By RICK SPRUNGER
PORTLAND – Jay County proved decisively that it is the best the Allen County Athletic Conference has to offer this year with a 76-29 thumping of Southern Wells in a rare Monday night game played at the Portland school.
Ethan Dirksen blistered the nets for 33 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the field and a school record-tying nine 3-pointers in 10 tries.
As a team, Jay County hit on 29 of 45 field goal attempts for a 64.4 shooting percentage.
The Patriots were also a deadly 12-for-17 from 3-point range.
“To counter their size we went to a zone defense and made them shoot 3-pointers,” said Southern Wells coach Kyle Penrod after the game. “They hit just about all of them, so we had to come out of it.
“And then they burned us inside because they are so big.”
Jay County jumped right out to a quick 9-0 lead after hitting its first three shots, all of them 3-pointers.
The Patriots were in front, 24-7, at the quarter break after hitting nine of 15 fielders, then promptly hit their fist six in the second quarter while zipping off on a 15-2 run before Kedrick Sonnigsen scored on a layup to reduce the halftime deficit to 42-18.
Dirksen was on fire for Jay County.
The 6-foot-2 senior was a perfect 7-for-7 in the first half with five of those seven shots coming from behind the 3-point arc.
Dustin Woodward, meanwhile, was trying to keep his team in the game on the other end.
Woodward scored all but the first 2 and the last 2 of Southern Wells’ 18 points in the first half on perfect 6-for-6 shooting.
He finished with a team-high 18 points on 8-for-11 firing.
“He was driving hard and did a good job of finding the open spot when someone else was driving,” praised his coach. “So, we were getting good shots in the first half, 12- to 15-footers.
“But in the second half, we started overdriving it and not kicking it back out.
“If you drive too far without kicking it out, then you’ve got 6-6 waiting on you.”
After a Sonnigsen drive through the lane to start the second half made the score 42-20, Jay County used separate runs of 11-0 and 16-0 in the second half to blow the game open on its way to the easy win.
“There just isn’t much you can do when they are that big (6-6, 6-5, 6-4) and then they shoot the basketball that well,” said Penrod.
But of greater concern to Southern Wells was the condition of 6-foot-1 sophomore center Quentin Mullins, who tweaked a knee in the first half, came out, and never went back in.
“He said he felt the knee pop when he made a pivot,” said Penrod later. “The trainer says that it is a little swollen, so we’ll just have to see.”
Jay County also won the junior varsity contest by a 59-20 score.
Southern Wells got 8 points from Perrin Gates and 7 from Tristen Worster.
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JAY COUNTY 76, SOUTHERN WELLS 29
At Jay County High School
SOUTHERN WELLS (3-13, 1-4): Kedrick Sonnigsen 2-12 0-0 4, Dustin Woodward 8-11 1-2 18, Austin Harris 2-5 0-0 5, Brandon Kirtley 1-7 0-0 2, Quentin Mullins 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Pennington 0-2 0-0 0, Jenson Nusbaumer 0-4 0-0 0, Cody Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 13-42 1-2 29.
JAY COUNTY (17-2, 6-0): Josh Dowlin 3-4 1-1 7, Gavin Muhlenkamp 4-5 0-0 8, Ethan Dirksen 11-13 2-3 33, Blake Bogenschutz 3-9 1-3 9, Bennett Weitzel 1-2 0-0 2, Dusty Pearson 3-5 2-2 8, Brady Davis 3-4 0-0 7, Trenton Alexander 1-3 0-0 2, Abraham Dirksen 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 29-45 6-11 76.
Southern Wells 7 11 8 3 –– 29
Jay County 24 18 24 10 –– 76
Three-point Goals: Southern Wells 2-11 (Sonnigsen 0-1, Woodward 1-1, Harris 1-1, Kirtley 0-3, Pennington 0-1, Nusbaumer 0-4), Jay County 12-17 (Dowlen 0-1, E. Dirksen 9-10, Bogenschutz 2-4, Pearson 0-1, Davis 1-1). Rebounds: Southern Wells 19 (Kirtley 5), Jay County 29 (TomasekE. Dirksen 6, Pearson 6). Turnovers: Southern Wells 17, Jay County 10. Fouls: Southern Wells 9, Jay County 5. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Jay County 59, Southern Wells 20
