all year in a 45-28 win over the Monroe Central Golden Bears Friday.
The Patriots turned in a lackluster first half followed by a dominant second as they finished at 17-3. After leading by just a point at halftime, they outscored Monroe Central 25-9 in the final 16 minutes.
Kyle Simmons led all scorers with 10 points for Jay County. Aaron Daniels and Zack Hummer added seven points apiece.
Trey Thomas and Baxter Cox each finished with nine points for the Golden Bears.[[In-content Ad]]
The Class 3A No. 6 Patriots capped the pre-tournament part of their schedule Friday night, knocking off the host Monroe Central Golden Bears 66-49.
The victory lifted them to 16-4 on the year for a .800 winning percentage, the best in Jay County High School history. The previous top mark was 17-5 (.773) in 1988.
"We're trying to focus on Tuesday night," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, already looking toward his team's sectional opener against Delta Tuesday at Blackford. "You can be 16-4, but if you go 16-5 everybody forgets about it.
"I'm proud of the kids though. It's a group that just played so hard, and we had great senior leadership by Corey Comer and Scott Bruggeman. I'm so proud of those two. They've been great leaders and played well for us ... 16-4 is outstanding ... Really our focus now has to be now on Tuesday night and not letting this be the highlight of our year."
As has often been the case for the defending sectional, regional and semi-state champion Patriots, they used a first quarter run to put Monroe Central (5-14) in an early hole.
The game was tied at five early before Jay County got a hoop from Spencer Hummer, two in a row by Billy Wellman and a couple of free throws from Comer for quick 8-0 run. That spurt pushed the Patriots to their eight-point lead after the first quarter, and another rally to open the second buried the Golden Bears.
Comer scored the first four points of the second period off assists from Hummer and Heath Rigby, and Luke Goetz buried back-to-back 3-point shots from passes by Bruggeman and Comer. The 10-point run staked Jay County to an 18-point advantage with five minutes still remaining before halftime.
Goetz added another 3-point play, the old-fashioned way, as he scored nine of his 14 points in the second period. He was one of four Patriots in double figures, sharing the team-high with Wellman.
"We talked about that after the Norwell game. They weren't guarding him, so basically they were sagging that guy in the paint," said Teagle of Tuesday's 37-33 defeat. "We wanted Luke to become more aggressive. ... I thought Luke really responded well. He's a hard-nosed, tough kid and I'm really happy for him. But he's more than capable of doing that every night."
Goetz led a great Jay County effort from long distance as he hit all of his three 3-point attempts. The team finished 9-of-13 (69 percent) from beyond the arc with Wellman and Rhett Retter each hitting two and Comer and Adam Garringer connecting on their only attempts.
The Patriots, who got 11 points from Comer and 10 by Bruggeman, shot 25-of-40 (63 percent) overall.
Wellman, Bruggeman and Comer shared the team-high of five rebounds to lead Jay County to a 24-16 advantage on the glass. Bruggeman also had seven of the 17 Patriot assists.
Monroe Central got it going after Jay County scored the first four points of the second half, opting to fire away from 3-point range. The Golden Bears hit six second-half long balls, including four in the third quarter, to cut into the deficit.
Still, the home team got no closer than 13 points as the Patriots dumped them on Senior Night.
"I was a lot prouder of them in the second half than I was in the first half," said Monroe Central coach Everett Gates. "I don't know why, we just didn't play with as much enthusiasm in the first half as we needed to. I told them at halftime, 'We can either lay down and die and get beat by 40 or dig in and see if we can cut into it.' If we ever figure out how to play 32 minutes, we might be pretty decent."
Lyle Whitehead helped the Golden Bears keep the game respectable as he tossed in four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 17 points. Landon Whitehead finished with nine points and six rebounds.
Charlie Miller and Shane Ruble each chipped in eight points.
Junior varsity
PARKER CITY - Jay County's junior varsity boys basketball team used a formula which has seemed to work for them all year in a 45-28 win over the Monroe Central Golden Bears Friday.
The Patriots turned in a lackluster first half followed by a dominant second as they finished at 17-3. After leading by just a point at halftime, they outscored Monroe Central 25-9 in the final 16 minutes.
Kyle Simmons led all scorers with 10 points for Jay County. Aaron Daniels and Zack Hummer added seven points apiece.
Trey Thomas and Baxter Cox each finished with nine points for the Golden Bears.[[In-content Ad]]
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