To the final

MADISON — The Patriots play in two tournaments during the regular season.

They’ll vie for a title in the first one.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Jefferson County Invitational Tournament with a pair of wins Wednesday at in the annual tournament held at Madison Consolidated.

The Patriots, who have won three in a row, are now 7-1 and are in the midst of the best start since the 2008-09 team began the year 8-0. Jay County meets Arsenal Tech (7-2), which finished 12th in the most recent Class 4A poll voting, in the championship game at 7:45 p.m. tonight.

In the tournament opener Wednesday afternoon against Scottsburg, the Patriots led after every quarter en route to a 47-41 victory. Josh Dowlen led all players with a season-high 15 points, and Ethan Dirksen followed with 13 points. Bennett Weitzel chipped in seven points.

The Patriots met Southwestern (Hanover) — a team JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt led from 1998-2002 and again from 2015 to ’19 — in the semifinal. Jay County trailed 35-31 at the end of the third quarter but outscored the Rebels, who were 15th in Class 3A, 22-10 during the fourth for a 53-45 win and the berth in the title game.

Dusty Pearson led the Patriots in the semifinal with 14 points. Blake Bogenschutz made four of his five 3-point attempts to finish with a career-high 12 points. Dowlen scored 10 points to join them in double figures.

The Arsenal Tech Titans (7-2), defeated Switzerland County 81-31 in the quarterfinal and topped Warren Central (Kentucky) 77-73 in the semifinal.

Reggie Bass, a former Muncie Central Bearcat, leads the Titans with 19.1 points per game (through seven games). Dayveon Turner and Rasheed Jones average 15.4 and 15.3 points, respectively, for Arsenal Tech.