Effort in loss served up crow

The best of us must sometimes eat our words. – Albus Dumbledore, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

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It’s not easy for humans to admit when we’re wrong.

Wednesday I was wrong. I underestimated the Jay County High School boys basketball team.

Earlier in the day someone asked me if I thought the Patriots had a chance to beat the host Wayne Generals.

I gave him a two-lettered answer.

Let me explain.

Jay County entered Wednesday on a three-game losing streak. It struggled early on Feb. 15 in a 61-46 loss to Norwell. Then it got steamrolled 72-37 by then No. 9 Homestead three days later. In their final home game on Feb. 22, the Patriots shot 18 percent from the field in the third quarter and had six consecutive turnovers during the fourth in a 38-32 loss to Bellmont.

Coach Chris Krieg said following the Bellmont setback he knew that stretch of games was going to be a challenge. His message to the team was to stay positive despite those losses, to shift the focus to the Generals and their two-pronged attack of post players in Craig Young and Darius Alexander.

On the other hand, I wasn’t too keen of the Patriots’ prospects of reaching the sectional semifinal. Not because of how undersized Michael Schlechty and Wyatt Geesaman were compared to Young and Alexander, but because of the overall athleticism of the Generals as a team.

In terms of quickness, South Side, Muncie Central and Homestead were the three toughest opponents this season for Jay County. All resulted in losses. (South Side later had to forfeit after it was discovered the Archers used an ineligible player.)

The Patriots averaged 17 turnovers in those three games. They were outscored by an average of 19 points. They were overmatched.

Because of that, and the fact Wayne is right up there with those three teams in terms of athleticism, I didn’t expect the Patriots to keep up with the Generals.

Wayne’s starting guards — Cam Starks, Michael Redding and Timon Kinnie — have quick hands. On consecutive possessions during the third quarter Starks swiped the ball for a steal and laid it in at the other end for an easy basket.

Those were two of 18 Jay County turnovers.

But effort goes a long way, and the Patriots showed plenty of it in the 50-42 loss to the Generals.

Jay County began the game on a 5-0 run. After giving up seven straight points, it again had first-quarter leads of 9-7 and 11-9.

The Patriot fight continued. Schlechty stepped back to drain a 3-pointer from the right wing on a 9-0 swing as the Patriots jumped out front, 22-18, with less than two minutes before half.

And as Wayne scored the final five points of the half, the first two out of intermission and were out front, 20-25, the Patriots managed to cut the margin to one.

Even though the Generals went out front 40-29 on four points apiece from Starks and Young as well as a put-back basket by Alexander, the Patriots never quit.

They eventually trailed by 13, the biggest margin of the game before a rally got the Patriots within two possessions, 48-42, with 30 seconds remaining.

Jay County took its punches. Young, a 6-foot, 4-inch Ohio State football commit, had three dunks, including an alley-oop from Starks and a coast-to-coast throwdown with which very few people could have stopped.

No matter how many times momentum swung in favor of Wayne, Jay County’s effort, will and desire to battle back never wavered despite Schlechty finding himself in early foul trouble and Geesaman missing half of the school day because of an illness — he was vomiting after Tuesday’s practice and spent time hugging a toilet doing the same at halftime.

“All year long I felt like our kids could be more mentally tough,” Krieg said. “Tonight they showed they were mentally tough … They fought for another day, unfortunately there’s just not another day for them.”

It’s the kind of fight the Patriots didn’t show the previous three games. It was absent in the losses to South Side and Muncie Central — those quick, athletic teams — as well.

It’s why when asked if I thought Jay County could win I didn’t have confidence it would.

“If you have to lose a game this is the kind of game you want to lose, going out fighting and you feel good inside that you gave your best,” Krieg said.

“I’ll be honest, we gave it our best tonight.”

Based on the previous three losses and those against athletic squads, I expected otherwise, but Jay County played the best it had in the 20 games I saw this year.

It’s unfortunate they didn’t get to have an encore performance.

I was proven wrong.

I gladly look forward to my crow dinner tonight.