Fort Recovery offense struggles

FORT RECOVERY — The opening weekend didn’t go the way the Indians had hoped. But improvement from their first game to their second has them feeling as if they’re headed in the right direction.
After a rough night on both ends of the court Friday against Memorial, the Fort Recovery High School boys basketball team played better defensively but still struggled to score Saturday in a 45-36 loss to the Greenville Green Wave.
“Coming in, we knew it was going to be a tough opening weekend,” said first-year coach Chris Guggenbiller. “We played a very veteran St. Marys team away … We played like a young team that night. The really nice thing with that is coming here tonight playing what in all honesty is a better team than St. Marys, we executed well, we played hard. I think some of our sophomores grew up and realized what it’s like to play a full varsity game. That’s exciting to see.”
The first half was tight most of the way before Greenville went on a 16-3 run for a 10-point lead.
The Green Wave (2-0) led just 22-20 before Allen Tabler threw down a dunk with 1:49 left in the opening half. Aaron Rich hit a hoop on the next possession, and Aaron Balsbaugh was fouled underneath the basket while getting in position for a potential rebound.
Balsbaugh cashed in both of his free throws, and then a turnover by the Tribe led to a Codi Byrd hoop on an assist from Tabler.
The eight straight points, which capped the 16-3 run, gave Greenville a 30-20 lead it would never relinquish.
“We kind of feed off of that a lot. We call it ‘spurtablility,’” said Greenville coach Mike Bashore. “We do a nice job of sneaking in and getting a steal like that on an inbound pass. That’s huge for us. It’s a momentum killer for them, and it’s a big momentum boost for us.”
The Indians (0-2) fell behind by 12 early in the third quarter before closing the gap to four points with one period to play. But Greenville scored the first four points of the fourth quarter and Fort Recovery was unable to rally as it shot just 15 percent from the field in the second half.
The Tribe had trouble scoring inside against the taller Green Wave, and Guggenbiller was also left wondering what might have been if his squad had shot better than 7-of-17 (41 percent) from the free-throw line.
“If we hit a fair percentage of that, we’re coming down looking at a one possession game in the last seconds,” he said.
After leaning heavily on Clay Guillozet’s 30 points in its season-opening win over Beavercreek, the Green Wave got a more balanced effort against Fort Recovery.
Balsbaugh had a team-high 11 points, and Tabler joined him in double figures with 10. Isaiah Gable, who took a couple of key charges, and Guillozet each had eight points.
Guillozet also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, and Tabler added eight boards.
“It was different guys in different three-minute blocks,” said Bashore. “Everybody kind of picked up everybody else tonight.”
The Tribe’s Micaiah Cox led all scorers with 20 points, but no other Indian hit more than two field goals. FRHS finished the game at 25 percent shooting, and is at 30 percent (29-of-96) through two games.
Cox also led the Indians with six rebounds, and Brandon Schoen totaled four assists and four steals.

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery set the tone in the opening period and stayed in control in a 50-36 victory over the Green Wave.
The Indians (1-1) held Greenville to just three first-quarter points as they built a seven-point lead. They built off that effort, shooting 53 percent compared to 30 percent for the Green Wave in the win.
Tanner Koch and Kyle Knapke each scored 13 points to lead the Tribe. Cade Wendel joined them in double figures with 10 points, and Koch added seven rebounds.
FRHS dropped its JV opener 39-35 Friday to Memorial. Ryan Braun scored a team-high nine points, and Wendel followed with eight.