Patriots handled by Haynes

MUNCIE — The Patriots were prepared to stop Tanner Lambert.

Adam Haynes made them pay for it.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team kept Lambert to half of his season total in scoring but got torched by Haynes on Friday night in a 43-31 loss to the host Delta Eagles.

“He hurt us inside, which I didn’t think would happen,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team fell to 2-4 and hosts state-line rival Fort Recovery at 6 p.m. tonight. “I am disappointed in our effort on him inside. We didn’t block out very well.”

Haynes scored all nine of Delta’s points in the opening quarter, two of which came on offensive rebounds. He also made three of his four free-throw attempts in the first eight minutes, as Delta (6-1) led Jay County 9-2.

“Adam Haynes is one of my favorite kids I’ve ever coached,” said Delta coach Ryan VanSkyock, a JCHS graduate and longtime assistant coach under Craig Teagle. “Talk about a great kid that does whatever you ask of him. He’s just an unbelievable player and he played really well tonight.”

Jay County senior Jay Houck, the Patriots’ leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, picked up his second foul with 3 minutes, 35 seconds, remaining in the first quarter, forcing Krieg to put him on the bench. That’s when Haynes was able to attack the basket and draw fouls.

“Jay Houck is a tremendous player,” VanSkyock said, who was with Jay County for Houck’s freshman season. “He can shoot the three, take you off the dribble … he is strong, has great post moves. Having a player like that on the bench (was) tremendous for us. It helps us out a lot.”

Houck was limited to seven points, his lowest of the season after scoring at least 15 in each of his previous four games. After his second foul — he finished with four — Delta kept attacking him and the JCHS senior wasn’t able to be as aggressive defensively as he usually is.

Even with Houck back on the floor in the second quarter, Haynes was getting rebounds and buckets for the Eagles. He had back-to-back baskets amidst an 8-0 Delta run that helped build a 22-11 advantage before Houck hit a 3-pointer in the waning moments of the opening half.

Junior Cole Stigleman scored seven of his career-high 11 points in the second half to help Jay County get within five.

After a Haynes basket on an assist form Carter Anderson, Stigleman scored on an assist from classmate Holton Hill and absorbed a foul from Rylan Sullivan in the process. Stigleman made the ensuing charity toss before yet another Haynes layup.

“Cole did an excellent job tonight,” Krieg said.

Schlosser matched Stigleman with 11 points, while Hill tallied the other two points for the Patriots.

Krieg had challenged his guards, especially Stigleman, to attack in order to help relieve some of the pressure of Houck and Schlosser. Stigleman did that often, and 10 of his 11 points were from close range.

But he suffered the same fate the rest of his teammates did, especially in the fourth quarter — too many missed layups, open 3-pointers and shots from the free-throw line. Jay County was 13-of-46 from the field (28.3 percent), including 1-for-11 from long distance and a measly 36.4 percent (4-of-11) from the charity stripe.

“What we’ve done well all year was finish in the paint,” Krieg said. “We had easy layups we could not finish tonight. It was one of those nights tonight where we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”

Lambert joined Haynes, who had a game-high eight rebounds, in double figures with 10 points. Schlosser led Jay County with seven rebounds.



Junior varsity

Xavier Ninde scored half of his eight points in overtime to help Jay County to a 31-25 victory over Delta.

Jay County (3-3) trailed 5-4 after one quarter of play and was behind by the same margin, 7-6, at half. A 14-point effort in the third quarter gave the Patriots a 20-15 advantage, but the host Eagles made a pair of triples in the final frame to force overtime.

That’s when Ninde made all four of his free-throw attempts to share the game high in scoring with Parker Grimes.

Jordan Stultz contributed five points for the Patriots, who got four from Gavin Randall and two each from Wyatt Geesaman, Gabe Faulkner and Korbin Auker.