JC rolled on senior night

Twenty-five years ago this week, the Patriots sent their seniors off in style.

The Feb. 24, 1999, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of the Jay County High School boys basketball team’s 68-45 defeat of the Monroe Central Golden Bears on Senior Night.

The seniors led the effort, with Nathan Michael, Matt Westgerdes, Brad Bennett, Brian Journay, Josh Ford and Chad Loy combining for 51 of the Patriots’ points.

Nathan Michael led that effort as he scored 22 points while shooting 7-of-12 from the field, including four made 3-pointers, and 4-of-4 from the foul line. He expressed not only that he would miss playing for the school but with a special teammate.

“It's kind of weird,” Michael said. “It’s not weird so much that I’m not going to play at Jay County but that I’m not going to play with Andrew (Michael, a JCHS junior and Nathan’s cousin) anymore. We’ve grown up playing together. We’ve done so many things together, it’s hard to believe that it’s over. I know he’s probably not going to go to the same college as me so we’re done playing together. It’s just hard.”

The Patriots had no problems dispatching of Monroe Central to finish the regular season at 13-8, rolling out to a 23-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. That included the game’s first dozen points while the Golden Bears turned the ball over on their first six possessions.

“We did a pretty nice job early of getting them to turn the ball over,” JCHS coach Craig Teagle said. “I was pleased with the way we were able to take advantage and make the baskets.”

Westgerdes joined Nathan Michael in double figures with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Bennett followed with eight while Journay scored four and Loy and Ford each had two.