January 11, 2017 at 5:28 a.m.
Jay County drops tourney opener
Defending champs stumble in loss to Heritage
Jay County drops tourney opener
MONROEVILLE — Jay County played like it was defending a tournament championship.
It had its offense working. Its defense limited scoring chances for Heritage and only gave up one field goal for 12 minutes.
But Jay County found itself in a position it hadn’t been in much this season; comfortably ahead.
Perhaps a little too comfortable.
The host Heritage Patriots closed the opening half on a 9-0 run and rode the momentum the rest of the way in handing the Jay County High School boys basketball team a 44-38 loss Tuesday in the opening round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament.
“We were up nine points and we think the game is over,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team had played in the tournament championship game in each of the last two years.
This season, Jay County will play in a consolation game at noon on Saturday against the loser of Friday’s semifinal between the Woodlan Warriors and Southern Wells Raiders. Southern Wells defeated Adams Central 58-53 in its tournament opener.
Heritage advances to the semifinal against South Adams, which picked up a road win at Bluffton, 49-25. Heritage and South Adams will play at 6 p.m. Friday at Jay County, with a girls semifinal game between the host Patriots and SAHS to follow.
Jay Houck made a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 5:27 remaining in the second quarter to put the Jay County (6-5) ahead 15-6. On its next trip down the court, Jay County was whistled for traveling. Then an offensive foul. Then another traveling call.
Heritage (4-4), meanwhile, got back-to-back buckets from Abram Beard to cut the deficit to 15-10 with 2:31 to play. Jay County missed on back-to-back possessions before Beard made a basket and a foul shot, and another offensive foul on the visiting Patriots gave the ball back to the home team with less than a minute to play in the half.
Rylie Schane was then fouled on a shot at the buzzer and sank both free throws to tie the score at half.
“We had them down, thinking it’s time to put a dagger in them,” Krieg said. “But no, we relaxed.”
And Heritage rode that wave into the second half and overcame its 0-for-8 shooting performance from long distance in the first 16 minutes. The host Patriots went on a 9-0 run in the third quarter for a 30-24 lead.
“They know they have to play great defense no matter what. But if you’re hitting shots, if we’re all honest, that just makes it a little bit easier.”
Heritage finished 6-for-17 from behind the 3-point line. The first, from Malcolm Smith, gave Heritage an 18-15 lead early in the third quarter. A quick six points — a basket and one free throw from Cole Stigleman and a Holton Hill 3-pointer — put Jay County on top 21-18 before Schane drained a game-tying triple from the right wing.
Jason Schlosser matched Schane by hitting one of his own to make it 24-21 JCHS until Walter Knapke sank his only 3-pointer from the corner, Ryan Sprague scored three points and Jarrett Kiess made a shot from long range. The run by the host team came with Houck and Schlosser each sharing time on the bench in foul trouble.
“That is huge,” Singrey said. “When we did the scouting report it all revolved around them. We had to have total team awareness on Houck and Schlosser. They are two really solid players.”
Schane — he led all players with 17 points — made two free throws midway through the fourth quarter to give Heritage its biggest lead of the night, 38-31. Four points from Houck and two Stigleman charity tosses got Jay County as close as 38-37, but Heritage was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to put the game away.
Despite picking up his third foul 2:09 into the third quarter and spending a considerable amount of time on the bench thereafter, Houck finished with a team-high 13 points and led all players with six rebounds. He passed Mark McEwen for third on Jay County’s all-time scoring list and now has 962 career points.
Schlosser had seven points at half and ended with 10 before fouling out in the final minute.
Beard complemented Schane with 15 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 effort from the free-throw line.
“To be honest we deserved to lose the basketball game,” Krieg said. “I’m disappointed in the way that we played.”
It had its offense working. Its defense limited scoring chances for Heritage and only gave up one field goal for 12 minutes.
But Jay County found itself in a position it hadn’t been in much this season; comfortably ahead.
Perhaps a little too comfortable.
The host Heritage Patriots closed the opening half on a 9-0 run and rode the momentum the rest of the way in handing the Jay County High School boys basketball team a 44-38 loss Tuesday in the opening round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament.
“We were up nine points and we think the game is over,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team had played in the tournament championship game in each of the last two years.
This season, Jay County will play in a consolation game at noon on Saturday against the loser of Friday’s semifinal between the Woodlan Warriors and Southern Wells Raiders. Southern Wells defeated Adams Central 58-53 in its tournament opener.
Heritage advances to the semifinal against South Adams, which picked up a road win at Bluffton, 49-25. Heritage and South Adams will play at 6 p.m. Friday at Jay County, with a girls semifinal game between the host Patriots and SAHS to follow.
Jay Houck made a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 5:27 remaining in the second quarter to put the Jay County (6-5) ahead 15-6. On its next trip down the court, Jay County was whistled for traveling. Then an offensive foul. Then another traveling call.
Heritage (4-4), meanwhile, got back-to-back buckets from Abram Beard to cut the deficit to 15-10 with 2:31 to play. Jay County missed on back-to-back possessions before Beard made a basket and a foul shot, and another offensive foul on the visiting Patriots gave the ball back to the home team with less than a minute to play in the half.
Rylie Schane was then fouled on a shot at the buzzer and sank both free throws to tie the score at half.
“We had them down, thinking it’s time to put a dagger in them,” Krieg said. “But no, we relaxed.”
