Visiting Bruins no match for Jay County (12/05/05)

The team from across the county line wasn’t able to make it much of a challenge.

Jay County’s varsity boys basketball team pushed a 10-point halftime lead to a 34-point victory as it hosted the Blackford Bruins in the second year of the Cross County Line Challenge Saturday. The Patriots’ 61-27 win capped a 5-2 victory in the full day of games between schools from Jay and Blackford Counties.

Jay County retained the traveling trophy, winning each of the final five games after dropping both seventh grade contests. The trophy honors former Jay County and Blackford players Billy Bentz and Ed Holdcroft, who died at young ages because of a car crash and cancer respectively.

The Bruins (1-2) were still within 12 midway through the third quarter, but went through a scoreless stretch which lasted nearly seven minutes. The Patriots took advantage, scoring 18 consecutive points spanning the third and fourth quarters to push their advantage to 51-21 on the way to the win.

“I thought it was a good team effort,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, who had three players in double figures. “... We got our transition working a little bit and our defense really picked us up. I really thought our half-court defense was outstanding.”

“We spread the ball around again tonight. We had good ball movement. We’ve still got a lot of little things to work on, but again I’m proud of the effort. I thought we played extremely hard.”

Jay County jumped out to an 8-0 lead and controlled the entire game, but didn’t put the Bruins away for good until their big 18-point run.

John Retter, who reached double figures for the second straight night despite some foul trouble, got the run going with four straight points. Then, with time running down in the third quarter, Randy Evans found his range.

Evans buried a 3-pointer with four seconds left in the third period, then drilled back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to open the third quarter. Retter added another hoop to complete the rally to a 30-point lead, and the Patriots went heavily to their bench over the final four minutes.

Retter and Evans each finished with 11 points to lead Jay County. Scott Bruggeman added 10 points — he was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field — as 10 different players scored. The Patriots shot 63 percent overall in the second half and made 5-of-7 3-pointers.

“This is a great Jay County team,” said Blackford coach John McGlothin. “This is one of the best I’ve seen, as far as a team. They don’t have that one stand-out guy, but man they’re hard to guard because everybody does something.”

Jay County dominated the glass for the second straight evening. After grabbing nearly twice as many rebounds as the Bellmont Braves in Friday night’s win, the Patriots topped Blackford 36-24 on the boards.

Sophomore Clint Muhlenkamp paced the effort with 10 rebounds, and Corey Comer and Billy Wellman each added five.

“Clint did a really nice job,” said Teagle. “He’s so active and so physically strong, and he does a lot of good things. He’s got a nose for the ball.”

Blackford struggled mightily against the Patriot defense, shooting just 11-of-41 (27 percent) from the field. It had just two assists and Caleb Seidner and Corey Zimmerman shared the team high of eight points.

“Offensively we’re going to have to understand that when teams like Jay County get into you defensively you’re going to have to grind it out,” said McGlothin, “you’re going to have to find a way to get a tough basketball and then you’re going to have to get stops on the other end.

“I think really that’s a program win. ... (They have) an established program at Jay County and (we’re a) program that’s learning how to compete with programs that are established.”

Junior varsity

Jay County took a commanding lead in the second quarter and rolled to a 44-27 victory over the Bruins.

The Patriots outscored Blackford 14-6 in the second period, taking hold of an 11-point lead at the half. They finished the contest by winning the fourth quarter 1-6.

Luke McClung paced Jay County as the only player to reach double figures with 10 points. Rhett Retter and Casey Waters each added eight points.

O’Brian Myers scored eight points for Blackford, and Micah Seidner added seven.

Freshmen

The Patriots clobbered Blackford, playing great defense in the second and fourth quarters for a 47-17 win.

Jay County held the Bruins just to just two points in the second and fourth periods, outscoring them 26-4. It held a 24-7 lead at the intermission and was never challenged in the second half.

Dexter Shreve led all scorers with 11 points, and Phil Powell added eight points. Kyle Simmons, Cole Ingram and Derek Bartlett each had six points.

Bryant Yadon and Derrick Bales shared the Blackford team high with four points apiece.

7th/8th grade

Jay County’s teams rolled to victories in the eighth grade games against Hartford City and Montpelier, but dropped both seventh grade battles.

West Jay’s eighth graders hammered Montpelier 49-21, and the East Jay eighth graders defeated Hartford City 45-34. In seventh grade action it was Hartford City 34, East Jay 17 and Montpelier 53, West Jay 18.

Nate Brown powered the big win for the West Jay eighth graders, scoring 10 points. John Pettus was right behind him with nine points.

The East Jay eighth grade team was paced by 16 points form Eric Homan. Brad Horn added nine points.

Aaron Emerick and Brendan Reed each had five points for the East Jay seventh grade squad, and Zach Cash led the West Jay team with nine points.[[In-content Ad]]