Dirksen dunk sparks comeback

FORT WAYNE — Adam Dirksen couldn’t get much going on the offensive side of the court during the first 28 minutes.
The Archers couldn’t stop him in the final four.
Dirksen scored the final 10 points during the course of the last 3 minutes, 14 seconds, Thursday, erasing his squad’s seven-point deficit as the Jay County High School boys basketball team beat the Fort Wayne South Side Archers, 58-55.
“We just found open looks,” said Dirksen, who had just two points at half and noted he was frustrated his shots wouldn’t fall. “People were passing the ball around and we just found a way to get through (the deficit).”
It just so happened that route was through him.
“Tale of two halves,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team improved to 13-4 on the season. “He went from playing like a boy during the first half to playing like a man in the second half … actually a man in the fourth quarter.
“He dominated that fourth quarter.”
With 3:51 remaining in the game, a rare defensive mishap allowed South Side senior Deon Palmer to get an open lane to the basket for a two-handed slam.
Like Dirksen, Palmer struggled in the first half, missing his first six shots. But he had 14 points after intermission.
On the ensuing possession though, Dirksen matched Palmer, driving the baseline for a dunk over Austin Boucher.
The comeback was on.
A layup on an assist from Bowen Runyon got Jay County within three, 55-52.
Justin Crouch — he finished with a career-high eight points —had a layup miss the mark, but Dirksen put back the rebound with 52.4 seconds on the clock and absorbed a foul in the process. He made the subsequent free throw, completing the old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game.
The typically fast-paced Archer offense slowed down in the final minute, appearing ready to hold the ball for a potential game-winning shot. Coach Mike Novell called a timeout with 20.8 seconds left to draw up the final play.
Jay County’s defense buckled down, preventing Trejean Didier (game-high 21 points) and Boucher (11) from getting the inbound pass. With nowhere to go, the Archers’ desperation inbound pass sailed out of bounds.
“We went full denial,” Krieg said. “We totally denied them and they didn’t know what to do and they threw it out of bounds.”
Then, with 3.2 seconds left on the clock, Dirksen became the hero with a little help from his classmate.
Kyler Carvel had the ball at the top of the key before driving the lane, and as he drew a pair of defenders he dished it to Dirksen under the hoop. The senior connected on a layup while being fouled by Palmer.
For the second time in less than a minute, Dirsken swished the free throw, and an attempt at a potential game-tying basket by the Archers went awry.
“(The win) feels good especially knowing they are a big sectional rival,” Dirksen said.
“It feels great,” said junior Jay Houck, who had a dunk of his own and finished with a team-high of 18 points and eight rebounds. “That is a really good team right there. They are real athletic and they know how to score the ball.
“To come out … especially against a sectional opponent, it gives you a lot of confidence.”
Houck’s 18 points pushed his career total to 646 as he passed Matt Wendel for 18th on the Patriots’ all-time scoring list.
For the most part, Jay County was able to keep pace with South Side’s fast tempo during the first half, trailing 10-8 after the opening quarter but outscoring the Archers 17-15 during the second to tie the game at 25 heading into the locker room.
Jay County missed a handful of shots and turned the ball over during a two-minute stretch of the third quarter, during which South Side turned a 29-29 tie into a 33-29 lead. A pair of Palmer free throws later in the quarter put the Archers ahead 42-36, which at the time was their biggest lead of the game.
A Houck jumper from the right elbow two minutes into the fourth quarter got Jay County as close as three, 51-48, before a fast-break bucket by Didier and Palmer’s dunk put South Side on top 55-48.
“This was one that we penciled in as a loss,” Krieg said. “Coming here is a tough place to play. I felt like our kids did an excellent job.”

Junior varsity
A 14-point second quarter propelled South Side to a 39-28 victory.
Jay County (9-4) hung on to a 9-8 lead after the first quarter but fell behind at half, 22-15. The Patriots’ offense struggled in the third quarter as well, as the Archers had a 33-19 advantage heading into the final period.
Ryan Schlechty led the Patriots with 10 points, while Garrett Rodgers, Andrew Trewyn and Michael Schlechty tallied four points apiece.

Freshman
With a minute to play, Jay County trailed South Side by 14.
A 16-point run in the final 60 seconds gave the Patriots a 41-39 victory.
Parker Grimes scored 10 of his team-high 12 points during the fourth quarter to spark the comeback. Wyatt Geesaman joined him in double figures with 10 points.
Xavier Ninde chipped in with six points.