Big bench minutes

Keaton Delagrange just hit two momentum-swinging 3-pointers to get the Warriors right back into the game.

But just as quickly as the shots found the bottom of the net, Kade Sommers came into the game to shut off the Warriors offense and regain control for the Patriots. 

The Jay County High School backup center came in off the bench and helped fuel a 15-5 run in the third quarter to lift the Patriot boys basketball team to a 52-28 victory over the Woodlan Warriors in the Allen County Athletic Conference opener on Friday.

“A win is always good,” said JCHS coach Tyler Rigby. “We didn’t play up to a standard that we’ve set for ourselves tonight, but to get a win and not play well is always good.

“But we did not start out the way that we needed to. … They threw a box-and-one at us early on, especially early on in the season that’s hard to prepare for. That’s somewhat on me for not having them prepare for something like that, but we just started slow.”

Just as the Patriots (2-1, 1-0 ACAC) didn’t have the ideal first half, they initially came out a little flat in the third quarter. Jay County struck first in the second half on a Gradin Swoveland cut assisted by Aiden Phillips, but Keaton Delagrange hit consecutive triples on assists from Nate Peters to get WHS within three points.

After Delagrange’s second triple, Rigby subbed Sommers in to guard the WHS junior. With the 6-foot, 5-inch center guarding him, Delagrange didn’t score for the rest of the quarter, missing three 3-point attempts and getting blocked on one of his two attempts driving to the hoop.

“Scoring is good and all, but I really pride myself on playing good defense,” Sommers said. “I really just (didn’t) let him drive around. I think I’m long enough where if he rises I can get a good contest, so it was really just not letting him get by me.”

Sommers also made his presence known on the offensive end of the floor. In one of the first offensive possessions after getting subbed in, the JCHS senior set up shop on the block and turned over his left shoulder for a baby hook middle to start a 9-0 run for Jay County.

Other baskets during the run came from Benson Barnett on an offensive rebound, Sommers on an offensive rebound, Petro, another forward from the Patriots’ bench, on the ensuing offensive rebound from Sommers’ missed free throw for a 3-point play and a Petro free throw.

    Kade Sommers of the JCHS boys basketball team turns over his left shoulder for a baby hook middle during the Patriots 52-28 victory against Woodlan. Sommers tied Keaton Delagrange to lead all scorers with 12 points. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

Sommers scored one more time in the period by crashing the offensive glass in transition. He had one more crack at the basket in the final seconds and came up short, but Petro cleaned it up as time expired to go up 34-21.

“I was just being physical overall,” said Sommers, who tied Delagrange with a game-high 12 points. “We knew coming into the game that we had some size on them. So I thank my teammates for being aware of the disadvantage and giving it to me down low.”

After the strong third quarter, Jay County closed out strong by scoring 18 points in the final period while only allowing seven.

Woodlan (2-2, 0-1 ACAC) gave the Patriots some trouble on the offensive end of the floor to start the game as they deployed a 1-3 zone with the final defender face guarding Jayden Comer in an attempt to force shots from beyond the arc. It worked for a while as JCHS let nine triples fly in the first quarter with only two of them finding the bottom of the net.

Rigby then urged his players to look for paint touches to either directly score or throw it back out to get better quality 3-pointers, which forced Woodlan out of its zone and into a man-to-man defense.

Not only did Jay County do a good job of attacking the paint, but they rebounded well all throughout the game. The Patriots outrebounded the Warriors 42-20.

The biggest disparity came from the offensive rebounding numbers as JCHS came down with the ball 20 times when attacking the offensive glass, while the Warriors only earned nine extra possessions, including three where the ball just squirted out of bounds.

“We put a lot of emphasis on that,” Rigby said. “I don’t feel like we’ve rebounded to our standard (to this point). We should be a great rebounding team, defensively and offensively. We just haven’t been up to par in my opinion.

“So we’ve talked a lot about that in the last couple days, it’s been a point of emphasis. And they’ve responded in that way to come up with some big rebounds.”

Junior varsity

The Patriots took down Woodlan 52-32 in the JV game to begin the night.

Woodlan couldn’t contain the Patriots’ forwards as Nick Snow led all scorers with 17 points and Tyler Wasson added 14.

JCHS created some separation in the third period, with a 17-8 run.

Hudson Rorick led WHS with 10 points, while Carter Melchi added nine. 

Kadyn Carpenter also had 11 points for JCHS.