By ANDREW FEEBACK
PORTLAND — Two teams with vastly different game plans collided Friday night, and the result was a score that undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows.
The Norwell Knights came away with a 36-35 win over the host Jay County Patriots, both a margin and score that few would have expected between the now 19-2 Knights and the 8-10 Patriots.
Jay County is notorious for playing at a slow pace, meaning Norwell needed to find a way to speed it up.
“It was apparent from the start that they were going to hold the ball,” coach Mike McBride said. “Coach Bomholt has done that before, and we did everything we could to speed them up. We trapped in the fullcourt. We trapped in the halfcourt. We were able to do it at times, and we had the worst shooting night that we’ve had in probably my seven years as a head coach here. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a night where our team shot as poorly as we shot from three.”
Norwell missed its first 17 attempts from beyond the arc, 13 of those coming in the first half.
The Knights’ pressure worked early, forcing eight Patriot turnovers in the first quarter. But the Knights led just 8-7 after one and still led by just a point at halftime, 16-15.
Norwell never trailed in the second half, but every time it seemed the Knights had a bit of momentum, the Patriots kept finding ways to hang around.
Two quick buckets from Jake Parker and Brody Bolyn gave Norwell a five-point lead, only to see Josh Dowlen counter with a three-point play followed by a layup from Abraham Dirksen.
Norwell led 27-24 after three, but a turnaround jumper from Dusty Pearson brought the Patriots within one.
At the 6:25 mark, Norwell’s 18th three-point attempt, courtesy of Luke McBride, finally found the net. On Norwell’s next possession, McBride hit again from the top of the key, and the Knights led 33-26.
After a timeout, the Patriots’ Bennett Weitzel scored underneath, and then Norwell decided to do what the Patriots have done in the past and take the air out of the ball.
“We had a lead, and we were trying to be patient,” McBride said. “We had a turnover, up five, they went down and scored to cut it to three. We had some pretty good free-throw shooters out there, and the game got shorter, time ticked away, and we pretty much ate the whole clock away. I think you have to be able to do that sometimes and put it in your players’ hands at the free-throw line late. It’s not something we normally do, but we’ll do it if we have to. They could have come out and pressured us like we pressured them; we pressured them the whole game. They sat back in their zone; when they did pressure, they didn’t have much success because we took care of the ball.”
The Knights had the ball for over a minute, but a turnover led to a Dowlen layup that brought Jay County within 33-30 with 3:52 to play.
Again, Norwell held the ball near mid-court, trying to get the Patriots to leave their 1-2-2 zone defense and pressure the ball. But Jay County was content to sit back and let the clock run, letting more than two minutes go by before sending Norwell’s Jake Parker to the line with 1:43 to go.
His free throws put Norwell up 35-30, but Weitzel got a quick bucket moments later.
Jay County had to foul several times to put Norwell in the bonus, and let a lot of time run off before finally sending Luke McBride to the line for a one-and-one with just eight seconds remaining.
He made his first shot but missed the second, and Jay County’s Blake Bogenschutz put up an off-balance three from the wing that circled the rim, tapped the backboard, and dropped through as the buzzer sounded, leaving the Patriots a point short.
Norwell finished 12 of 36 from the field overall, while Jay County was 16 of 32.
“I think our kids showed a lot of heart,” McBride said. “They showed a lot of toughness mentally tonight. We had to grind through it, and we were able to do it. I’m real proud of the effort they put forth tonight.
“Give Jay County credit. They came out with what they thought was the best option for them,” he continued. “It’s a testament to our kids to be able to win a game like this, where we don’t shoot well, and the other team tries to play a slow-down game.”
Luke McBride led the Knights with 19 points, while Pearson had 11 for the Patriots.
Norwell will host Fort Wayne Concordia tonight.
Jay County took the JV game 42-38. Adam McBride scored 14 points, while Brady Smith added 13.
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NORWELL 36, JAY COUNTY 35
At Jay County High School
NORWELL (19-2): Gavin Hoeppner 0-2 3-4 3, Jake Parker 1-3 2-2 4, Kaedyn Quintanilla 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Graft 1-2 0-1 2, Adam McBride 0-0 0-0 0, Cohen Bailey 0-3 0-0 0, Lleyton Bailey 1-8 0-0 2, Luke McBride 7-16 3-4 19, Ashton Federspiel 1-1 2-2 4, Brody Bolyn 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 12-36 10-13 36.
JAY COUNTY (8-10): Parker Nichols 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Abraham Dirksen 2-4 0-0 4, Carter Link 0-0 0-0 0, Levi Muhlenkamp 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Dowlen 3-4 1-2 7, Trevin Dunnington 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Crouch 1-1 0-0 2, Gradin Swoveland 1-2 0-0 2, Blake Bogenschutz 1-4 0-0 3, Wes Bihn 0-0 0-0 0, Dusty Pearson 5-9 0-0 11, Bennett Weitzel 3-7 0-0 6. TOTALS: 16-32 1-2 36.
Norwell 8 8 11 9 — 36
Jay County 7 8 9 11— 35
Three-point Goals: Norwell 2-19 (Luke McBride 2-8, Lleyton Bailey 0-5, Cohen Bailey 0-2, Hoeppner 0-2, Parker 0-2), Jay County 2-6 (Bogenschutz 1-2, Pearson 1-2, Dowlen 0-1, Dirksen 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 21 (Luke McBride 5, Parker 4, Lleyton Bailey 3, Graft 3, Hoeppner 2, Bolyn 2, Federspiel 1, Cohen Bailey 1), Jay County 18 (Dirksen 6, Weitzel 4, Crouch 3, Pearson 2, Dowlen 2, Bogenschutz 1). Turnovers: Norwell 11, Jay County 14. Fouls: Norwell 12, Jay County 13. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Jay County 42, Norwell 38.
