Jimtown High School

Defensive effort vaults Jimmies past Bethany Christian by 21 points By Red Williams Freelance Sportswriter GOSHEN – Jimtown High School’s men’s basketball squad tightened the defensive screws in the second half, helping the Jimmies to a convincing 46-25 victory Tuesday night (2.18.25) over Bethany Christian. With a razor-thin lead at the half, 13-11, Jimtown held the Bruins to just 14 points in the second half, outscoring them by 19. The conquest evens the Jimmies’ record at 10-10 with just two games remaining in the regular season. They will be home to Argos on Saturday (2.22.25) and Elkhart’s Lions drop by for a visit on Tuesday (2.25.25). The Bruins now are 9-12. “We really turned on the defensive effort in the second half,” reported Jimtown head coach Tyler Leighton. “We were fortunate in that Bethany’s leading scorer, Jacoby Reinhardt, was out with a foot injury.” But the Jimmies did a job on the Bruins’ other top guy, Trey Chaffee, holding him to five points, ten below his average. The Jimtown offense had an explosive second half with 33 points. Branden King led the Jimmy attack with 20 points, nailing 10 of 14 from the floor, to go along with eight rebounds. Will Spurgeon scored nine, and Ed Potter added eight. Dylan Fey led the Jimmies in rebounding with nine boards, a handful of assists and four steals. Another statistical highlight was hitting 49 percent from the floor, though the Jimmies only collected three treys. Leighton concluded, “We need to keep getting better with our basketball skills as a team.” He also cited the need to keep healthy: “Being one hundred percent healthy going into the state tournament is the most important thing right now.” Drawings will be held Sunday by the IHSAA for the state playoffs. Jimtown will be host to Sectional 34, which starts March 4. Score by quarters: Jimtown 4 9 15 18 = 46 Bethany 7 4 4 10 = 25