Tigers take away ACAC hopes

The Patriots shot well from the free-throw line for the game.

Their coach was left lamenting a couple of their late misses.

Two of the Jay County High School boys basketball team’s three missed foul shots came in the last 2:30 of the game Friday night, leaving the door open for visiting Bluffton. The Tigers took advantage, with Declan Grieser burying a game-winning 3-pointer in the waning moments to give his team a 47-46 win over the Patriots.

“All you’ve got to do is make a free throw,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt, who was honored before the game for reaching his 600th career win Jan. 14 against South Adams in the Allen County Athletic Conference Tournament. “We had two chances to make a free throw … 

“Games like that are going to help us in the tournament. … I still like our chances. I still like the way we’ve improved.”

The win kept the Tigers in contention for the conference title at 4-1 — Woodlan and Heritage also have one loss apiece — while the Patriots slipped to 2-2.

Bluffton (7-5, 4-1 ACAC) led most of the way after an early 8-0 run, but Jay County (8-6, 2-2 ACAC) pulled even late in the third quarter and then took the lead on an Eli Petro spin move along the left baseline with 3:51 remaining. 

The Patriots led by as many as four after Griffin hit a pair of foul shots with 33.8 remaining. But they also had a couple of free-throw splits in the final 2:19, missing opportunities to expand their advantage.

The last of the misses — it came with 17.7 seconds to go — left the JCHS lead at two.

Bluffton ran one of its zone plays and had a cutter pop open underneath the basket, but didn’t attempt the pass. The Tigers couldn’t get to the screen that was supposed to follow, so a scramble ensued. Marshall Gerber was able to find a little space and send his seventh assist of the game to Grieser on the right side, setting up the junior for his game-winning shot.

“We just found a guy who scooted to the corner because we always say, ‘If anything breaks down, get to the corner,’” said BHS coach Craig Teagle, who spent 17 years leading the Patriots before departing for Huntington North in 2015. “It’s the hardest place to guard in that zone. And Dec hasn’t shot a bunch of them, but he shoots it at a pretty high percentage. … He’s our post guy, but he can step out there and shoot it.”

The Patriots got a timeout with one second left to set up their final play, but they never got a shot off. Cameron Williams of Bluffton disrupted Griffin’s attempt to snag a long inbound pass from Gradin Swoveland, ending the home team’s hopes.

The triple from Grieser came on his only attempt from long distance and capped game-high 22 point night. He shot 8-of-13 from the field and 5-of-7 from the line while grabbing nine rebounds to lead his team to a 21-16 advantage on the glass.

Jay County was up 5-3 early before the Tigers went on their run and pushed ahead 18-8 on Grieser’s easy hoop in the paint on an assist from Gerber. Bluffton found success being patient and probing the Patriots’ zone defense until they could locate an opening.

“What we talked about — don’t let the ball stick,” said Teagle. “Never catch and hold it. Catch it, get rid of it. Catch it, attack. And if the ball’s not sticking then and the zone shifts, you’re gonna get some good looks. And I thought we did a pretty good job. … As long as we were moving it, we were pretty successful.”

The Patriots responded, going up by one in the final minute of the first half before Nolan Lambert hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left for a 25-23 Bluffton lead at the intermission.

The game was close the rest of the way, with the teams trading baskets back-and-forth in the third quarter. It was tied at 36, 38 and 40 before Petro’s spin move against Cameron Williams led to the closing sequence and the game-winner from Grieser.

“We tried to shade the ball so it’d be pushed to our big guy on the wing,” said Bomholt. “You’ve got Gradin on one side and Tucker on the other. We figured if we’ve got 6-4 and 6-6 guarding the ball, our chances are pretty good. …”

Griffin shot 7-of-8 from the free-throw line and hit a pair of 3-pointers for his team-high 15 points for the Patriots. Swoveland was a perfect 4-for-4 at the line and also hit two triples as he finished with 14. Jayden Comer, who made three shots from long distance, joined them in double figures with 10 points.

Junior varsity

Jay County took control in the second quarter en route to a 59-46 victory.

The Patriots were up by four after the opening period and then outscored Bluffton 9-2 in the second. They extended their lead to 17 at the end of the third quarter.

Benson Barnett’s 16 points led the way for JCHS. Five players — Brock Wasson, Jacob Monroe, Nick Snow, Kade Sommers and Drew Schemenaur — added eight points apiece.