Trojans top Patriots in final

Editor’s note: Over the last few months, we have run brief looks back at the 2005-06 season that the Jay County High School boys basketball team capped with a run to the Class 3A state championship game. Last week, we offered an abbreviated version of the March 20, 2006 semi-state championship story. This week. we’re doing the same with the March 27, 2006, story about the state championship game.
INDIANAPOLIS — If only another shot or two had gone in, a couple extra rebounds been grabbed, a few more defensive stops made.
If only.
Jay County was 13 minutes away from a state championship, leading by seven with 5:20 to play in the third quarter.
But Zach Hahn scored nearly as many points in the last five minutes of that period as his team had in the entire first half.
He had 14 of his team’s 20 points in the third quarter and scored 29 for the game to lead the 10th-ranked New Castle Trojans past the Patriots 51-43 in the Class 3A boys basketball state championship game Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Although they were obviously disappointed with the result, seniors Tyler Rigby and Zac Green reflected on their season.
“It’s been pretty amazing for us,” said Green of the team’s run to the first regional and semi-state titles in school history. “No one has ever done that in our school before. It just means a lot to us.”
“Kids like us dream about doing this — coming to state finals, having a chance to win it,” added Rigby, the winner of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award who led the Patriots with 16 points. “It was a fun year.”
Jay County (20-7) was in position to cap its year with a state championship after Rigby hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game less than three minutes into the third quarter. His triple put the Patriots up 24-17 — the seven points was the biggest lead of the game for either team at the time — and had them on a 9-1 run stretching back to the closing seconds of the first half.
Zach Hahn of New Castle (21-6) missed a lay-up on the opposite end, giving Jay County an opportunity to extend the lead further. But the Patriots failed to grab the rebound and Hahn corralled the loose ball, which he put back in the basket as he was fouled. That was all the Trojan junior needed.
Hahn hit his free throw, then buried a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor. He followed with an assist to Ryan Freeburg, who scored to give New Castle a 25-24 lead. It took Hahn and his teammates just 1:01 to erase their seven-point deficit and claim the one-point lead.
Jay County managed to get back ahead, but Hahn never stopped. He scored 14 points in the final five minutes of the third quarter. His assist to a Bryant Hazelman 3-pointer with 34 seconds left in the third gave the Trojans the lead for good.

“Shooting the ball well,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle when asked what Hahn did to change the game. “I mean, he’s a shooter ...
“We knew that Hahn would get his points. Our biggest goal was to not let him make anyone around him better.
“We thought that was the key to the game. We thought him, by himself, could not beat us ...”
His teammates, mainly Luke Bennett, gave him just enough help, but it was mostly Hahn.
After scoring seven points in the first half, the junior racked up 22 in the second. He shot 7-of-12 (58 percent) after the break, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. He also had team highs of five rebounds and three assists.
“Zach gets himself loose well off the dribble for his shots,” said New Castle coach Steve Bennett. “He’s so relentless and an unbelievable contender.
“The points were good, but they were tough plays and we needed some tough plays, some scrappy plays to give us confidence.”
Jay County stayed within striking distance in the fourth quarter, but never got closer than the three-point deficit they faced at the end of the third period.
While Hahn, an 86 percent free-throw shooter, missed a couple down the stretch, Bennett did not. He drained six free throws in the final 37 seconds and was the only other Trojan to reach double figures, finishing with 10 points.