Jay to play for title

Jay County will get another crack at Leo.
This time, a conference tournament championship will be on the line.
The Patriot boys basketball team defeated the Bluffton Tigers 49-30 Wednesday in the semifinal round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament.
Leo topped Woodlan 93-62 in the other semifinal, setting up a rematch with Jay County. They will meet at 6 p.m. Saturday at the StarDome in Berne. Leo won the Dec. 19 meeting, 44-41.
“I thought our defense was really good tonight,” JCHS coach Craig Teagle said after the game Wednesday. “I thought we did a good job communicating, I thought our hands were active.
“(It was a) really good defensive effort after two games where I thought they were mediocre efforts … as far as communicating and getting matched up.”
The defense of Jay County (10-2), which is surrendering a state-best 31.8 points per game, was at its finest in the second and third quarters Wednesday night.
The Patriots led the Tigers (9-4) by a 12-9 margin after the first eight minutes, and they limited their new conference rivals to just 3-of-14 shooting in the next two quarters. During that span, Jay County pushed its lead to 30-15 at halftime and 40-17 after the third quarter.
“I thought in the first quarter we did some decent things,” said Bluffton coach Kevin Leising. “Then in the second quarter we took a couple roundhouse shots to the face and we never got up.
“They have good diversification with (Jay) Houck and (Adam) Dirksen on the inside and all their guards outside. We had no answer for that in the middle of the game.”
And that’s exactly when the Patriots took control.
Jay County went on a 12-2 run to start the second, hitting from long distance on all four scoring possessions. Justin Dirksen, Nick Clemens, Zach Pryor and Houck all hit from the outside. Houck found Dirksen on the left wing for the first, Clemens dished to Houck at the top of the key for the second, and then Adam Dirksen hit Clemens and Pryor for the other two.
“What’s great is everyone is so worried about our inside game that everyone is collapsing and sagging (defensively),” Teagle said of his team’s 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. “It’s great to see the guards step up. They feel like they’re getting disrespected a little bit because everyone is backing off of them.

“We had five different guys hit threes in the first half and that’s what we want to do, spread the wealth.”
Bluffton’s Grant Prible hit a jumper near the free-throw line to stop the Patriot run, but Adam Dirksen and Houck combined to score the final six points of the frame for Jay County.
Dirksen was held to single digits in back-to-back games and just the second time all season, but the junior big man grabbed six rebounds, including four on the offensive end. He also had two blocks.
With Dirksen not reaching double figures, Houck took the spotlight offensively for Jay County.
He poured in 17 points to match his career high, and had a game-high six assists. The sophomore forward was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, and also grabbed three rebounds.
“Jay did a good job,” Teagle said. “They really concentrated some efforts on Adam in the low post and Jay did a great job stepping out, and then also attacking the basket.”
Justin Dirksen, Adam’s older brother, joined Houck in double figures with a 12-point effort. It was the first time in four games he scored 10 or more points. He also added a game-high eight rebounds.
Jay County continued to give the Bluffton offense fits in the third quarter, limiting it to just two points in the frame. Senior Javon Johnson fought in the paint for a bucket early in the quarter, and the Patriots scored the final eight points.
Houck found a cutting Justin Dirksen for two and grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed free throw for two more. Dirksen then split a pair of freebies, and Clemens finished off the quarter with an old fashioned three-point play.
The Tigers clawed their way back to start the final quarter, tallying the first eight points of the period. Josh Moriarity started the run with two points in the paint, and then Kevin Moser hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the left corner for a quick six. Moser finished with 12 points, all of which were from behind the arc.
As Bluffton was making its run, Teagle called a timeout with a 40-25 lead to get his team back in order.
“I thought we became unaggressive,” said Teagle of why he called the timeout. “It’s almost like we were satisfied with a lead. That’s not what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Jay County responded following the break in action by outscoring Bluffton 9-5 in the final four minutes. Houck had five points, Justin Dirksen had two and Cole Stigleman had the other two on an assist from Houck.