By RICK SPRUNGER
Jay County is one relieved basketball team today.
The Patriots escaped Southern Wells with barely their shirts, sneaking away with a 52-49 victory in an Allen County Athletic Conference contest Thursday night at the Raiderdome.
Jay County improved to 4-1 in the conference and 6-8 in all games.
Southern Wells fell to 4-11 overall and 1-4 in the loop.
“We got a win, and now we have a chance to play for the conference championship,” said veteran Jay County coach Jerry Bomholt flatly, choosing his words carefully after watching his team take over in the fourth quarter after trailing for most of the contest. “That was our objective. It was not the MO we wanted, but we got the win.”
For most of the evening, however, that was very much in doubt.
Southern Wells, playing with fire and determination, seized control of the game in the second quarter and led by as much as eight points in the second and seven in the third.
“Our guys, to their credit, have played hard always,” said Southern Wells coach Joel Roush about his team’s intensity level. “But our focus was very good defensively. We rebounded consistently well against their size. And we had good communication, we were good teammates, and we got good help-side defense.”
But two cold spells did the Raiders in.
The first came at the end of the first half when Jay County ran off eight straight points in the last 1:12 to turn a 21-13 deficit into a 21-21 tie going into the locker room.
Blake Bogenschutz, who led all scorers with 23 points, got six of the eight points.
He scored on a baseline jumper and on a shot from underneath.
Then, after Joshua Dowlen canned two free throws after stealing the ball and being fouled on his way to the hoop with 0:21 left, Bogenschutz converted another Raider turnover into a three-pointer with 0:02 left to gain the tie.
Southern Wells shrugged that off and again surged ahead in the third quarter, using three consecutive three-pointers by Chandler Oswalt, Kedrik Sonnigsen, and Jenson Nusbaumer to move back ahead, 30-23.
“I knew coming in here that they were going to shoot three-pointers,” said Bomholt later. “I’ve watched their game films, and they are capable of putting up 25 or 30 threes. When you’re throwing up that many, things can happen. We left way too much room for them to shoot, and that’s my fault. When they get three in a row like that, you can find yourself in a hole.”
Nusbaumer’s five-footer in the lane kept Southern Wells on top by five, 37-32, with 2:23 left in the third quarter.
But then came the second Southern Wells dry spell.
It would be another nearly nine minutes before the Raiders got another field goal.
Jay County tied the game at the end of the period on a free throw by Gradin Swoveland, a pair by Bogenschutz, and a drive through the lane by Ben Crouch.
Southern Wells then started the fourth quarter with two turnovers and six straight misses from the field.
The Raiders managed just two free throws over the first seven-plus minutes of the fourth quarter and were outscored by Jay County 14-2.
Roush, however, was more concerned with his team’s struggles from the free-throw line than from the field.
“We were (5-for-13) from the line,” sighed the first-year coach. “We have to be able to hit our free throws. This was not a good game not to do that.”
The end was not actually as close as the one-possession final score would seem to indicate.
Jay County led 50-43 after Bogenschutz hit the second of two free throws with 0:09 left.
A Nusbaumer three at 0:03, two more Bogenschutz free tosses at 0:02, and an Oswalt halfcourt heave that banked in at the buzzer accounted for the final score.
Oswalt led Southern Wells with 18 points, and Nusbaumer added 12 for the Raiders, who were 17-for-48 from the floor for a .354 percentage.
Jay County was 15-for-38 for a .395 shooting mien.
Jay County also took both the reserve and C-team games.
The Patriot jayvees won, 51-32.
Southern Wells got 11 points apiece from Bryar Gearheart and C.J. Reber.
Levi Woodward added four points, Tucker Worster three, Trey Slusher two, and Caleb Johnson one for the Raiders.
Jay County won the C-team game, 43-20.
Southern Wells got nine points from Slusher, four each from Carson Smith and Wyatt Yoder, and three from Eli Elmore.
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JAY COUNTY 52,
SOUTHERN WELLS 49
at Southern Wells High School
JAY COUNTY (6-8, 4-1 ACAC): Abraham Dirksen 2-6 0-1 6, Joshua Dowlen 0-4 6-8 6, Ben Crouch 2-6 4-6 8, Blake Bogenschutz 7-13 8-12 23, Bennett Weitzel 3-8 0-1 6, Gradin Swoveland 0-0 1-2 1, Trevin Dunnington 1-1 0-0 2. TOTAL: 15-38 19-30 52.
SOUTHERN WELLS (4-11, 1-4 ACAC): Kedrik Sonnigsen 1-3 2-4 5, Jenson Nusbaumer 4-12 2-3 12, Evan Pennington 4-5 0-2 9, Chandler Oswalt 6-22 1-2 18, Perrin Gates 1-2 0-2 2, Andrew Aker 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Lozoya 1-3 0-0 3, C.J. Reber 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 17-48 5-13 49.
Jay County 10 11 16 15 — 52
So. Wells 10 11 16 12 — 49
Three-point shooting: Jay County 3-15 (Dirksen 2-5, Dowlen 0-2, Crouch 0-2, Bogenschutz 1-6), Southern Wells 10-18 (Sonnigsen 1-2, Nusbaumer 2-9, Pennington 1-1, Oswalt 5-13, Aker 0-1, Lozoya 1-2). Rebounds: Jay County 33 (Weitzel 8), Southern Wells 35 (Nusbaumer 9, Sonnigsen 8). Turnovers: Jay County 14, Southern Wells 15. Personal fouls: Jay County 10, Southern Wells 22. Fouled out: Sonnigsen, Nusbaumer, Gates. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Jay County 51, Southern Wells 32.
Freshmen: Jay County 43, Southern Wells 20.
