Twice as nice

When the two teams met Jan. 14 in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament semifinal, Jay County held Bluffton to two points in the third quarter.
The Patriots did the same Friday night, this time in the second period.
Jay County secured its 14th consecutive winning season with a 38-24 victory over its new conference rival.
“We’ve done a great job keeping the ball in front of us,” JCHS coach Craig Teagle said of his team’s effort in the second quarter, during which it outscored the Tigers 10-2. “The score was going to be low because of how they play.
“We were fortunate enough Zach Pryor got in foul trouble and we played fairly well in the second quarter without him. I don’t want him in foul trouble, but it’s nice to see someone can step in for him and play well.”
Pryor picked up his second foul of the game just 3:01 into the first quarter, prompting Teagle to sit him for the remainder of the first half. Kyler Carvel, who missed the previous two games because of an illness, ran the point in his place and helped the Patriots extend the 8-6 lead they held at the quarter break.
It took nearly a full four minutes into the second period for either offense to get going. Jay County (13-3, 5-1 ACAC) didn’t score on its first three possessions, and the first four times Bluffton (11-5, 4-1 ACAC) had the ball it wasn’t able to find the bottom of the net either.
But with 4:36 remaining in the half, Jay Houck grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed 3-pointer by Nick Clemens and put it back up for the first points of the frame.
Houck, who had a game-high 12 points and six rebounds, added an old-fashioned three-point play and a pair of free throws as he tallied seven of his team’s 10 points in the quarter.
Adam Dirksen then sank a pair of shots from the free-throw line, as the Patriots took an 18-8 lead into the break.
“The second period wasn’t very good,” said Bluffton coach Kevin Leising, whose team lost its first conference game of the season. “We cut it to (seven) in the third quarter, where last game it was checkmate at halftime.”
The Tigers scored the first three points out of intermission, but Jay County responded with an eight-point run midway through the third quarter. Houck found Justin Dirksen for a bucket, and after the visitors missed twice on the same possession, Kyler Carvel scored on a fast break to push the Patriots’ advantage back to double figures, 22-11.
Bowen Runyon split a pair of free throws after Josh Moriarity was whistled for his fourth foul, and Houck converted another three-point play to make it 26-11 in favor of Jay County.
Moriarity eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter, and his absence was a big hit to the Bluffton offense, even though he wasn’t able to get much going in the limited time he was on the court.
“The key tonight was we couldn’t get Moriarity to score,” Leising said. “He was in foul trouble. He’s our big mismatch inside. We try to get him to switch and get the ball inside. We just didn’t do a very good job of it.”
Adam Dirksen, who joined Houck in double figures with 11 points to go with his four rebounds, scored four points in the final quarter. He benefited on passes from Pryor and Carvel to get easy points in the paint. At times, Dirksen and Houck slicing through the Tiger defense and to the bucket seemed almost too easy.
“We knew that would be a distinct possibility because they’re really good players,” Leising said. “I felt like they’re very balanced offensively.
“You spend too much time in the perimeter and their inside guys are going to score. You spend too much time on the inside and their outside guys are going to score.”

Junior varsity
Jay County held Bluffton to five points or fewer in each quarter in a 35-17 victory.
The Patriots (8-5) led 8-4 after seven minutes and pushed the advantage to 15-8 at halftime. A 12-point effort in the third period created more separation, and the host team put the game away in the final quarter.
Jay County’s Justin Crouch had a game-high 10 points, and Ryan Burkett and Jason Schlosser tallied eight and six points respectively.
Dakota Grove chipped in with five points, and Cole Stigleman totaled four.
Philip Pearson had eight points to pace Bluffton.

Freshman
A dozen points in the fourth quarter helped Jay County to a 32-26 victory against the Tigers, giving the Patriots a clean sweep of Bluffton for the evening.
After trailing 11-10 to start the second, Jay County (8-2) had a 14-13 lead at halftime. It was behind again, 21-20 to start the fourth, but held Bluffton to just five points in the final frame.
Garrett Rodgers and Connor Davis led the Patriots with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Holton Hill chipped in with five points, and Max Moser added four.