Jay falls to 0-3

WOODBURN — For eight minutes, it was Jay Houck’s court.
He outscored the Warriors by himself.
But as the home team clawed back, it was Aaron Hahn who put the Warriors on top. He was then the player who kept the Patriots at bay.
Hahn hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter to erase a deficit, then scored 11 of his team-high 21 points in the second half to hand the Jay County High School boys basketball team its third straight loss to start the season Friday, 60-53.
“He is an excellent shooter,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team starts the year 0-3 for the first time since the 2001-02 season. “The first (3-pointer) is always on me. Those two threes, that is on the kids (and) we told them that.”
Hahn’s first triple tied the game at 17 moments into the second quarter, and his second followed a Houck bucket to put the Warriors (3-1, 1-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) on top, 20-19. It sparked a 10-0 run for Woodlan, which didn’t trail the remainder of the game.
The third triple by Hahn was also from the right wing, about 5 feet behind the 3-point line.
“You take away those six points it’s a much better position for us to be in to start the half,” Krieg said.
“He’s at the top of the scouting reports,” Woodlan coach David Randall said of Hahn. “They know he’s a shooter and I’m very impressed with the way he played through the foul trouble.”
Hahn picked up his third foul less than three minutes into the second half and made all 10 of his free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to hold off any comeback attempt by the Patriots (0-3, 0-1 ACAC).
Hahn finished with a team-high 21 points. Deonte Biggs followed with 16 points and Austin Fancher had 15.
Jay County trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter before cutting that deficit to five, 53-48, with 1 minute, 35 seconds, left in the fourth.
Deonte Biggs split a pair of free throws in the final minute to push Woodlan’s lead to six points, and the Patriots were desperately in need of a bucket.

But, like Jay County had been plagued through each of its first two games, an untimely turnover led to a fast break and two points at the other end as Woodlan pushed its advantage to three possessions, where it stayed the rest of the way.
“Turnovers hurt us all year long,” Krieg said. The Patriots had 14, and most were on over-the-top passes that got tipped, or by players fumbling the bounce passes. They also went a stretch of turning the ball over on four straight possessions in the second quarter.
“That is our biggest problem right now is the fact we’re turning it over in chunks,” Krieg said. “Some cases huge chunks.”
Houck led all players with 33 points — two off his career high he set during the sectional as a junior — and 11 rebounds. He scored the first 10 points of the game for Jay County and 15 of the Patriots’ 17 points in the opening 8 minutes.
“He is a good player,” Randall said. “I don’t know there’s much we can do to stop him from doing that. He just is a tough matchup. Everybody in the conference knows how good he is and my kids were ready for it.”
Houck was 13-of-19 from the field with all of his made baskets within arm’s reach of the hoop. He was also 6-of-10 from the free-throw line. But in the next two quarters, the Woodlan defense increased its 2-2-1 pressure, and the Patriots had a difficult time getting Houck the ball.
That’s when Jason Schlosser was able to score, as he had six of his 10 points in the middle two quarters. It was his third-straight game with 10 points.
“We can’t rely on Jay and Jason to attack every possession we have,” Krieg said, noting his guards have to become a threat too. “They have to be able to attack the basket to relieve Jay and Jason’s pressure they’re going to get.
“If not they’re going to have five guys guarding two of us before the season is out.”

Junior varsity
Jay County got to within one with 20 seconds remaining but a pair of free throws at the other end and an untimely turnover led to the demise of the Patriots in a 58-53 loss to Woodlan.
It was a strong comeback by the Patriots, who surrendered the first 16 points of the game to the Warriors. Jay County trailed 20-5 after the first quarter and cut the deficit to 10 points at halftime. The Patriots doubled up the Warriors in the third quarter to trail 35-30 before their valiant effort in the final seven minutes.
Korbin Auker paced the Patriots with 19 points, followed by Parker Grimes with 14 and Wyatt Geesaman with 10. Gabe Faulkner tallied seven points, Xavier Ninde had two points and Jordan Stultz notched one.

Freshman
Jay County held off a solid comeback attempt by Woodlan to escape with a 36-32 victory.
It was the first win of the season for the Patriots (1-2).
Jay County led 6-2 after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 16-4 at intermission. The visitors took a 25-13 lead into the final frame before holding on for the victory.
Brayden Sprunger and Gavin Lambert both scored eight points to lead Jay County, which also got seven points from Noah Arbuckle. Brian Williams and Gabe Link each chipped in with four points, and Payton Nichols finished the scoring with two points.