Jerry joins 600 club

BERNE — "Congratulations coach.”

“You dropped this. It’s your crown.”

“Coach, you finally hit 600. I love you. It’s an awesome milestone.”

“Six hundred!”

That and much more was said to the Patriots’ leader following the complete dismantling of the Starfires and a night for the record books.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball coach Jerry Bomholt recorded his 600th career victory as the Patriots dominated the South Adams Starfires wire-to-wire for a 61-14 win on Tuesday in the opening round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament.

“I think it’s been great,” Bomholt said. “I think it’s been fantastic for my wife and I to be able to come home for the last five years and have something like this happen. … What a great group of parents. What a great group of kids. It tells you a lot when you can carry that over from one generation to the next. You feel pretty solid and feel pretty good about what you’re developing.

“I can’t say thanks enough to the kids for what they mean to me and what they were able to do these last five years. I’m just happy for it.”

Bomholt’s milestone victory comes on the heels of the Patriots’ 62-49 win over Adams Central that he missed due to a health scare. Once it was decided that Bomholt was OK to return to the sideline on Tuesday, the Patriots made sure to get the job done for his 600th win. (With the victory, Jay County earned a match with Woodlan in the ACAC semifinal on Friday at Bluffton.)

And they made sure to put the game away before the buzzer sounded for halftime.

Jay County (6-4) suffocated the Starfires’ offense right out the gate. The strong defensive showing let JCHS get out on a 12-0 run that included drives by Tucker Griffin and Gradin Swoveland, a Jayden Comer triple and two post moves — a baby hook middle and a spin baseline — and a free throw from Cole Forthofer.

South Adams (2-7) finally got on the board with 2 minutes, 4 seconds, remaining in the first half after Tytus Lehman hit a pair of free throws. Lehman also hit the Starfires’ first field goal — a baseline runner — with 17 seconds remaining in the quarter.

The Patriots finished out the quarter with three more points from Swoveland on a one-dribble pull up from the short corner that he got fouled on and converted the free throw.

Lehman, South Adams’ leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, finished with 11 points on 3-for-11 (27.2%) shooting. Derek McKean had the only other SAHS hoop — Nolan Colpaert also split a pair of free throws — as the Patriots held it to 14.8% (4-27) from the floor.

“We contained defensively out front and then did a really good job of knowing where Lehman was the entire game,” Bomholt said. “We had guys switching on him. I just thought we had guys having some sensibility to cover the cutter at the right time and then pass him on to the next guy and then do the same thing with the dribbler. We just did a good job defensively with what we’re trying to work on.”

While Jay County suffocated the Starfires at the defensive end of the floor, Forthofer dominated in the paint.

The 6-foot, 9-inch junior has been on a tear since the Patriots’ game against New Castle on Dec. 14. During the 6-game stretch he has averaged 12.6 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game. (The first four games of the season Forthofer was dealing with an injury, keeping him from playing seven of the first eight quarters of the season all together.)

Against South Adams, Forthofer had 22 points and 14 rebounds — seven on each end of the floor — while shooting 10-of-13 (76.9%) from the field.

“They were just a smaller team,” Forthofer said. “They didn’t box out great. I was just trying to play aggressive and go after everything I could. I got lucky quite a bit with a lot of open shots under the basket.”

(While Forthofer did have multiple open opportunities, they came about due to sealing a defender and receiving a pass over the top or working for possession to grab offensive rebounds.)

Jay County High School’s Jayden Comer puts up a layup while Jackson Roe contests during Tuesday’s 61-14 beatdown. The win earned coach Jerry Bomholt his 600th career victory and advanced the Patriots to Friday ACAC semifinal against Woodlan at Bluffton. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Forthofer’s 14 boards nearly outrebounded the Starfires as a whole, as they grabbed 12 and got another four from the ball bouncing out of bounds, a foul and a tie up.

The Patriots also had a major advantage in the turnover battle, forcing 20 giveaways while only coughing the ball up seven times themselves.

The offensive dominance and defensive activity led to a 36-9 Patriot lead at the intermission, which only grew as they only gave up one field goal in the entire second half.

After getting the opportunity to celebrate with his players and receive congratulations from many of his supporters, Bomholt reflected on the effort his team gave and what’s to come for the rest of the season.

“It’s not about me, it’s about those kids and for them to be a part of something that’s really special, to me that’s a lot more meaningful than anything else, other than my own kids to be a part of it,” Bomholt said. “This was fantastic. This is a group of kids that you want to spend that extra time with and you want something like this to happen with them.

“But now we’re trying to move and win this tournament, trying to win this conference. If we can keep everybody healthy, and keep the right frame of mind for everybody, we have a chance to be really good. This has a chance to be a really good basketball team and I was proud of them tonight.”