Eight is too much

DECATUR — The Patriots drew first blood when Aiden Phillips put back a missed shot.

Three minutes later, they regained a one-point lead over the Braves on a three from Gradin Swoveland.

The Patriots trailed the rest of the night.

After a slow start, Class 3A No. 8 Bellmont pulled away from the Jay County High School boys basketball team Friday for a 60-31 clobbering.

“We didn’t execute offensively, either taking care of it or shooting it,” JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt said. “When you don’t do that, it makes a long day.”

The Braves’ 1-3-1 zone defense gave Jay County (8-13) problems all night, holding the Patriots to 21.3% shooting (10-of-47) from the field while also turning them over 18 times.

“It was a ‘soft 1-3-1’ where they weren’t trapping the guards out front,” Bomholt said. “We have an alignment we run, but we just threw it up in the bleachers about six times. It’s hard to score from up there, I don’t care how good you are.”

After the Patriots’ 5-4 lead, Belmont (20-4) finished the first quarter on a 13-2 run over 2 minutes, 39 seconds.

The second quarter didn’t go much better for Jay County. It started on a positive note as Eli Dirksen picked the pocket of Dylan Velez and took the ball for an easy layup to cut the deficit to single digits.

The Braves responded with a 10-0 run to expand their lead to 18 points.

The second quarter ended on a sour note for the Patriots. With less than 30 seconds left, Ben Crouch went up for a reverse layup that was blocked by Dylan Velez. Contact on the way down resulted in Crouch, who at the time led JCHS with six points, falling into the wall where there wasn’t padding. He was removed from the game and did not return.

“We’ve finally got him going and out of the post players, offensively, he was the most aggressive,” Bomholt said. “We were struggling the way it is, then all of a sudden, we lose the guy that’s been the most aggressive. We needed him on the floor so that hurt us, but that’s not why we lost.”

Crouch’s six points would remain as the high for the Patriots as Swoveland and Jackson Edwards matched that mark. Edwards was the only other Patriot to hit back-to-back shots, draining corner threes off of cross-court passes by Parker Nichols to end the third period and open the fourth.

While Swoveland, Jay County’s leading scorer at 9.7 points per game, was only held to six, the next two leading scorers, Liam Garringer and Wesley Bihn, were both scoreless off the bench.

“These guys are long, athletic, have a high basketball IQ and when they want to defend, they’re as good defensively as anybody in the area,” Bellmont coach Payton Selking said. “Anytime you can hold a varsity basketball team under 40, you’ve got a pretty good chance of winning.”

On the other side of the ball, the Braves focused on being aggressive while not settling for the first shot they got against Jay County’s zone. That game plan resulted in a 40.7% shooting percentage (24-of-59) from the floor including nine made triples.

Kord Fuelling and Jack Scheumann had particularly strong nights, scoring 18 and 14 points, respectively. Fuelling shot well near the rim, finishing 6-of-8 in the paint, including a transition slam, while Scheumann rained in three triples.

“I told these guys not to settle offensively against the zone,” Selking said. “We really wanted to punch gaps and get downhill to get multiple guys to guard us in the high post and short corner and kick it out from there. The guys did a great job moving the ball all night.”

With the loss, Jay County is 2-4 in February as it prepares for the sectional opener against host New Castle slated for 6 p.m. Wednesday. Bomholt will look for his team to improve offensively before it takes the floor against the Trojans.

“We have to be a better offensive team,” Bomholt said. “We can’t do what we did tonight. I don’t care if it’s New Castle or whoever, it’s hard to beat a team with that many turnovers.”

Junior varsity

The Patriots surrendered a 11-point lead to Bellmont in a 54-48 loss.

Jay County (13-7) hit five first-quarter threes to run out to a 19-8 lead. Things went south for the Patriots in the second period when Kade Sommers scored the only two baskets, while Bellmont’s Beau Baker scored nine points himself as the Braves totaled 14.

JCHS only scored four points in the third quarter as well, as 16 Bellmont points gave the Braves the lead. The Patriots put up 21 in the fourth, but eight made free throws and nine other points kept Bellmont on top.

Drew Schemenaur finished as Jay County’s top scorer with 12 points.

Bellmont was led by Maddux Miller and Baker with 20 and 15 points, respectively.

Photo Gallery

JCHS boys basketball vs. Bellmont (02/23/2024)