JCHS held off Bellmont

Twenty-five years ago this week, the Patriots held off Bellmont to even their record.

The Dec. 7, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of the Jay County High School boys basketball team’s 69-64 victory over the Braves.

The Patriots pulled their record to 2-2 as they fought off a Bellmont rally after leading by eight at halftime and 10 in the third quarter.

JCHS saw its disappear completely as Bellmont’s Matt Vogleweded tied the game with a free throw with 1:05 remaining. A Derek Lloyd free throw pushed the Patriots back ahead before senior Nathan Klatt came up with the play of the game.

After Bellmont failed to score on its next possession, Jay County also missed its first field-goal attempt on the other end. But Klatt was there, grabbing the 11th of his career-high 12 rebounds and putting the ball back up and in for a 68-65 lead.

The Braves missed a 3-point try that would have tied the game, and Tyler Fullenkamp split a pair of free throws with one second left to finish off the win.

Lloyd led the scoring for JCHS with 14 points. Klatt and Andy Miller joined him in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Miller shot 3-of-5 from long distance in the victory.

“I think especially in the first half we looked good … we could have been up by 15 points,” said JCHS coach Roger Schnepp. “We had a bad start in the second half and when (Bellmont’s Phil) Summers fouled out, we let down. But other than some missed free throws down the stretch, we did a lot of things right.”