July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Stopped in their tracks (01/14/06)
JCHS boys basketball
Stopped in their tracks (01/14/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
CONNERSVILLE — Basketball, like all sports, is a numbers game. And not many of the numbers looked very good for the Patriots Friday night.
Shooting 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half was rough. Scoring just three points in the second quarter got them in trouble. And giving up 30 points in the third finished them off.
The Class 3A No. 4 Connersville Spartans grabbed momentum with a 3-pointer on their final possession of the first half and rolled in the second for a 68-49 victory over Jay County at the Spartan Dome Friday.
The visiting Patriots (7-2), trailed by just four after a free throw by Corey Comer with 56 seconds left in the opening half. But Connersville held for the final shot, and Ryan Henderson buried a 3-pointer with three seconds left to push the lead to 24-17.
“The real deflater was the three right before half,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team’s two losses have both come against state-ranked teams. “You could tell a little wind was taken out of our sails. Then they came out and played extremely well in the second half.”
Connersville opened the second half on a 15-2 run, needing just 3:27 to push their lead to 20 points.
Chris Bloom and Matt Howard did most of the damage, as was the case for the entire game.
Bloom hit three of his six 3-pointers — he finished 6-of-10 from long distance — during the second-half opening run. Howard assisted on two of the 3-pointers and hit a couple of hoops of his own.
“We knew they were going to double on Matt and we were going to have to find shooters,” said Connersville coach Rodney Klein. “Chris was on fire. We got him the ball and he just drilled them.”
Bloom’s proficiency from the outside led to a game-high 28 points. Howard, who stands 6-foot-7, finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
“We had to try to take (Howard) away,” said Teagle.
“We tried to do that and (Bloom) got hot.
“They’ve got inside-out. They’re big on the inside and they’re quick on the perimeter and they’re good shooters. That’s really hard for anyone to guard.
That’s an outstanding basketball team.”
While Bloom was torching the nets the Patriots couldn’t buy a long distance basket. They missed their first 11 3-point attempts, finally getting one from Tyler Rigby with 4:20 remaining in the third period.
“That hurts, and that’s been kind of our strength,” said Teagle of the outside shooting. “We had some pretty good looks early, but missed them. Then I talked to them and said, ‘Look, we’re 0-for-8, let’s go to the paint, go inside.’ Then we started passing up pretty good shots.”
Zac Green scored eight points in the opening quarter and Jay County trailed just 16-14 after the first eight minutes.
But the Patriots managed just five points over the next 12 minutes.
About the only excitement for Jay County fans in the second half came when Howard started attempting dunks.
He missed each of his first two attempts, much to the delight of the visiting student section, before finally getting one to fall midway through the final period.
Green led the Patriots with 12 points. Comer finished with 11 points, but seven of those came in the fourth quarter when the game had long since been decided.
Rigby, who played limited minutes because of a back injury suffered in the Patriots’ Jan. 6 win over Mississinewa, went 2-for-4 on 3-pointers and finished with eight points. The rest of the team was 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.
“That’s very nice,” said Klein. “You win games when you don’t turn the ball over and you get an opportunity to shoot it.”
Connersville also did a solid job taking care of the ball after committing turnovers on two of its first three possessions and falling behind 4-0. The Spartans finished with just nine turnovers, compared to 17 for Jay County.
Both teams suffered a loss in the fourth quarter when Jay County’s John Retter and Connersville Henderson were each called for technical fouls and thrown out of the game. Each player will miss their team’s next game.
Junior varsity
The reserve game followed the pattern of the varsity as Jay County got clobbered in the third quarter in a 34-25 loss to Connersville.
The Patriots were up by five at the half, but got outscored 12-2 in the third quarter. The Spartans also hit the first hoop of the fourth quarter to put Jay County away.
Jacob Bumbalough notched a team-high 13 points for Connersville. Randy Watkins scored six points, and Chris Nobbe added five.
