Length key for Jay

Height helps.
Lakewood Park Christian’s coaching staff lamented the Patriots’ size after the season opener.
The Warriors faced similar woes Friday.
Woodlan was forced to launch nearly half of its shots from long distance while Jay County High School’s boys basketball team did most of its scoring in the paint Friday en route to a 62-47 win.
“The problem is we don’t see teams with that kind of length very often,” said Warriors coach David Randall, whose team suffered its first loss of the young season. “We can’t simulate it in practice. I guess I could have my JV team walk around with tennis racquets or something like that, but until you play against it, it’s hard.”
Woodlan (2-1, 0-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) led for much of the first quarter before the Patriots dominated the second to take a lead they would never relinquish.
The key stretch came after a JCHS timeout with 5:49 left in the opening half, after which Jay Houck scored the first points of the second period on a lay-up.
A charging call two minutes later was followed up quickly by a technical foul on Woodlan’s Austin Fancher, and Houck converted the free throws that followed. The Patriots took advantage of the bonus possession with Kyler Carvel burying a 3-pointer for a 22-12 lead.
Jay County (2-0, 1-0 ACAC) did the rest of its scoring in the period from the line, with Houck, Carvel and Runyon combining to go 7-of-8. Meanwhile the Warriors went more than six minutes without a point and nine minutes without a field goal as they were outscored 14-4 in the second quarter.
“Huge quarter. I thought defense-wise we did a great job,” said Krieg. “We didn’t get split. My biggest fear tonight was getting split because of their athleticism and quickness, because they can get there. …
“The second quarter, I thought we did a great job, even with Adam (Dirksen) on the bench with two fouls.”
Woodlan shot just 2-of-8 in the second quarter with five turnovers after taking a 10-6 lead in the early going.
“Unfortunately it’s a four-quarter game,” said Randall. “And when you only score four points in a quarter, when you give up a five-point play, when you miss about six lay-ups … The second quarter, they completely outplayed us. The other three quarters, we’re there.”
The Warriors kept pace with JCHS in the second half, but were never able to close to within single digits after trailing by 13 at the intermission.
Despite missing two days of practice this week because of an illness and starting the game on the bench, Houck set the pace for the Patriots.
He shot 5-of-8 from the field and made all but one of his eight free-throw attempts, matching his career high of 17 points. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Carvel was 2-for-2 from long distance as he finished with 12 points, four assists and four rebounds. Dirksen totaled 10 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double, four blocks and three assists.
Though his team surpassed the 60-point mark — a milestone it reached just once last season — for the second time in as many games, Krieg noted that his squad will need to do a better job of taking care of the ball in its upcoming stretch of games against Richmond, Delta, Fort Recovery and Muncie Central.
“I want to play a little more up tempo, and we can, but we’ve got to be under control,” said Krieg, whose team gave the ball away 20 times. “You’ve got to have great fundamentals. Right now we are so far out of control …”

Junior varsity
Jay County’s lead slipped to two on a couple of occasions in the fourth quarter, but it was able to hold on for a 43-40 victory over the Warriors.
Woodlan closed to within 42-40 with 50 seconds left and then committed an intentional foul against Holton Hill with 10 seconds left. Hill split the foul shots to extend the lead, but the Patriots (2-0) turned the ball over on the ensuing possession.
Still, Hill gave a couple of fouls to run time off the clock and a 3-point try by the Warriors missed as time expired.
Max Moser led a trio of Patriots in double figures with 12 points. He got half of those on back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Garrett Rodgers added 11 points, and Hill followed with 10.
Woodlan got 12 points from Justin Durkes and 11 from Micah Robbins.

Freshman
The Patriots built a 10-point lead in the opening quarter and cruised to a 36-17 victory over Woodlan.
JCHS (2-0) scored 14 points in the opening period to take control. It limited the Warriors to five or fewer points in every quarter.
Gabe Faulkner powered the Patriots to the blowout win with nine points.
Xavier Ninde, Wyatt Geesaman and Gavin Randall added six points apiece.
Jack Stuckey scored seven points for Woodlan.