Threes in the third

MUNCIE — The Patriots held a lead at the quarter break.

By halftime, they found themselves down two.

Eight minutes of gameplay later, they stared up at a 17-point deficit.

The Jay County High School boys basketball team gave up 24 points in the third quarter thanks to some strong shooting from the Delta Eagles behind the 3-point arc in Friday’s 60-44 loss.

Prior to Friday, the Patriots (3-3) had just pulled above 0.500 by stringing together wins against Fort Recovery and New Castle. Despite winning the last two games, JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt wasn’t particularly impressed with the way his team practiced in the days leading to the game at Delta (5-1).

“I mean it’s just like you turn a switch on, then off,” he said. “It’s a little bit about how we practiced. … We had a horrible practice last night, just God-awful. We at least had six to seven practices where we felt pretty good about what we were trying to do. We beat Fort Recovery and New Castle but then we went right back and went sour.”

Jay County held a 10-9 lead after the first quarter thanks to getting three shots inside the paint and a Tucker Griffin three that came off of a paint touch and a hammer pass from Jayden Comer. The Patriots only trailed 24-22 entering the intermission because of Comer scoring eight points on a pair of threes and a fadeaway jump shot. (The Jay County sophomore finished as the team’s leading scorer with 12 points, followed by Tucker Griffin with 10.)

The third quarter turned the tide of the game, as the Eagles dominated the period 24-9. Delta shot 9-for-13 (69.2%) overall and 6-for-9 from distance (66.7%). Bronson Edwards — the DHS second-leading scorer with 18 — tallied 10 of those points with a pair of layups and a pair of triples.

On the other end of the floor, the Patriots shot 3-for-9 (33.3%) while turning the ball over six times.

The kill shot came in the final four minutes of the period. Jay County had just cut the deficit to six points after Griffin knocked down two foul shots. The Eagles responded with an 11-0 run to finish the period. DHS poured in three consecutive 3-pointers from Jordan Furney — he was the game’s leading scorer with 22 points — Edwards and Lucas Bragg, with the first two shots being assisted by Cooper Bratton and the final one by Furney. The final two points came on an Edwards post up that claimed a 48-31 lead for the Eagles.

Eight of the nine third-quarter field goals were the result of assists. Delta finished with 15 assists, with Bratton and Furney each dishing out five.

“The ball movement was really good, but some of it is as simple as just make shots,” said DHS coach Mark Detweiler. “We made shots which led to getting our defense set and then it was better. Defense is a little bit different when the ball is coming off the rim and it’s in transition. When the ball goes through the net, it’s amazing the impact it can have for you to get things locked in defensively.”

Eli Dirksen gave the Patriots a little bit of life to start the final period by making three of the first four shots, but they couldn’t get the game within single digits.

Along with the struggles defending the 3-point arc — they gave up 10 3-pointers in total — the Patriots struggled to take care of the ball, coughing the rock up 20 times.

Jay County will have more than a week to try and turn things around before it travels to face Class 2A No. 1 Wapahani on Dec. 28.

“It’s more up to them than it is anything else, whether they want to (turn it around),” Bomholt said. “A week ago we were there, but the scary part of it is, we never sustained any six-eight days in a row. Until you get that, we can’t take the next step.”

Junior varsity

Jay County couldn’t stave off the Eagles as Delta surged in the fourth quarter to beat the Patriots 53-45.

The Patriots (5-1) got saddled with foul trouble in the fourth quarter, resulting in three players fouling out and only having four available to finish off the final 1 minute, 36 seconds. The foul trouble also led to eight made free throws, fueling a 19-point final period for Delta.

Kade Sommers led JCHS with 17 points, followed by Brock Wasson with 13.

Chase Philips ended as the game’s leading scorer with 21 points.