Jay County was led by Rhett Retter with eight points.
Luke McClung followed with seven.[[In-content Ad]]
Shooting 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half was rough. Scoring just three points in the second quarter got them in trouble. And giving up 30 points in the third finished them off.
The Class 3A No. 4 Connersville Spartans grabbed momentum with a 3-pointer on their final possession of the first half and rolled in the second for a 68-49 victory over Jay County at the Spartan Dome Friday.
The visiting Patriots (7-2), trailed by just four after a free throw by Corey Comer with 56 seconds left in the opening half. But Connersville held for the final shot, and Ryan Henderson buried a 3-pointer with three seconds left to push the lead to 24-17.
“The real deflater was the three right before half,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team’s two losses have both come against state-ranked teams. “You could tell a little wind was taken out of our sails. Then they came out and played extremely well in the second half.”
Connersville opened the second half on a 15-2 run, needing just 3:27 to push their lead to 20 points.
Chris Bloom and Matt Howard did most of the damage, as was the case for the entire game.
Bloom hit three of his six 3-pointers — he finished 6-of-10 from long distance — during the second-half opening run. Howard assisted on two of the 3-pointers and hit a couple of hoops of his own.
“We knew they were going to double on Matt and we were going to have to find shooters,” said Connersville coach Rodney Klein. “Chris was on fire. We got him the ball and he just drilled them.”
Bloom’s proficiency from the outside led to a game-high 28 points. Howard, who stands 6-foot-7, finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
“We had to try to take (Howard) away,” said Teagle.
“We tried to do that and (Bloom) got hot.
“They’ve got inside-out. They’re big on the inside and they’re quick on the perimeter and they’re good shooters. That’s really hard for anyone to guard.
That’s an outstanding basketball team.”
While Bloom was torching the nets the Patriots couldn’t buy a long distance basket. They missed their first 11 3-point attempts, finally getting one from Tyler Rigby with 4:20 remaining in the third period.
“That hurts, and that’s been kind of our strength,” said Teagle of the outside shooting. “We had some pretty good looks early, but missed them. Then I talked to them and said, ‘Look, we’re 0-for-8, let’s go to the paint, go inside.’ Then we started passing up pretty good shots.”
Zac Green scored eight points in the opening quarter and Jay County trailed just 16-14 after the first eight minutes.
But the Patriots managed just five points over the next 12 minutes.
About the only excitement for Jay County fans in the second half came when Howard started attempting dunks.
He missed each of his first two attempts, much to the delight of the visiting student section, before finally getting one to fall midway through the final period.
Green led the Patriots with 12 points. Comer finished with 11 points, but seven of those came in the fourth quarter when the game had long since been decided.
Rigby, who played limited minutes because of a back injury suffered in the Patriots’ Jan. 6 win over Mississinewa, went 2-for-4 on 3-pointers and finished with eight points. The rest of the team was 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.
“That’s very nice,” said Klein. “You win games when you don’t turn the ball over and you get an opportunity to shoot it.”
Connersville also did a solid job taking care of the ball after committing turnovers on two of its first three possessions and falling behind 4-0. The Spartans finished with just nine turnovers, compared to 17 for Jay County.
Both teams suffered a loss in the fourth quarter when Jay County’s John Retter and Connersville Henderson were each called for technical fouls and thrown out of the game. Each player will miss their team’s next game.
Junior varsity
The reserve game followed the pattern of the varsity as Jay County got clobbered in the third quarter in a 34-25 loss to Connersville.
The Patriots were up by five at the half, but got outscored 12-2 in the third quarter. The Spartans also hit the first hoop of the fourth quarter to put Jay County away.
Jacob Bumbalough notched a team-high 13 points for Connersville. Randy Watkins scored six points, and Chris Nobbe added five.
Jay County was led by Rhett Retter with eight points.
Luke McClung followed with seven.[[In-content Ad]]
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