1-3-1 wonder

The Bearcats and Patriots were already playing at the pace of molasses.

The Patriots needed to find something to slow the Bearcats down just a little bit more so they could take their first lead since the start of the second quarter.

When Jerry Bomholt moved his team into a 1-3-1 zone, it not only slowed the Bearcats down, but brought them to complete halt.

After switching from their normal 3-2 zone to a 1-3-1, the Jay County High School boys basketball team shut off the water over the final six minutes to beat the Muncie Central Bearcats 36-28 on Saturday.

The Patriots (4-4) were down 23-22 entering the third quarter and gave up the first five points of the period to Muncie Central (3-7) on a Kanon Higgs post up and a Jaxson Johnson triple.

Gradin Swoveland — he led all scorers with 16 points — broke the ice for Jay County with a pull-up jump shot at the 6 minute, 13 second mark, prompting a timeout. Following the timeout, the Patriots were in a 1-3-1 zone with 6-foot, 9-inch Cole Forthofer near the half-court line, Aiden Phillips at the free throw line, Tucker Griffin and Swoveland extended out to either side and Jayden Comer running the baseline.

“Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to play against a really quick team,” said JCHS coach Jerry Bomholt. “What we were able to do tonight is we were smart enough to get a different defender. So we got it in possessions where we could use the backline, the 10-second line and the sideline.

“We tried to funnel the ball and not let it stay in the middle. … We’ve got Cole and with his size, as long as we could stop the dribble, his size caused trouble. Then we got a couple of really, really good steals from behind them, we got four great rebounds where we didn’t give them a second shot.”

The new alignment gave the Bearcats fits, shutting them out for the final six minutes of the game. On the other end of the floor, Jay County scored 12 straight points after implementing the zone for 14-0 run with Swoveland’s basket just before the change.

Swoveland scored the next two baskets to pull within one possession of the Bearcats. Griffin tied the game with 2:32 left by nailing a jumper from the right elbow.

One minute later, JCHS took the lead on a baseline-out-of-bounds play designed for Forthofer.

“Jayden threw the ball up to me up high, I just jumped up and caught it and got lucky it went in,” Forthofer said. “This year we haven’t been a great first-half team but we came back in the second half, played tough and got a win.”

    Cole Forthofer attempts a layup while Muncie Central’s Shemar Taylor (2) and Terry Miles (behind) contest the shot. Forthofer scored the go-ahead bucket in the fourth quarter and played a key role in Jay County’s 1-3-1 zone defense that shut down the Bearcats. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

Forthofer was fouled by Terry Miles on the play but didn’t convert the free throw. The Patriots did however cash in their next six free throws to ice the game away, as MCHS needed to commit fouls to extend the contest.

Jay County dominated the style of play, slowing down the Bearcats, who averaged 41.3 points per game prior to Saturday. MCHS often spent upward of 30 seconds on the offensive end of the floor trying to find a way to penetrate the zone.

“We were not trying to play slow on the offensive end, they force you to,” said MCHS coach Justin Ullom. “We were trying to speed things up with the 1-3-1 and trapping all game. For the most part, we didn’t make shots. … Those last seven or eight possessions, they showed their maturity and how to win and we didn’t.”

Shemar Taylor and Landen Wells played key roles for the Bearcats on offense as the former hit three triples for a team-high nine points, while the latter finished with four points and four assists.

Bomholt said he was overall impressed with the effort from his team, going down the line and listing one or two things that each player did to help the Patriots come out with their fourth win of the season.

“I mean just everybody,” Bomholt said. “Everybody that played did something really, really positive for us.”