Opening cruise

The Patriots opened the game with three missed shots and two turnovers on their first four possessions.

That’s about all that went wrong in the opener.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team shot better than 60% from the field and Dusty Pearson had more rebounds than the Tigers did as a team as the Patriots cruised to a 79-31 victory to begin the season on Tuesday.

“We’re a little nervous no matter how much preseason you have,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt. “Kind of woke up and had a nice stretch. My challenge to the kids was — we’re a lot better than this team, I felt that way after watching them warm up — we’re bigger, stronger, let’s take advantage of that.

“The goal was every quarter to improve our margin and they did that. I was real proud of them.”

It was the most points the Patriots (1-0) have scored in a game since a 75-60 victory Feb. 2, 2017, against Fort Wayne South Side, and the most in the season opener since a 71-33 drubbing Nov. 28, 2015, of Lakewood Park.

Hagerstown (0-1) went up 3-0 on its first possession and had a 5-2 advantage because of Jay County’s slow start. From there, however, the Patriots dominated the Tigers in almost every facet.

Gavin Muhlenkamp scored on fast break and Ethan Dirksen put back a teammate’s miss to give JCHS a 6-5 lead. Another triple from the Tigers — they shot from distance often but weren’t effective — put them on top 8-6.

Then Dirksen went off by scoring the next nine points before Josh Dowlen drained a triple from the right win.

In all, Jay County closed the first quarter on a 14-3 run after it trailed 8-6.

And in the second, it was all Patriots as they poured in 15 consecutive points while keeping the Tigers off the board until there was eight seconds left on the clock.

Hagerstown, unable to get solid penetration through the Jay County defense because of the height of post players Bennett Weitzel (6-feet, 4-inches) and Pearson (6-5), resorted to shooting from beyond the arc.

But they were inaccurate, making just 3-of-13 (23.1%) from distance in the first half in finishing 6-of-22 (27.3%) for the game.

“We defended pretty well,” said Bomholt, whose team led 20-11 after the first quarter and 37-13 at halftime. “We contested most of them. We gave them some open shots but not very many.

“If we can give up 31 on a given night we’re probably going to win going away because we’re good enough offensively to score and take advantage.”

Jay County was 52% (13-of-25) at half, and only improved from there by finishing 30-for-48 (62.5%) for the game. Dirksen, who led all players with 24 points, was 9-of-13. He also had five rebounds and two assists. Weitzel was second with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with his five rebounds.

While Pearson only scored five points, his effectiveness was pulling down rebounds. The junior tallied 16 boards — eight in each half — for two more than the Tigers had all game. Additionally, he blocked five shots.

“The two together with Bennett and Dusty — even though Dusty didn’t score as much — they dominated the boards inside,” Bomholt said. Jay County had 42 total rebounds. “That’s the first time this has happened since I’ve been back.

“Usually one of them plays well and the other one is a little bit off. This was the first tie they both really got it going.”

Dowlen chipped in 11 points to give JCHS three players in double figures.

Jay County had a 19-0 run in the second half that spanned the quarter break to trigger the running clock — a team has to lead by 35 in the second half.

Brady Davis scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter.

Junior varsity

A 14-5 margin in the second quarter helped carry Jay County to a 41-27 victory against Hagerstown.

The Patriots (1-0) held a 9-4 margin before opening it up in the second.

The 23-9 edge at halftime turned into a 35-20 lead with one quarter to play.

Jay County’s Owen Ransom led all players with 13 points, and Parker Nichols ended with eight.

Cam Smitley and Wesley Bihn contributed four points apiece.