Schlosser, JC stellar in win

Jason Schlosser could do almost anything he wanted.

He drove the left baseline (his signature move). He went down the middle of the lane. And even shot-faked to get a wide-open three from the wing.

Jay Houck and the rest of the Patriots were just as effective.

The Archers couldn’t slow them down.

Schlosser finished with a career-high 28 points, Houck reached his second-highest point total of the season and the Jay County High School boys basketball team was nearly lights out in defeating the Fort Wayne South Side Archers 75-60 Thursday night.

“Let’s just say they played really well and we made them play a little bit better,” said South Side coach Mike Novell. “We just didn’t have it. The energy bus went out without us on it today.”

JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team secured its 15 consecutive winning season, said it was the best all-around game his team has played all year.

“Right now you want to be playing your best,” said Krieg, whose team moves to 12-5 on the season and travels to Monroeville to play Heritage on Feb. 10. “We have to play together. We shared the ball really well and we finished at the basket.

“We are not a great outside shooting team, but we are very good at 10-feet in.”

Jay County, which led 10-2 early but fell behind 21-19 after the first quarter, shot 14-for-18 from the field in the first half. All but three of those attempts were layups. Schlosser and Houck (26 points) combined to go 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) in the first 16 minutes, as the Patriots used a 9-2 run in the second quarter before taking a 34-31 advantage into halftime.

“Those two guys are tough,” Novell said. “Those two guys were making it very dramatic for us.

“We made it look easy for them and that bothers me greatly.”

Schlosser and Houck scored Jay County’s first 13 points and totaled 27 at halftime. With the Patriots trailing 27-25 with 2:19 into the second quarter, Houck scored back-to-back buckets, one on an assist from Holton Hill, and Schlosser gave a head fake at the 3-point line near the right corner to send an Archer player sailing through the air. Schlosser took a giant step to his left and drained the Patriots’ only 3-pointer to put JCHS ahead 32-27.

“I didn’t have anything on him that shows that’s the kind of guy he is,” Novell said of Schlosser, who reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time this season and was averaging 12.3 points per game. “We knew he was an athletic jumper. He steps out, hits that three, he’s driving the basket, he’s got a spin … we didn’t have anybody stopping him.”

Jay County didn’t trail again. It used a 10-point run in the fourth quarter for a 64-48 lead, and was ahead by as many as 17 with 90 seconds to play.

“There were three things we had to do to win this basketball game,” said Krieg, whose team committed 40 turnovers in an overtime loss to the Archers last season in the sectional opener. “Take care of the basketball, keep them off the offensive boards (and) finish around the basket.”

Jay County had 17 turnovers, held South Side to just four offensive rebounds and were 29-for-37 (78.4 percent) in front of the 3-point line.

“I felt like, compared to last year, we did great in all three aspects of the game,” said Krieg.

Cole Stigleman followed with nine points, and Holton Hill had four points to go with his game-high five assists. Hill also shared the game high of five rebounds with Schlosser and Houck.

“He’s a little spark plug,” Krieg said. “I love Holton. He knows what he can do and he does it to the best of his ability.”

Mikale Stevenson led the Archers with 21 points, and Trejean Didier joined him in double figures with 14 points.



Junior varsity

A potential game-tying 3-pointer from Parker Grimes missed the mark and Jay County wasn’t able to put back the rebound in a 46-44 loss to South Side.

The Patriots (10-5) led the Archers 28-23 at halftime after both teams were tied at 15 after one quarter. South Side closed the gap to 36-35 heading into the final quarter before taking the lead and holding off a Patriot surge.

Matthew Franks led Jay County with 17 points, as Jordan Stultz and Grimes had eight points each. Noah Arbuckle chipped in four points.

Freshman

A slow start offensively in the first quarter proved costly for Jay County in its 41-39 loss.

The Patriots (4-8) trailed 12-5 after the first quarter and weren’t able to make up the deficit. 

They cut it to three, 30-27, after three periods but had trouble completing the comeback in the final seven minutes.

Payton Nichols led Jay County with 18 points, and Brayden Sprunger joined him in double figures with 10 points. Gavin Lambert tallied four points.