Dirksen, defense drop Delta

Matt Norris and the Eagles had a slight advantage in the opening half.
Adam Dirksen and the Patriots took control in the last 16 minutes.
Dirksen had 12 of his game-high 18 points after intermission, Norris was limited to four points in the second half and the Jay County High School boys basketball team kept Delta off the scoreboard for more than eight minutes Friday in a 33-26 victory against the Eagles.
“I’m proud of our kids,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team moves to 3-1 and travels to Fort Recovery at 6 p.m. tonight. “We fought hard against a team that is physically stronger than us. I thought (Dirksen) did an excellent job down low tonight on both ends of the floor.”
Delta coach Ryan VanSkyock, who was an assistant under former JCHS coach Craig Teagle before taking the job at Delta, said his team simply has to shoot better.
“We’re going to have to hit some outside shots if we’re going to win some games,” VanSkyock said. The Eagles (3-1) were 1-of-13 from long range and 9-for-37 total. “Everyone is going to clog on (Norris) and Kaleb (Slaven) to cover that up.
“I thought we had really good looks, they just didn’t fall tonight and sometimes that’s the way things work.”
Norris had the final five points of the first half on a pair of free throws and an offensive rebound put-back during which he drew a foul. The 6-foot, 8-inch forward also had a tip in to end the first quarter and hit a jumper from the top of the key to start the second.
The Patriots kept him in check during the second half, limiting him to 2-of-6 shooting and four points.
“We felt like on his post moves he went away from Dirksen or went away from the basket,” VanSkyock said, adding that his senior isn’t used to shooting over someone with Dirksen’s size. “Couple times he forced some (shots), but again he’s got to do a better job making his post moves toward the basket.”
Norris did, however, finish with a team-high 13 points. He also had two rebounds.
“We did a much better job of keeping him off the boards,” Krieg said.
And while Norris wasn’t much of a threat in the second half, Dirksen was.
The 6-foot, 8-inch forward scored all eight points for Jay County in the third quarter, including back-to-back layups on passes from the outside. On the first, he caught a Kyler Carvel pass in the air at the hoop for an easy lay-in. The second was on an assist from Jay Houck that was slightly off the mark, but Dirksen caught it and took two steps for a reverse layup in front of Norris and Slaven.  
“We want to try to do that every time down the floor,” Krieg said. Dirksen’s second layup tied the score at 16 less than two minutes into the third quarter. “That can be a great start to us. We had (Houck) coming off (a screen) for the three, that’s the first look and if not you’ve got that back screen for Adam. We want the ball in (their) hands as much as possible.”
Houck had 10 points on a pair of 3-pointers and four free throws. He also hauled in three rebounds, while Dirksen had a game-high seven boards.
Dirksen hit a free throw later in the frame, then drained a 3-pointer from the left wing on an assist from Schlosser for a 20-16 Patriot lead they took into halftime.
Jay County got its biggest lead of the night, 23-16, on a triple from Houck, and Slaven hit a jumper from the right side to snap the Eagles’ scoreless streak of 8:07.
“The second half was about as well as we can play on both ends of the floor,” Krieg said. The Patriots were 3-of-14 in the first half and 5-for-10 in the second. “I thought we did a good job defensively. We took care of the basketball. We took good shots.”

Junior varsity
Jay County held off a late surge to beat Delta, 28-27.
The Eagles scored nearly half of their points in the first quarter, jumping out to a 12-5 lead against the Patriots (3-1). Jay County’s defense held Delta without a point in the second quarter and nabbed a 16-14 advantage heading into the final period.
Delta outscored JCHS 13-12 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t overcome the deficit.
Jay County sophomore Max Moser led all players with nine points. Ryan Schlechty followed with seven points, and Garrett Rodgers added six. Michael Schlechty chipped in with three and Andrew Trewyn tallied two.
Josh Moore led Delta with seven points.