Streak continues

The good news: the Patriots extended their winning streak to nine games.

The bad news: pretty much everything else.

The Jay County High School boys basketball team shot just 28% from the field and 9% from three against a South Adams Starfires team that is winless against teams over .500, but still escaped with a 53-39 home victory on Friday.

“We just mentally weren’t ready to go tonight,” said Jay County coach Tyler Rigby. “And that falls on me. I didn’t have them ready, but even pregame, I told the radio, we didn’t have a great week of practice. We weren’t really locked into us. I don’t know what was going on, but not mentally focused like we usually are as a group … Luckily, you get out of it with a win and it doesn’t hurt you too terribly bad, but we’ve just got to be better.”

Jay County (11-2, 3-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) salvaged the victory with an inspired closing burst. After leading by 10 at halftime, the Patriots saw their lead dwindle to one point late in the third quarter. They responded by outscoring South Adams 24-11 to close out the contest.

“We’ve kind of answered those bells throughout the season so far,” Rigby said. “Something isn’t going our way, we’ve found a way to kind of overcome it, whether it’s pretty or not.”

No player exemplified that creed better than Patriot forward Gradin Swoveland. Despite shooting just 4-for-14 from the field and missing all five of his 3-point tries, the senior took advantage of a physical game that included 43 fouls. He shot 12-for-14 from the charity stripe, fueling a season-high 20-point performance that also included 10 rebounds.

“Just got to stay aggressive,” Swoveland said. “We know there’s going to be contact any time out, so the more aggressive we are, the easier it is to get to the line and get some points when we need it.”

In addition to thriving on the game’s physical nature on the offensive end, Swoveland also asserted his presence without getting into foul trouble. He picked up just two fouls while thwarting the Starfires (3-8, 0-4 ACAC) with six blocks.

“You’ve just got to stay straight up,” Swoveland said. “A lot of the time, guys will bump you, you kind of flinch, your arms will drop. You’ve just kind of got to take it and stay as straight up as you can.”

Most of Swoveland’s solid day came in the absence of another key member of the Patriot frontcourt. Center Cole Forthofer, who rocked the rim with an and-one dunk early in the contest, exited in the opening quarter and did not return to the game. The senior returned to the bench with his right foot in a boot.

“I don’t know a lot,” Rigby said. “Our trainer’s going to re-evaluate him on Monday. He didn’t seem like it was super serious, but you never know with those things. We’ll give it a couple days and see what happens.”

Regardless of Forthofer’s status, the Patriots will seek to regroup, with Friday’s scare serving as a reminder that the team’s active nine-game winning streak will continue to bring out the best in their opponents.

“I told them in the days that we didn’t practice well, I said, ‘It’s a different animal when you’ve got a good record by your name,’” Rigby said. “People come in here and they’re going to give you their best shot, and they’re probably going to play even better than what they really are.”

Jay County will have plenty of time to rectify its practice struggles before preparing for another team’s best shot on Jan. 30 at Bluffton.

“I think it was good for us to go through this as a team and as a group, get through that adversity,” Swoveland said. “So we’ve got a big week coming up, so hopefully we can have some good practices, string them together and come back together Friday.”