Bluegrass blues

FRANKFORT, Ky. — They fell behind early.
Even after the Patriots got their offensive game on track, their first-half deficit was too difficult to overcome.
Jay County High School’s boys basketball team lost for the third time in four games Saturday, 45-37, to the Cooper Jaguars of Union, Kentucky, during the third game of the Kentucky-Indiana Challenge Cup at Frankfort Convention Center.
“Our first half is killing us,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team opens the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament Tuesday. The Patriots host the South Adams Starfires at approximately 8 p.m., after the JCHS girls, who are defending champions, also play South Adams. “The last four games our first half has killed us. It’s like we’re not coming ready to play.
“Tonight we dug ourselves such a huge hole because we didn’t come out ready to play. We played with zero intensity and we go through the motions.”
Jay County (5-4) missed its first three shots of the game and had one turnover allowing Cooper (13-2) to start on a 9-0 run. The Patriots scored their first points of the game with 3:31 remaining in the quarter when Bowen Runyon put back an offensive rebound for a basket.
The Jaguars, who are ranked second in Kentucky by MaxPreps, led 15-7 at the quarter break, and used a streak of seven consecutive points in the second to lead 22-9 thanks to four straight Patriot turnovers.
“Instead of being jump-step and power, we are shovel passing, flipping here and flipping there, which turns into steals,” Krieg said. The Patriots had 10 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 19, while the Jaguars had less than half as many for the contest. “We need to attack the basket, power it up and get fouled.”
After shooting 35 percent (6-of-17) from the field in the first half, Jay County started its comeback by going 4-of-5 in the third quarter.
Adam Dirksen — he had a game-high 16 points, while adding eight rebounds and three blocks — made a pair of free throws to start the fourth quarter to put JCHS within three, 31-28.
The teams combined to shoot six free throws in the first 47 seconds of the final period.
But the well went dry for Jay County, which was just 2-for-8 from the field in the final quarter. The Jaguars, meanwhile, shot 10-of-12 from the stripe in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
“Right now we are being selfish,” Krieg said. “Instead of being fundamentally sound we are trying to make it look pretty.”
Jay Houck scored 10 points to give the Patriots two players in double figures. He also added a game-high nine rebounds.
Kyler Carvel scored his only points on an old-fashioned three-point play to end the third quarter. He also had a game-high three assists.
Cole Stigleman, Jason Schlosser, Ryan Schlechty and Runyon had two points each.
Sean McNeil and Adam Kunkel had 14 and 12 points respectively to lead the Jaguars, who were 21-of-26 from the free-throw line. Chris McNeil and Dante Hendrix each had seven points.
Cooper’s victory against Jay County gave Kentucky a 2-1 advantage in the five-game series before New Albany picked up a win in the next game to tie it at 2-2. Indianapolis Forest Park lost to Owen County in the final game of the night to give the Bluegrass State the tournament victory in all three years of the Challenge Cup.
The Columbus North girls beat Franklin County in the first game of the day for Indiana’s other victory.