By RYAN WALKER
DECATUR — The Back 40 Junction in Decatur hosted the annual drawing for the annual ACAC Tournament, and the result of it got a pairing that lights up the eyes of Wells County.
Athletic directors and head coaches represented each of the seven schools for lunch and waited for the President of the conference, Steve Thompson, to reveal the field.
Jay County girls’ basketball coach Sherri McIntire did the honors to pull team names out of the hat. After the first game was revealed with South Adams at Adams Central, Bluffton was pulled out as the away team. Then, McIntire snagged Southern Wells to host the Tigers for Round 1 on Jan 9. The county clash will start at 6 p.m. with the girls’ game followed by the boys at the Raiderdome.
The winners will advance to head to Heritage or Woodlan, and the host site will be determined by who is at the bottom of the bracket in Round 2 of the boys’ game.
Jay County got the lone bye and will visit either South Adams or Adams Central.
Bluffton and Southern Wells have already played one another, both in favor of the Tigers. The boys won 44-23 last Friday, and the girls won earlier in the season 69-24.
All four of the county’s coaches were excited for the challenge in January. Both boys coaches emphasized the importance and atmosphere of the game.
“I think you always want to play your county rivals as much as possible,” Southern Wells boys’ coach Joel Roush said following the results of the draw. “There’s a certain importance that’s meant to games like that. This one probably double important because it’s in the conference tournament, it’s a county game and it’s just been such a good matchup for the last however many years. It just always matters more, and I think our guys will be excited to play.”
“I think the crowd will be great with both the girls and boys varsity,” Bluffton boys’ coach Craig Teagle said. “We had a really good crowd there last Friday. I love the gym; It’s always been a highlight to play there.”
In the tournament last season, both boys’ teams lost in the first round, so one of them will get to advance to play the winner of Heritage and Woodlan later in the week.
Recently, the games have been an even 1-1. Southern Wells took down Bluffton last year at The Tiger Den by five. In their match last week, the Raiders shot just 6-38 on their home floor.
When asked about playing again, both coaches considered the Raiders’ shooting woes and looking to improve it for a closer game.
“We feel fortunate that we beat them last week at their place because they didn’t shoot the ball very well,” Teagle said. “They’re going to shoot it a heck of a lot better than they did last game. It’ll be a real challenge for us, and it’s hard to go on the road anyway and Roush does a great job anyway.”
“I think we’d like another shot certainly if we can shoot better than 15 percent from the field,” Roush said. “But seriously, I think it’s just (Bluffton) is so solid on the boys’ side, and it’s a nice measuring stick.”
On the girls’ side, this will be Southern Wells’ head coach Jessica Killingbeck’s first home game in the conference tournament she once played in at Garrett.
She’s looking forward to bouncing back after traveling to Bluffton and heading back to Poneto with a loss to see where her group has come along a few months after the first game.
“I think my kids are going to be excited to get another shot at them,” Killingbeck said. “They know that we have gotten better. They have improved, and we’re coming together as a team right now. We’re liking what we see, so I think our kids will be excited to have another chance to perform better.”
Bluffton head coach Doug Curtis has his team rolling at 12-1 currently, but has had recent injuries to both his top players. Konley Ault, who has been out with a wrist injury since the Blackford game on Nov. 30. Maryn Schrieber also has a wrist injury, but is expected to be back this week against Fairfield.
Even though the team has had success, they’re not going to look down on Southern Wells.
“I think they’ll be eager to go,” Curtis said about how his team will find out who they’re playing in the tournament. “There’s rivalries, and for us, all conference games are big games. We talk about conference a little differently than we talk about different games, so I think the girls will be ready to go. I anticipate they’ll be excited to get another shot at Southern Wells and see how it goes.”
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