And Heritage rode that wave into the second half and overcame its 0-for-8 shooting performance from long distance in the first 16 minutes. The host Patriots went on a 9-0 run in the third quarter for a 30-24 lead.
“First half we kind of got off to a slow start,” Heritage coach Barry Singrey said. “We hit a couple in the third quarter coming out and I thought that helped our guys relax.
“They know they have to play great defense no matter what. But if you’re hitting shots, if we’re all honest, that just makes it a little bit easier.”
Heritage finished 6-for-17 from behind the 3-point line. The first, from Malcolm Smith, gave Heritage an 18-15 lead early in the third quarter. A quick six points — a basket and one free throw from Cole Stigleman and a Holton Hill 3-pointer — put Jay County on top 21-18 before Schane drained a game-tying triple from the right wing.
Jason Schlosser matched Schane by hitting one of his own to make it 24-21 JCHS until Walter Knapke sank his only 3-pointer from the corner, Ryan Sprague scored three points and Jarrett Kiess made a shot from long range. The run by the host team came with Houck and Schlosser each sharing time on the bench in foul trouble.
“That is huge,” Singrey said. “When we did the scouting report it all revolved around them. We had to have total team awareness on Houck and Schlosser. They are two really solid players.”
Schane — he led all players with 17 points — made two free throws midway through the fourth quarter to give Heritage its biggest lead of the night, 38-31. Four points from Houck and two Stigleman charity tosses got Jay County as close as 38-37, but Heritage was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to put the game away.
Despite picking up his third foul 2:09 into the third quarter and spending a considerable amount of time on the bench thereafter, Houck finished with a team-high 13 points and led all players with six rebounds. He passed Mark McEwen for third on Jay County’s all-time scoring list and now has 962 career points.
Schlosser had seven points at half and ended with 10 before fouling out in the final minute.
Beard complemented Schane with 15 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 effort from the free-throw line.
“To be honest we deserved to lose the basketball game,” Krieg said. “I’m disappointed in the way that we played.”
“First half we kind of got off to a slow start,” Heritage coach Barry Singrey said. “We hit a couple in the third quarter coming out and I thought that helped our guys relax.“They know they have to play great defense no matter what. But if you’re hitting shots, if we’re all honest, that just makes it a little bit easier.”
Heritage finished 6-for-17 from behind the 3-point line. The first, from Malcolm Smith, gave Heritage an 18-15 lead early in the third quarter. A quick six points — a basket and one free throw from Cole Stigleman and a Holton Hill 3-pointer — put Jay County on top 21-18 before Schane drained a game-tying triple from the right wing.
Jason Schlosser matched Schane by hitting one of his own to make it 24-21 JCHS until Walter Knapke sank his only 3-pointer from the corner, Ryan Sprague scored three points and Jarrett Kiess made a shot from long range. The run by the host team came with Houck and Schlosser each sharing time on the bench in foul trouble.
“That is huge,” Singrey said. “When we did the scouting report it all revolved around them. We had to have total team awareness on Houck and Schlosser. They are two really solid players.”
Schane — he led all players with 17 points — made two free throws midway through the fourth quarter to give Heritage its biggest lead of the night, 38-31. Four points from Houck and two Stigleman charity tosses got Jay County as close as 38-37, but Heritage was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to put the game away.
Despite picking up his third foul 2:09 into the third quarter and spending a considerable amount of time on the bench thereafter, Houck finished with a team-high 13 points and led all players with six rebounds. He passed Mark McEwen for third on Jay County’s all-time scoring list and now has 962 career points.
Schlosser had seven points at half and ended with 10 before fouling out in the final minute.
Beard complemented Schane with 15 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 effort from the free-throw line.
“To be honest we deserved to lose the basketball game,” Krieg said. “I’m disappointed in the way that we played.”
“They know they have to play great defense no matter what. But if you’re hitting shots, if we’re all honest, that just makes it a little bit easier.”
Heritage finished 6-for-17 from behind the 3-point line. The first, from Malcolm Smith, gave Heritage an 18-15 lead early in the third quarter. A quick six points — a basket and one free throw from Cole Stigleman and a Holton Hill 3-pointer — put Jay County on top 21-18 before Schane drained a game-tying triple from the right wing.
Jason Schlosser matched Schane by hitting one of his own to make it 24-21 JCHS until Walter Knapke sank his only 3-pointer from the corner, Ryan Sprague scored three points and Jarrett Kiess made a shot from long range. The run by the host team came with Houck and Schlosser each sharing time on the bench in foul trouble.
“That is huge,” Singrey said. “When we did the scouting report it all revolved around them. We had to have total team awareness on Houck and Schlosser. They are two really solid players.”
Schane — he led all players with 17 points — made two free throws midway through the fourth quarter to give Heritage its biggest lead of the night, 38-31. Four points from Houck and two Stigleman charity tosses got Jay County as close as 38-37, but Heritage was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to put the game away.
Despite picking up his third foul 2:09 into the third quarter and spending a considerable amount of time on the bench thereafter, Houck finished with a team-high 13 points and led all players with six rebounds. He passed Mark McEwen for third on Jay County’s all-time scoring list and now has 962 career points.
Schlosser had seven points at half and ended with 10 before fouling out in the final minute.
Beard complemented Schane with 15 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 effort from the free-throw line.
“To be honest we deserved to lose the basketball game,” Krieg said. “I’m disappointed in the way that we played.”
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