Small margin (03/01/07)

There is not much difference between a team sitting home on sectional Saturday and one which makes the state finals. And perhaps no team knows that better than Jay County.

The Patriots were almost gone from the 2006 boys basketball tournament in the sectional semifinal round, needing overtime to knock off the Tipton Blue Devils by two. But they followed with four more wins to make the deepest tournament run in school history before falling to New Castle in the Class 3A state finals.

This time around Jay County is ranked ninth in the state following the best regular season - 16-4 - in school history. But the Patriots know Friday night, when they meet those same Blue Devils in the sectional semifinal round at 6 p.m., is no gimme.

"We've talked about it from the very start this year that our margin of error is so small because we are undersized," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team eked out a 44-39 win in the opening round Tuesday against Delta, before practice Wednesday. "Corey (Comer) is an outstanding center, but Corey is 6-1. If Corey's 6-5 or 6-6, he's a dominant center. And Scott (Bruggeman) is an outstanding point guard, but still his size keeps him from doing some things that could make the game easier. And those are our two go-to guys really.

"They know that we have to ... really limit our mistakes and make sure we don't have wasted possessions offensively."

Comer and Bruggeman lead the Patriots at 12.9 and 10.1 points per game respectively, and Comer is also tops on the team with 5.7 rebounds. Bruggeman adds 4.5 assists per game, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals, holding the JCHS career records in each of the last two categories.

Billy Wellman, who hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points in the 52-40 regular-season win over Tipton, is just short of double figures at 9.6 points per game, and Clint Muhlenkamp grabs 4.8 rebounds.

The Patriots are 5-0 all-time against the Blue Devils.

"As a group, the one thing that we've experienced against Jay County is that when you play a team like that you can't afford to make mistakes," said Tipton coach Travis Daugherty following his team's 66-39 triumph over Blackford in the first round of sectional play Tuesday. "You've got to execute your stuff, you've got to defend them the right way and you can't give them anything easy because they just don't mess up very often."

In the first match-up, Tipton senior Shawn Friend was on fire, hitting 7-of-9 from the field to lead his team with 16 points. But the Blue Devils had all kinds of problems getting the ball to 6-foot-7-inch sophomore post player Derek Elston in the second half as he scored eight of his 10 points before the break.

In addition to the points from Wellman, Jay County got 13 from Rhett Retter (three 3-pointers, 4-of-4 free throws) and an inspired effort from the bench. Spencer Hummer and Dexter Shreve stood strong in place of Comer and Muhlenkamp, who, along with Bruggeman, missed significant minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.

When the teams meet again Friday, Tipton is hoping for a situation similar to a year ago. It lost to the Patriots by 18 in early February of 2006 before showing huge improvement as it pushed them to the brink in the sectional semifinal round less than a month later.

"I think (Derek Elston) has really improved. He does a great job inside out and can shoot the three," said Teagle, who dropped Bruggeman into the paint to help deny the entry pass to Elston during the regular-season game. "Their point guard (sophomore Jason Dye), who we bothered the first game, doesn't look like we're going to bother him near as much. He looked a lot more solid with the basketball, plus he's looking to score now."

Mississinewa (10-10) and Elwood (5-16) meet in Friday's second sectional championship game, with the winner to take on Jay County or Tipton in Saturday's title game.

Teagle said Elwood has improved since Jay County topped the Panthers 57-37 in the season opener, adding more scoring options. He complimented Mississinewa, which the Patriots beat 57-40 Jan. 5, on its solid fundamental play.

"Either match-up would present different challenges," said Teagle, "but I'm hoping Friday night we're preparing for those challenges."[[In-content Ad]]