Patriots stun Tribe

The Patriots wanted to get the ball to Jay Houck.

As the senior and team’s leading scorer got the ball near the top of the key with his team trailing by three, he was immediately blanketed by multiple Tribe defenders.

With no chance at the potential game-tying shot, he passed it off to his right toward Holton Hill.

Sophomore Ryan Schlechty, meanwhile, was camped on the left wing. With the clock winding down, Hill found an open Schlechty, who launched just his 10th 3-point attempt of the season.

Swish.

Tie ball game.

Schlechty’s equalizer sent it to overtime, and the Jay County High School boys basketball team outscored the Indians 15-5 in the extra period in a 66-56 victory over state-line rival Fort Recovery on Tuesday night.

“We had a set play to hit a three to try to tie it,” Schlechty said of the plan when the Patriots (3-3) got the ball with 17.5 seconds remaining. “They were ready for it because we ran the play before that to go within three.

“Kind of just failed. We found the ball to Holton and Holton saw me … I was just sitting there. There was not much time left on the clock so I had to shoot it. Luckily it went in.”

Schlechty leaped in the air and pumped his fist after tallying the final of his seven points.

“I was just so happy we were going to overtime because I knew we could win in overtime.”

Chris Guggenbiller, whose Fort Recovery team fell to 3-1 on the season, had no problem letting Schlechty launch the 3-pointer.

“We were perfectly fine with him taking that shot,” he said. “We knew they were going to do everything possible to get Houck the shot.

“Give the kid hats off.”

Jay County, which hosts Muncie Central on Friday, never led until overtime. It trailed by as many as 13 points early in the fourth quarter, but started to chip away at the deficit by doing what it hadn’t done very well most of the season.

Hit free throws.

It’s also what helped the Patriots keep the lead down the stretch. Houck, who had a game-high 25 points, made two layups and Wyatt Geesaman added the other. Nine of the Patriots 15 points in overtime came from the free-throw line, while Fort Recovery’s Caleb Martin made the only field goal for the Tribe in the extra period.

“We didn’t do a very good job of maximizing our possessions in crunch time there both offensively and defensively,” said Guggenbiller, whose team had two crucial turnovers late in the fourth quarter as well as consecutive 3-second violations in overtime.

After a pair of Cole Stigleman free throws cut the Jay County deficit to 48-44 with 2:33 left in regulation, Schlosser came up with a huge steal that led to another Stigleman free throw.

Fort Recovery pushed its lead to 51-48 with 37 seconds to play following three Micaiah Cox free throws, but not before Houck sliced the deficit in half with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 18.6 seconds left.

Matt Bihn, who finished second on the Indians with 11 points behind Cox’s 15, had a chance to push the Tribe’s lead to two possessions. The front end of a one-and-one plunked off the side of the rim, and Houck hauled in the rebound moments before Schlechty’s dagger.

 “We need to be able to respond to that,” Guggenbiller said. “We need to be able to hit our free throws before that — not only down the stretch but free throws early on in the ball game.”

Fort Recovery led 17-11 after the opening quarter and pushed the halftime score to 30-18 thanks to shooting nearly 50 percent (10-for-21), while Jay County was just 29.2 percent in the first 16 minutes. The Indians opened up their largest lead, 37-24, midway through the third quarter following a Ryan Braun 3-pointer, but that’s when the Patriots started to chip away.

Stigleman scored on a Hill assist before both teams struggled to score for nearly two minutes. Max Moser, who made his first career start, sank two free throws, Houck split a pair and Hill scored his only field goal with 47 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 40-31 Fort Recovery.

Bihn drained a 3-pointer just before the end of the period, and Cox began the fourth quarter with back-to-back buckets to push the Tribe advantage back to 13 points.

Cox later hit a pair of free throws to make it 48-39 with 4:47 to play, and the Tribe didn’t score again until the final minute, allowing the Patriots to mount their comeback.

“I’m proud of our kids for battling,” Krieg said.

Guggenbiller, however, was disappointed in the defeat.

“Frustration is pretty much an understatement with that,” he said. “It is one of those things we have to continue to learn from.”

 

Junior varsity

A consistent effort throughout gave Jay County a 48-37 victory over Fort Recovery.

Jay County (5-3) scored 12 points in each of the first two quarters while holding Fort Recovery (1-3) to single digits in each period. The Patriots led 12-6 after one before pushing the lead to 24-10 at half.

Fort Recovery outscored Jay County 16-10 to trail 34-26 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Patriots saved their best offensive performance for last to the tune of 14 points for the win.

Gabe Faulkner and Parker Grimes led Jay County with 11 and 10 points respectively. Matthew Franks and Korbin Auker had six points each.

Fort Recovery’s Trevor Vaughn led all players with 12 points. Noah Lennartz followed with eight, and Grant Knapke totaled five points. Clayton Pearson contributed four points.