Gambill pays off

In the fourth quarter of a blowout, the Patriot fans had reason to roar.

Caden Gambill was heading to the scorer’s table.

The reaction was even louder three and a half minutes later when he scored his first varsity point.

Gambill, a Jay County High School senior, split a couple of free throws with 1:24 remaining to give the Patriots their final point as they closed the regular season Friday with a 72-46 blowout of the visiting Bellmont Braves.

"It feels good with it being my last home game of the year and of my high school career," said Gambill. "It felt like all the hard work paid off."

The victory sends the Patriots into the tournament on a three-game winning streak after it beat Norwell 51-49 on Feb. 21 and Winchester 68-57 on Tuesday. It marked the third time they have won by 20 or more points this season.

"What a great night,” said JCHS interim coach Brogan Gary. “What a great finale to end our season this way. I don't even know if we could have drawn up something better than this. We're all on a high. Exciting night.”

The game was well in hand — the Patriots took control with a 14-0 run in the second quarter — when Gary sent Gambill to the scorer’s table with 4:58 left in the game. The student section, which had started chanting Gambill’s name late in the third quarter, went wild.

Jay County looked to get the senior the ball, but struggled to do so for several minutes. Finally, as the clock ticked under a minute and a half to go, he took a pass on the left block. He fought up a shot against Derick Vogel and Cameron Summers. It didn’t go in, but he was fouled on the play.

Gambill missed his first attempt at the free-throw line.

"I'm very nervous,” said Gambill. “I have sweaty hands, so I was just hoping to not airball it. But luckily I didn't airball either one of them."

The second, he sank for his first varsity point.

"It means a lot,” said Gary. “Everybody is aware of the sacrifice and commitment he's done and contributed for four years for this program. He comes in and works hard each and every day. He's an example for our JV team ...

"He deserves it. I'm so proud of him."

The highlight for Gambill came in a game in which the Patriots never trailed as Gradin Swoveland opened the scoring and Tucker Griffin followed with a 3-pointer. They had just a four-point lead at the end of the first quarter that was cut to three when Bellmont’s Gavin Krull hit a triple early in the second.

The next three minutes were all Griffin and Swoveland.

Griffin started with a 3-pointer and then split a pair of free throws before Swoveland scored the next four points. A Griffin drive for a three-point play followed, and then Swoveland buried a 3-pointer off of a Griffin assist for a 30-13 lead.

The Braves never threatened again, and JCHS started the second half on a 12-2 run that included three Jayden Comer 3-pointers.

Griffin had 17 of his game-high 23 points in the first half while Comer went 6-of-8 from long distance for 18 points. Swoveland joined them in double figures with 11 points.

Comer and Griffin each had four assists while Swoveland added three.

"When we move the basketball, when we make that extra easy pass and don't let that ball stick, then we're dangerous,” said Gary, whose team had nine players score. “We get open looks.

"We've been really stressing that in practice and we can finally see the rewards of it. It's exciting."

It was the second hot game in a row from beyond the arc for JCHS, which shot 11-of-21 (52%) after hitting 13-of-20 (65%) against Winchester.

Jay County also posted a 33-24 advantage on the glass, with Swoveland grabbing nine boards, Griffin seven and Aiden Phillips six.

Junior varsity

Jay County owned the first three quarters en route to a 52-45 victory.

The Patriots built a seven point lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed ahead 27-12 at the half. They extended that lead to 20 points through three quarters before Bellmont made a run late.

Brock Wasson hit three 3-pointers en route to his dozen points to lead JCHS. Nick Snow added 10 points and Kade Sommers added eight.

Derick Vogel tallied a game-high 18 points to pace Bellmont, Isaac Baker added nine.

Freshman

The Patriot pulled away with a 20-point final quarter for a 52-40 victory.

Jay County was up by five at the end of the first half before getting outscored 17-10 in the third quarter. It bounced back with the big fourth to snag the double-digit victory.

Dash Thacker scored 11 of his team-high 18 points for the Patriots in the final period. Alex Miller added 11 points and Oak Gaerke scored eight.

Bellmont got 18 points from Malachi Lavine while Corbynn Omlor added eight.