Trojans outlast the Patriots

NEW CASTLE — The Patriots remained within striking distance, but they couldn’t find a way to take the lead.

The host New Castle Trojans held on late to end the Jay County High School boys basketball team’s season in the opening round of the IHSAA Class 3A Sectional 24 opener by a score of 46-38 Wednesday.

“When we got it to one, I thought we had a shot,” Jay County coach Jerry Bomholt said. “They were back on their heels a little bit and all we had to do was knock a shot down.”

With the win, New Castle advances to face No. 8 Delta in the semifinal game on Friday night.

For most of the game, the Patriots (8-14) trailed New Castle (12-11) by single digits, but never led. The closest they got to overtaking the Trojans came as the result of a 9-2 run over the second half of the third quarter.

Trevin Dunnington sparked the run with a three pointer on an assist from Liam Garringer. JCHS scored the next two baskets as well with Wesley Bihn grabbing an offensive rebound for a putback and Gradin Swoveland finishing a wide open layup off of a Garringer dime.

The Trojans finally answered with Colin Taylor hitting a pull-up jumper from the short corner to give NCHS a 25-22 lead.

Jay County pulled within a single point for the first time with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining in the quarter, after Bihn was credited with a tip in by challenging New Castle’s Tucker Griffin for the rebound, who accidentally knocked the ball into his own hoop.

The Patriots failed to score again in the period, as Taylor hit another shot off of a baseline-out-of-bounds play with 25 seconds remaining to push the Trojan’s lead back to five.

Jay County got the game within four points twice in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t break through, giving New Castle the victory.

“This time of year, when that 32-minute buzzer hits, you have to have one more point and be 1-0,” Trojans coach Daniel Cox said. “We did what we set out to do. 

“Was it always pretty, everything you’ve drawn up and everything you want? No, but it’s postseason play and Jay County is a well coached team so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They were fighting for their life too.

“I thought our guys did a good job when it got to one of not panicking and staying the course.”

Taylor fueled New Castle’s offensive efforts scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting (44.4%). He also scored seven of the Trojans’ 18 fourth quarter points, while Clay Butler added six.

A trio of 3-point buckets and strong free-throw shooting played a pivotal role in New Castle maintaining the lead. NCHS shot 3-of-4 from beyond the arc in the fourth – it made 9-of-28 shots from distance throughout the game – and knocked down 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch.

“It was really big,” Cox said. “We always harp on free throws. We come in and shoot extras in the morning and it’s important this time of the year.”

Turnovers plagued the Patriots all throughout the game. Jay County wound up with 20 turnovers, while New Castle only gave up 10 extra possessions.

Of the 20 JCHS turnovers, seven occurred in the fourth, hampering the Patriots’ efforts to string together buckets to make a run at the lead.

“It’s been the same things all year, turnovers and missed shots,” Bomholt said. “You can’t win close games against teams that are good that way. … We were trying to push it to get them to foul us, but our guard play all year long has been suspect and we had turnovers at tough times.

“I’m proud of our kids. We played well enough defensively to win the game. When you play well on one end and then you give it away on the other it’s tough to take.”

The Trojans jumped on top of Jay County early, scoring the first eight points and splashing in four first-quarter threes to gain a 14-5 advantage.

JCHS fought back in the second and third quarters, winning the periods by a combined five points.

Junior guard Eli Dirksen finished as the Patriots’ leading scorer with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field (71.4%). Seven of Dirksen’s points came in the fourth.

One area that Jay County excelled in was the glass. The Patriots outrebounded New Castle 34-16. Fifteen of the Patriots’ rebounds came from the offensive glass, while the Trojans only secured the ball 12 times to close out possessions. Aiden Phillps had the most in the game at seven rebounds.

“The thing is that a couple of times we did a nice job getting to the boards and didn’t finish it,” Bomholt said. “That’s the stuff that all year long has been our bugaboo.

“We’ll go back to work and hopefully the underclassmen will take a little pride in it. They don’t want that feeling again, I know that.”