Patriots fall to Blackford

HARTFORD CITY — The Patriots have already secured a win without their leader manning the sideline.

Three weeks later, they couldn’t repeat the result as the Patriots faced their neighbor without their head coach.

The Jay County High School boys basketball team failed to get a second victory in the absence of coach Jerry Bomholt, as it went cold over the final six minutes of a 56-41 loss to the Blackford Bruins on Saturday.

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Jay County boys basketball at Blackford (2/1/2025)

Less than 24 hours after losing to Bluffton on a last-second shot, the Patriots (8-7) learned that they would be without Bomholt, who suffered a health scare that required paramedics five minutes prior to the junior varsity game ending. Bomholt previously missed the game on Jan. 11 against Adams Central after a health scare kept him out, a game Jay County won 62-49.

“I don’t know if it was just a little bit of an emotional drain from last night or what,” said JCHS assistant coach Doug Arbuckle, who filled in during Bomholt’s absence. “I felt like we came out with some good energy and kept it close there early and through the first half were in striking distance. In the third quarter there they got off to a good start and got us down.

“We were fighting back, but that’s tough to do game-in and game-out to put your foot on the pedal to try and get back in the game.”

Jay County (8-7) trailed the Bruins (11-7) by nine points heading into the final period. It took the Patriots little time to cut the deficit to only one possession.

The first two possessions of the fourth quarter featured Tucker Griffin pushing the ball up the floor and finding Cole Forthofer —who finished as the Patriots’ offensive leader with 12 points on 5-of-6 (83.3%) shooting — for a layup and a jump shot at the free throw line.

Forthofer got fouled on the following possession, but got the ball back from Gradin Swoveland on the following baseline-out-of-bounds play. Forthofer ripped the ball through and power dribbled to the right side of the rim for his third consecutive basket that cut Blackford’s advantage to 42-39 with 6:05 remaining.

The Patriot center wouldn’t take another shot as they went cold for the next 3 minutes, 27 seconds.

While Jay County fell silent offensively, the Bruins slowed down the pace to kill clock. During the 3:27, BHS scored three baskets, including a pair of triples from Gage Baker and Mason Kitterman to push its lead back to 11.

Swoveland scored the final hoop on a drive to the rim with 2:38 remaining. Blackford then iced the game with four free throws from Amarian Leggett and two by Baker.

Blackford found a home from beyond the arc, as the starters combined to nail 10 3-pointers.

The triples started to fall en masse in the second quarter as Jacob Leas hit back-to-back shots to tie the game at 19, with Kitterman hitting one more to finish the period. Leggett, Leas, Kitterman and Kentral Toomer each hit a three as the Bruins started to pull away in the third.

“We’ve struggled with the zone this year and I told the kids, ‘This is going to be the best zone we see all year,’” said BHS coach Aaron Daniels, who was the Jay County junior varsity coach last season. “We knew that we had to be a lot more patient than we have been. I told the kids, ‘We’re a really good 3-point shooting team. The problem is we aren’t taking the right threes.

“Tonight we had a couple that weren’t the right threes, but a lot more of them were inside-out touches, they were moments that were better shots than we normally get. … Credit to Jay County’s defense, they were fantastic but we came to play and when you hit shots, it’s really hard against the zone.”

Along with leading JCHS in points, Forthofer pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Swoveland was the only other Patriot in double figures with 11 points.

Leggett led Blackford with 16 points on 5-of-7 (71.4%) shooting. Baker and Kitterman each added 13, while Leas had 11.

Bomholt was brought to a stable condition early on Sunday and made it back home. Similarly to when Bomholt missed the Jan. 11 game, staff and the coach will evaluate if he is ready to return to the sideline for Thursday’s matchup with Southern Wells early this week.

While both Daniels and Arbuckle wished their best for Bomholt’s recovery, the Patriots will have three days to prepare for the Raiders (0-13) with or without their leader.

“It’s tough obviously and it throws a wrench in your plans and procedure, but you just have to adjust the best you can with that,” Arbuckle said. “I think the boys will come back next week and they’ll get back to work and get a good week of practice in.”

“I just want to send my best to coach Bomholt,” Daniels said. “He’s a good friend and mentor of mine and you just hope for the best.”