February 13, 2015 at 6:05 p.m.
MONROEVILLE — Going into the season, one of the goals for the Jay County High School boys basketball team was to finish in the top half of the Allen County Athletic Conference.
Not only was that goal accomplished, only one team fared better in the league during the Patriots’ inaugural season.
Jay County picked up a 42-30 road victory Thursday night against the Heritage Patriots, ending its ACAC schedule with a 6-1 conference record behind only Leo.
“It’s huge,” JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team’s lone conference loss was to Leo, said of his team’s road win in the conference finale. “That’s good for us. Our goal was to finish in the top half. If (we) can finish in the top half of (our) first year, I thought that would be a nice accomplishment with this group.
“They stepped up on a Thursday night and found a way to win on the road. That’s big.”
In yet another low-scoring affair, Jay County (15-4) led 17-10 midway through the second quarter. Heritage (8-9, 5-2 ACAC) scored seven consecutive points thanks to five turnovers by the visiting Patriots to tie the game at 19.
JCHS junior Adam Dirksen, who had game highs in points (12) and rebounds (five), stopped a scoreless streak of more than six minutes for the visitors.
Heritage got back up top 21-19 on a bucket by Bradley Scott and a long jumper by Adam Beard from the right corner.
The back-and-forth game continued, as Dirksen and Scott traded buckets as Heritage hung on to its two-point lead. That was until Jay County junior Kyler Carvel drained his second 3-pointer of the game in the final seconds of the period to put his team up 24-23 heading into the final frame.
It was the final posession in the third quarter and the first few to start the fourth that Heritage coach Brad Kiess felt were the difference in the game.
“We’re ahead by two points (near) the end of the third, Jay County makes a three and then score a couple possessions into the fourth quarter,” said Kiess, whose team held a considerable height advantage over the visitors. “Unfortunately, when you play Jay County … it is really hard to come back when they’re ahead in the fourth quarter.”
And in the final period, Heritage switched from zone defense to man defense, which Teagle thought gave his team the edge.
“As long as they had that zone packed in, it would be a slow pace of the game both ways and it was going to be tough,” he said. “Once they went man we were able to spread it out a little bit. (We) got a couple good looks inside and got fouled a couple times.”
Teagle’s Patriots didn’t attempt a free throw through the first three quarters, but went 7-of-9 in the final eight minutes to put the game out of reach.
Scott, who is one of four Heritage players listed at 6 feet, 5 inches, or taller, paced his team offensively with 11 points, eight of which were hard fought in the paint. He had four points in each of the first and third quarters, and then hit three free throws in the fourth.
With the height advantage, Kiess said he told his players they would have to get the ball to the post and let the big guys — Scott being one of them — fight for points.
“He was able to score a few times and get fouled,” Kiess said. “We just couldn’t do it consistently enough as the game went on.”
“We can’t settle for 3-point shots. We’re not the best shooting team in the state by any means.”
Jay County, which leads the state in defensive average, didn’t allow the host Patriots to get many open looks, and their shooting percentage was reflective of the stingy defense.
“Thank goodness our defense stayed solid all night and did a really good job,” said Teagle, whose team held Heritage to 34 percent from the field including 1-of-9 from long range. “Two or three times they turned the corner on us and got to the rim, but besides that everything else was pretty hard fought.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of contesting shots and keeping them in front for the most part.”
Junior varsity
Jay County found itself in a 16-3 hole early in the second quarter.
Jason Schlosser took matters into his own hands in the second half to force overtime.
Schlosser scored all of his game-high 17 points after intermission, including the game-tying shot with 3.3 seconds left to send the game into overtime, in a 36-34 victory against Heritage.
The sophomore scored on an inbound play near the end of regulation, and he and his visiting teammates outscored the host Patriots 5-3 in the final period to get their 11th victory of the season.
Jay County (11-5, 4-3 ACAC) trailed 11-3 after the first quarter and 18-10 at halftime. It got to within six, 24-19, heading into the final quarter before Schlosser’s late heroics.
Spencer Calvert followed Schlosser with seven points, and Bryan Stancliffe added four points. Cole Stigleman and Ryan Burkett each added three points.
Freshman
The visiting Patriots held the hosts to just one point in the opening quarter.
They put the game out of reach in the second as they cruised to a 36-15 victory against Heritage.
Jay County (9-5) had a 6-1 lead after the first seven minutes and pushed the advantage to 20-5 at halftime. It went point-for-point with Heritage in the third quarter before adding to its lopsided victory in the fourth.
