Three-point party

NEW CASTLE — The 3-point line was implemented in high school basketball in 1987.

The Trojans couldn’t be more thankful for the invention, as they rained in 14 threes against the Patriots.

The Jay County High School boys basketball team was blitzed from beyond the arc in Saturday’s 56-44 loss to the New Castle Trojans.

To combat Jay County’s 1-2-2 zone, New Castle (3-2) wanted to attack from distance, and it worked out well. It shot 14-35 (40.0%), which accounted for 75% of its points. The Trojans ended up hitting more 3-point shots than the total amount of attempts they took from inside the arc (11).

“Even when we're in a zone, our guys know they need to run them off the three and make them dribble into their shot,” JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt said. “There wasn't one 3-point shot they made, that they dribbled into. Everything they made was on a pass against our zone.”

Colin Taylor hit most of the Trojans’ threes, knocking down eight on 16 attempts. Supporting his efforts were Mason Miller who hit four and Clay Butler and Caden Blackford who added one each.

The Trojans had great ball movement and shared the rock well. Of their 20 made field goals, 15 were assisted. Butler and Cade Logston led the way with six assists each.

New Castle needed everyone to pitch in on the offensive end, as it was without its leading scorer Landon Thompson, who suffered a season-ending injury the night before.

“For us, this was like dress rehearsal and the main act, all on the same stage.” NCHS coach Daniel Cox said. “We’ve practiced with Landon for a couple of months and all preseason. When you take away a guy like that who’s averaging 17 (points) and eight (rebounds) for us, you just don’t know what you’re going to look like.

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“I thought our guys did a good job of adapting to the situation and finding a way to win.”

Amidst dealing with first-half foul trouble in its front court, the well ran dry for Jay County (2-3) in the second quarter again.

On Dec. 2 against Fort Recovery, the Patriots were held scoreless in the second period. On Saturday, it took them until there was only 1 minute, 45 seconds, remaining in the half to get their first point in the quarter when Liam Garringer hit a free throw. Garringer ended the quarter with a bucket off of a drive, but the Trojans had already gone on a 11- 0 run.

The offense picked back up in the second half, when Jay County outscored New Castle 29-26.

Trevin Dunnington sparked the scoring for the Patriots, draining three 3-pointers in the third.

Ultimately, the Patriots just couldn’t put together a big enough run to make a comeback, with their largest being five points off of a pick and roll where Wesley Bihn benefitted, a free throw from Levi Muhlenkamp and a Gradin Swoveland pull-up jumper.

“I told them, ‘we had a chance,’” Bomholt said. “At one point in time we had seven possessions where we actually got stops, but never had any conversions.

“When you’re playing from behind and you’ve got a hole to dig out of — and for us it takes a pretty big shovel sometimes — you can’t complicate the issue by working your tail off to get a stop and then coming down and not getting a score.”

The Patriots will prepare this week for another sectional opponent in Delta on Friday. The Class 3A No. 4 Eagles are 4-1 on the season and the only ranked team from the sectional.

“We don't know the answer, but we're getting close,” Bomholt said. “We made a step or two on some things. … We'll keep plugging away and work on some things that we got to work on and kind of go from there.”

Junior varsity

A big second quarter pushed New Castle past the Jay County junior varsity team 56-54 Saturday.

The Patriots (4-1) gave up five 3-pointers in the quarter as the Trojans went for 21 points, developing a 35-25 halftime lead. Brayden Hancock dropped 10 in the quarter en route to an 18-point performance.

Jay County’s offense was led by Jayden Comer, who hit a pair of threes in the first and third quarters to tally 12 points. Behind him, Eli Dirksen and Cole Forthofer each had 11.