Patriots fly by Jets

The Jets had a tough time figuring out the Patriot defense Saturday night.
And on the other end of the floor, Jay County made the most of its offensive chances.
The JCHS boys basketball team forced the Jets to turn the ball over on its first five possessions of the game and made exactly half the shots it took in a 46-21 defeat of Adams Central.
“It was a tough night for us. Jay County is a good team,” said Adams Central coach Aaron McClure. “This is a very good basketball team that beat us tonight.”
Most in the stands Saturday night would be hard pressed to find anything the Patriots did wrong against the Jets. Jay County (8-2, 2-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) shot an even 50 percent from the field, made six of its nine free throws and only committed eight fouls.
It also only turned the ball over once.
Despite all the positives, JCHS coach Craig Teagle was able to find an area with which his team could have been better.
“I thought our effort wasn’t as good as it needed to be in the first quarter,” said Teagle, whose team moved to 5-0 on the season at home. “Once we got past the first 12 minutes I thought we picked it up the last four minutes of the second quarter. I thought the third and fourth quarter we were much better.”
Aided by the Jets (2-5, 1-2 ACAC) forking over the basketball on its first five trips down the court, the Patriots went on an 8-0 run to open the game on buckets by Adam Dirksen and Jay Houck, a free throw by Justin Dirksen and a 3-pointer by Nick Clemens.
Adam Dirksen led all players with 12 points, and Houck added eight.
Adams Central answered with back-to-back threes by Blake Bauman and Jonah Tijerina to make it 8-6. Another trey by Clemens — he scored all six of his points in the opening frame — put the Patriots up 11-6. The bucket by Clemens from the left wing set the JCHS student section into a loud cheer as it partook in its version of Taylor University’s “Silent Night”, during which the student section stays quiet until the Trojans score the 10th point of the game.
“Offensively I thought we were patient, took good shots,” said Teagle, whose team opens the ACAC tournament at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Southern Wells (1-7, 0-2 ACAC). “We had a couple kids step out and take shots that we’re pretty confident in.”
The perimeter shots — Jay County made seven of its season-high 16 attempts from long range — helped the Patriots build a 13-point lead heading into halftime.
After Bauman hit his second of two threes to get the Jets to within one possession, 13-11, Jay Houck sank a trey from the right corner to spark a 14-2 Patriot run to end the half. Three straight turnovers and back-to-back 3-pointers from the left wing by Kyler Carvel put the Patriots ahead 24-14.
On the next possession for the Patriots, Carvel faked a shot from the outside and dished it inside to Adam Dirksen, who got the bucket and the foul. Dirksen completed the three-point play, and following a miss at the other end of the court, Carvel scored on a fast break just before intermission.
Carvel finished with a career-high eight points, and also had a rebound and an assist.
McClure said he wasn’t expecting the outside shots from the Patriots, who doubled their previous season high of eight attempts from beyond the arc.
“I told the guys ‘If they beat us because they’re hitting threes, that’s the coach’s fault. If they beat us because they’re getting inside, well then that’s your fault,’” McClure said. “For the most part, defensively I thought we did a good job not letting them get the ball to the middle. We forced them to take the shots we wanted them to take, and to their credit they made them.”
On the other hand, Adams Central’s eight points in the opening quarter were the most it would score in any period. It tallied six, five and two points in the final three quarters, and didn’t find the bottom of the hoop until nearly six minutes into the fourth quarter after the Patriots had scored 13 straight points.
Luke Voirol, who was averaging more than 12 points per game entering the contest, was held scoreless and only took two shots from the field. He was also 0-for-4 from the free-throw line.
“I thought we did a nice job on him,” said Teagle. “He’s a good player. I thought we did a good job with our ball pressure so it was hard to pass into him.
“When it did go to him, it seems like we had a guy in there doubling down and making him give it up.”

Junior varsity
Much like their varsity counterparts, Jay County used the three ball effectively in a 57-39 defeat of the Jets.
Jay County (6-4, 1-2) hit 10 shots from long distance in picking up its first ACAC win of the season.
The Patriots raced out to a 20-10 lead after the first quarter and led 28-18 heading into intermission. They held the Jets to just six points in the third quarter, putting the game even more out of reach as they led 44-24 heading into the final period.
Sharpshooter Ryan Burkett scored all of his game-high 18 points from the outside, and Spencer Calvert followed with 17 points as they almost beat the Jets by themselves.
Justin Crouch tallied 10 points, with Cole Stigleman, Jason Schlosser and Bryan Stancliffe all adding four points.

Freshman
Garrett Rodgers scored 12 points and Collin Hines added nine as the Patriot freshman team defeated the Jets 33-25.
Jay County (5-2) led 8-5 after one quarter and 16-9 at halftime. Adams Central got one point back in the third, trailing 26-20 after three, but couldn’t overcome the deficit in the fourth as the Patriots hung on for the victory.
Holton Hill totaled eight points for Jay County, and Connor Davis chipped in with four.