Patriots won on last-second tip in

Twenty-five years ago this week, the Patriots were celebrating a last-second victory in a season that was full of them.

The Feb. 13, 1999, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of the Jay County High School boys basketball team’s 52-51 victory over the host Delta Eagles.

The Patriots trailed by one in the closing moments before Andrew Michael tipped in his own miss as time expired.

“The big thing is, on the road like this, they always find a way to win,” said JCHS coach Craig Teagle. “We’re happy we were able to finish them off with the last shot.”

The team’s heart-thumping victories that year were:

•56-53 in overtime at Blackford

•49-48 at Winchester

•70-61 at Richmond in three overtimes

•69-65 in double overtime against McCutcheon in a tournament

The Patriots (11-6) were down by one to Delta with less than 10 seconds left when a pass from Josh Ford was tipped out of bounds. Brad Bennet then got the inbound pass in to Michael, who missed his first attempt. But he kept fighting toward the rim and got the tip for the victory.

“I was just able to stick with it and keep going hard,” said Michael, who finished with 12 points. “The next thing I know, everybody came running out and was yelling. It was chaos. I love it. I don’t think coach can handle any more of it, but we love it.”

The teams combined for 17 3-pointers, with Jay County hitting 10. Nathan Michael hitting three on the way to 17 points and Ford hitting three for his nine points.

The game was close throughout, with Delta leading 38-34 at the end of the third quarter before the Patriots fought back for the victory.