March 2, 2023 at 5:37 p.m.
Familiar themes
Year-long issues doom JC in sectional opener
Familiar themes
NEW CASTLE — During an up-and-down season, there were some commonalities with the “downs.”
Scoring struggles.
Turnovers.
Questionable decision-making.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, those issues surfaced again in their tournament opener.
The Jay County High School boys basketball team never had a lead Wednesday as their season came to an end with a 44-39 loss to the Frankton Eagles in the opening round of the Class 3A Sectional 24 tournament at New Castle.
“It’s a very strong sign of a very poorly coached team, when at the end of the year you’re still making the same kinds of mental mistakes and missing easy shots,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, reiterating what he had just talked about on WPGW Radio. “It’s a matter of not being focused. That all comes down to coaching.”
Even as they shot 32% and turned the ball over 16 times, the Patriots (9-12) were within four points repeatedly in the fourth quarter. Each time, they could get no closer.
A Blake Bogenschutz 3-pointer closed the gap — Frankton’s largest lead was nine points — early in the fourth, but JCHS failed to score for the next two and a half minutes. Bennett Weitzel twice hit hoops to pull the Patriots within four, but back-to-back Brady Carmack baskets — the second followed a steal — pushed the score back to 38-30. And Dusty Pearson hit four free throws with an Eagle turnover in between to make the margin four yet again with 1:49 left.
A backcourt violation on the next possession gave Jay County an opportunity, but it was unable to cash in.
Frankton hit four out of five free throws over the next minute to push its lead back to seven. And by the time Josh Dowlen got a put-back bucket to finally pull the Patriots within three, it was too little, two late, with just 1.6 seconds on the clock.
Bomholt lamented missed first-half layups — JCHS was 6-of-22 (27%) from the field in the first 16 minutes — that could have put his team in better position.
“We played from behind,” said Bomholt. “When you play from behind, you can’t have empty possessions.
“You can’t come down and not score. You can’t (force) a turnover and then give it back to them. And that’s what we did. We did it all year long.”
Key for the Eagles offensively was senior Tyler Bates, who hit five of his team’s six 3-pointers to provide scoring when it was difficult to penetrate the Jay County zone. He finished with a game-high 15 points.
Joey Wright added 11 points with six coming on free throws in the final 1:18, including a pair with 0.7 seconds left that put the final nail in the Patriots’ season.
Frankton, which scored the game’s first four points and led the rest of the way after a Bates triple with 1:16 left in the first quarter, also had a 31-19 advantage on the glass that helped it overcome 24 turnovers.
“The main concentration for us tonight was rebounding. That was the test,” said Frankton coach Brent Brobston. “That was gonna be a key factor in winning this game. Because we thought with 33 (Pearson) and 34 (Weitzel) we might have a hard time rebounding. We needed four guys crashing. I thought we did a good job of that.
“Obviously we turned the ball over a lot, but we survived.”
Frankton advances to play the host Trojans (13-11), who knocked out defending champion Yorktown 52-46 Wednesday, in the second of two sectional semifinal games at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday. Delta (15-9) and Hamilton Heights (8-14) will play in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. The championship game is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Seniors handled almost all of the scoring for the Patriots on Wednesday, with Pearson’s 11 points leading the way. Weitzel joined him in double figures with 10 points, Bogenschutz scored nine and Dowlen had six.
The loss brought an end to a campaign that saw the Patriots struggle to a 2-7 start before winning six out of seven games to climb back to .500. They lost three of their last four in the regular season — the lone victory was a one-pointer Friday over Bellmont — before dropping their first sectional game. The 9-12 record marked their third losing season in the last four years.
Jay County has been bounced out of the sectional in its first game in seven of the last eight seasons, with the lone exception being their run to last year’s championship game. It has not won a sectional title since 2011.
Scoring struggles.
Turnovers.
Questionable decision-making.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, those issues surfaced again in their tournament opener.
The Jay County High School boys basketball team never had a lead Wednesday as their season came to an end with a 44-39 loss to the Frankton Eagles in the opening round of the Class 3A Sectional 24 tournament at New Castle.
“It’s a very strong sign of a very poorly coached team, when at the end of the year you’re still making the same kinds of mental mistakes and missing easy shots,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, reiterating what he had just talked about on WPGW Radio. “It’s a matter of not being focused. That all comes down to coaching.”
Even as they shot 32% and turned the ball over 16 times, the Patriots (9-12) were within four points repeatedly in the fourth quarter. Each time, they could get no closer.
A Blake Bogenschutz 3-pointer closed the gap — Frankton’s largest lead was nine points — early in the fourth, but JCHS failed to score for the next two and a half minutes. Bennett Weitzel twice hit hoops to pull the Patriots within four, but back-to-back Brady Carmack baskets — the second followed a steal — pushed the score back to 38-30. And Dusty Pearson hit four free throws with an Eagle turnover in between to make the margin four yet again with 1:49 left.
A backcourt violation on the next possession gave Jay County an opportunity, but it was unable to cash in.
Frankton hit four out of five free throws over the next minute to push its lead back to seven. And by the time Josh Dowlen got a put-back bucket to finally pull the Patriots within three, it was too little, two late, with just 1.6 seconds on the clock.
Bomholt lamented missed first-half layups — JCHS was 6-of-22 (27%) from the field in the first 16 minutes — that could have put his team in better position.
“We played from behind,” said Bomholt. “When you play from behind, you can’t have empty possessions.
“You can’t come down and not score. You can’t (force) a turnover and then give it back to them. And that’s what we did. We did it all year long.”
Key for the Eagles offensively was senior Tyler Bates, who hit five of his team’s six 3-pointers to provide scoring when it was difficult to penetrate the Jay County zone. He finished with a game-high 15 points.
Joey Wright added 11 points with six coming on free throws in the final 1:18, including a pair with 0.7 seconds left that put the final nail in the Patriots’ season.
Frankton, which scored the game’s first four points and led the rest of the way after a Bates triple with 1:16 left in the first quarter, also had a 31-19 advantage on the glass that helped it overcome 24 turnovers.
“The main concentration for us tonight was rebounding. That was the test,” said Frankton coach Brent Brobston. “That was gonna be a key factor in winning this game. Because we thought with 33 (Pearson) and 34 (Weitzel) we might have a hard time rebounding. We needed four guys crashing. I thought we did a good job of that.
“Obviously we turned the ball over a lot, but we survived.”
Frankton advances to play the host Trojans (13-11), who knocked out defending champion Yorktown 52-46 Wednesday, in the second of two sectional semifinal games at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday. Delta (15-9) and Hamilton Heights (8-14) will play in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. The championship game is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Seniors handled almost all of the scoring for the Patriots on Wednesday, with Pearson’s 11 points leading the way. Weitzel joined him in double figures with 10 points, Bogenschutz scored nine and Dowlen had six.
The loss brought an end to a campaign that saw the Patriots struggle to a 2-7 start before winning six out of seven games to climb back to .500. They lost three of their last four in the regular season — the lone victory was a one-pointer Friday over Bellmont — before dropping their first sectional game. The 9-12 record marked their third losing season in the last four years.
Jay County has been bounced out of the sectional in its first game in seven of the last eight seasons, with the lone exception being their run to last year’s championship game. It has not won a sectional title since 2011.
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