Enis sinks Patriots

There was no doubt Kiante Enis was going to have the ball in his hands.
The question was whether or not his hot streak could continue.
Trailing by one with less than 13 seconds remaining, the Winchester senior drove to the hoop and lifted a floater over Jay County High School defenders Jay Houck and Adam Dirksen.
The ball bounced around the rim and fell through the hoop for the game-winning basket Tuesday as the Golden Falcons escaped with a 37-36 victory.
“We knew that was going to happen,” JCHS boys basketball coach Chris Krieg said of Enis getting the ball on the final play. “I thought we did a great job switching off. We did a great job keeping him in front.
“We just let him get too deep. He is one of those kids that lives off momentum. He strives off of it.”
Winchester (3-3) saw its 19-18 halftime lead turn into a 23-19 deficit a minute into the third quarter after Dirksen drained a 3-pointer and Jason Schlosser made a baseline layup.
But that’s when Enis took over, going on a personal nine-point run for all of the Golden Falcons’ scoring in the period. He had two layups, a free throw, an easy dunk and a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer.
“When he got his dunk, game over,” said Krieg, whose team falls to 4-2. Enis was in the right corner, dribbled around a Patriot defender and had a clear path along the baseline for the flush that put his team ahead 26-23. “He can be explosive. It’s whether he wants to or not. We gave him that baseline drive and then it’s game on for him.”
Enis, who has committed to play football for University of Michigan, added seven more points in the fourth quarter, including a tie-breaking 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:28 to play.
Dirksen — he finished with 10 points behind Houck’s team-leading 14 — matched Enis’ triple with one of his own to knot the score at 31.
The slow pace — Winchester led 5-4 after the opening quarter — continued late in the fourth, and another Enis bucket and two free throws from Michael Georgi pushed the score to 35-31 Winchester with less than a minute to play. Georgi finished with 10 points, and Cullen Hall added nine. They were the only Winchester players to score points.
Dirksen tipped in a rebound with 37.6 seconds left to make it 35-33, and following a Winchester turnover on the ensuing inbound pass, Jay County sophomore Cole Stigleman hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 19 seconds remaining to give the Patriots a 36-35 lead.
Winchester coach Matt Fine called a timeout with 12.4 seconds left to draw up the final play.
“It is positive at that point,” he said about his speech inside the huddle. “We didn’t execute (on Stigleman’s trey), but at that point we have to forget about it and move on. I told them we have to move quick, but we didn’t want to move too quick that we’re attacking immediately after the ball screen.”
Enis got a screen at the top of the key, drove through the paint and let the floater go. Krieg called a timeout with 0.9 seconds remaining.
Houck caught the inbound from Stigleman just inside half court and wasn’t able to get off the potential game-winning shot.
Enis and Houck had opposite games. The former turned the ball over five times in the first quarter and had just two points at halftime. The latter led all players with 12 points the break, but took just one shot in the final 16 minutes, a baseline layup through contact early in the fourth quarter.
“Kiante played a really good second half,” Fine said. “He didn’t play very well in the first half, but he stuck with it, his teammates stuck with him. That’s important for that level of trust to occur when someone is not playing well in the first half.”
Winchester took away Dirksen in the first half — he had two points — by putting multiple guys on him at the post. After Houck appeared to be well on his way to another 20-point game, the Golden Falcons limited his chances down the stretch to prevent him from making any further damage.
“(Houck) played a great first half against us,” Fine said. The junior had a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter. “He can shoot the three, but I don’t think that’s the best part of his game. He didn’t get much outside those early points.”
Junior varsity
Winchester grabbed an early lead and held it the rest of the way in a 44-38 victory against Jay County.
The Golden Falcons (5-1) led 14-10 after the opening quarter, but saw it shrink to just three points, 21-18, at halftime. The visitors were able to extend the advantage to 34-29 heading into the final quarter and kept the lead until the final buzzer.
Michael Schlechty led the Patriots (4-2) with 10 points. Connor Davis, Holton Hill and Max Moser added six points apiece.
Isaiah Jordan-Miller had a game-high 17 points for Winchester.