Collin Haines, Garrett Rodgers and Holton Hill all tallied eight points for Jay County. Jordan Stultz chipped in with six points, all of which came in the 15-point second quarter.
Not only was that goal accomplished, only one team fared better in the league during the Patriots’ inaugural season.
Jay County picked up a 42-30 road victory Thursday night against the Heritage Patriots, ending its ACAC schedule with a 6-1 conference record behind only Leo.
“It’s huge,” JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team’s lone conference loss was to Leo, said of his team’s road win in the conference finale. “That’s good for us. Our goal was to finish in the top half. If (we) can finish in the top half of (our) first year, I thought that would be a nice accomplishment with this group.
“They stepped up on a Thursday night and found a way to win on the road. That’s big.”
In yet another low-scoring affair, Jay County (15-4) led 17-10 midway through the second quarter. Heritage (8-9, 5-2 ACAC) scored seven consecutive points thanks to five turnovers by the visiting Patriots to tie the game at 19.
JCHS junior Adam Dirksen, who had game highs in points (12) and rebounds (five), stopped a scoreless streak of more than six minutes for the visitors.
Heritage got back up top 21-19 on a bucket by Bradley Scott and a long jumper by Adam Beard from the right corner.
The back-and-forth game continued, as Dirksen and Scott traded buckets as Heritage hung on to its two-point lead. That was until Jay County junior Kyler Carvel drained his second 3-pointer of the game in the final seconds of the period to put his team up 24-23 heading into the final frame.
It was the final posession in the third quarter and the first few to start the fourth that Heritage coach Brad Kiess felt were the difference in the game.
“We’re ahead by two points (near) the end of the third, Jay County makes a three and then score a couple possessions into the fourth quarter,” said Kiess, whose team held a considerable height advantage over the visitors. “Unfortunately, when you play Jay County … it is really hard to come back when they’re ahead in the fourth quarter.”
And in the final period, Heritage switched from zone defense to man defense, which Teagle thought gave his team the edge.
“As long as they had that zone packed in, it would be a slow pace of the game both ways and it was going to be tough,” he said. “Once they went man we were able to spread it out a little bit. (We) got a couple good looks inside and got fouled a couple times.”
Teagle’s Patriots didn’t attempt a free throw through the first three quarters, but went 7-of-9 in the final eight minutes to put the game out of reach.
Scott, who is one of four Heritage players listed at 6 feet, 5 inches, or taller, paced his team offensively with 11 points, eight of which were hard fought in the paint. He had four points in each of the first and third quarters, and then hit three free throws in the fourth.
With the height advantage, Kiess said he told his players they would have to get the ball to the post and let the big guys — Scott being one of them — fight for points.
“He was able to score a few times and get fouled,” Kiess said. “We just couldn’t do it consistently enough as the game went on.”
“We can’t settle for 3-point shots. We’re not the best shooting team in the state by any means.”
Jay County, which leads the state in defensive average, didn’t allow the host Patriots to get many open looks, and their shooting percentage was reflective of the stingy defense.
“Thank goodness our defense stayed solid all night and did a really good job,” said Teagle, whose team held Heritage to 34 percent from the field including 1-of-9 from long range. “Two or three times they turned the corner on us and got to the rim, but besides that everything else was pretty hard fought.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of contesting shots and keeping them in front for the most part.”
Junior varsity
Jay County found itself in a 16-3 hole early in the second quarter.
Jason Schlosser took matters into his own hands in the second half to force overtime.
Schlosser scored all of his game-high 17 points after intermission, including the game-tying shot with 3.3 seconds left to send the game into overtime, in a 36-34 victory against Heritage.
The sophomore scored on an inbound play near the end of regulation, and he and his visiting teammates outscored the host Patriots 5-3 in the final period to get their 11th victory of the season.
Jay County (11-5, 4-3 ACAC) trailed 11-3 after the first quarter and 18-10 at halftime. It got to within six, 24-19, heading into the final quarter before Schlosser’s late heroics.
Spencer Calvert followed Schlosser with seven points, and Bryan Stancliffe added four points. Cole Stigleman and Ryan Burkett each added three points.
Freshman
The visiting Patriots held the hosts to just one point in the opening quarter.
They put the game out of reach in the second as they cruised to a 36-15 victory against Heritage.
Jay County (9-5) had a 6-1 lead after the first seven minutes and pushed the advantage to 20-5 at halftime. It went point-for-point with Heritage in the third quarter before adding to its lopsided victory in the fourth.
Collin Haines, Garrett Rodgers and Holton Hill all tallied eight points for Jay County. Jordan Stultz chipped in with six points, all of which came in the 15-point second quarter.
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