Houck, Dirksen make all-ACAC first team

The champions had two first team all conference players.

The Starfires were also represented.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team, which was 2016 Allen County Athletic Conference tournament champions and shared the regular-season title, was the lone ACAC squad with two first-team members.

Jay Houck, a junior forward, and senior forward Adam Dirksen were both named to the six-member All-ACAC first team. South Adams junior Jared Grabau also earned first team honors, along with Jacque Jacquay (Heritage), Grant Prible (Bluffton) and Keaton Coleman (Southern Wells).

South Adams junior Marcus Teeter was named second team, as were Luke Voirol and Jonah Tijerina of Adams Central, Heritage’s Billy Lowmow, Austin Fancher of Woodlan and Bluffton’s Aaron Sturgeon.

Houck led the Patriots to a 17-7 (5-1) record and the program’s first ACAC tournament title. He averaged 15.4 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game — both team highs — and tied Dirksen for the team lead in field goal percentage (59 percent).

He also led the team in 3-point shooting (39 percent) and free-throw percentage (80 percent). His 57 assists were second on the squad.

Dirksen averaged 13.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He also tallied four blocks per game, finishing with 97 for the season.

Behind the play of Grabau, the Starfires finished 15-10 (2-4) and were four points away from the team’s first sectional title in more than two decades. South Adams lost to eventual regional champion Fort Wayne Canterbury 65-62.