Flyers ground FR

COLDWATER, Ohio — Fort Recovery was able to overcome one bad first half against the Flyers.
It couldn’t pull off the rally a second time.
The Indians closed to within two after trailing by as many as 16 points in the third quarter Tuesday, but couldn’t get any closer as their season came to an end with a 47-43 loss to Marion Local in the opening round of the Division IV sectional tournament.
Fort Recovery had rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to beat the Flyers 60-52 in the final game of the regular season on Friday.
“I didn’t think we came out and played a very good first half,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team trailed 26-16 at the intermission. “Execution wasn’t very good. I didn’t think our effort was very good.
“Late in the game we have a chance to tie the game and miss free throws. And then we get them to turn it over and we didn’t step up and execute.
“Obviously you’ve got to give them credit. They set the tone early getting some blocks on us and shied some of our kids away from going to the hole.”
Marion Local (11-12) got a 3-pointer from Luke Knapke to open the game and never trailed, extending its lead to 41-25 late in the third quarter. But it struggled to put the Indians away, turning the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter and missing the front end of three one-and-one free-throw opportunities.
The Flyers went nearly six minutes without scoring as Fort Recovery came back, finally pulling to within 45-43 on a Jackson Hobbs 3-pointer with 25 seconds left. Elijah Kahlig stole the ensuing inbound pass and Wade Gelhaus went to the line with 19.9 seconds remaining with a chance to tie the game.
But Gelhaus, who was held to six points after averaging nearly 20 this season, missed both foul shots.
Dustin Seitz split a pair of free throws for Marion Local three seconds later, Hobbs missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer and Cole Griesdorn iced the game when he hit the second of two foul shots with 1.3 seconds left.
“Four of my top seven kids are sophomores and one of them is a freshman,” said Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller, whose team advances to play top-seeded New Bremen (17-5) in the first of two sectional championship games at 6:15 p.m. Friday. “We are so young, and for us to be able to get a tournament victory is huge, not only now but into the future.”
The Flyers’ effort on the glass helped them overcome a fourth quarter in which they shot 0-of-6 from the field and 6-of-15 from the line.
Marion Local grabbed 18 offensive rebounds compared to 15 defensive for the Indians and had a 50-27 advantage on the glass overall.
“That was a huge difference, them killing us on the glass,” said Patch. “We’ve never been out-rebounded like that I don’t think ever in any game we’ve ever played.”
Ryan Bruns, who stands 6-feet-6-inches tall, led the Flyers with 12 rebounds and four blocks. Knapke (6-feet-9-inches) and Adam Bertke (6-feet-5-inches) added nine rebounds apiece.
“That’s been our Achilles’ heel all year — despite our size we’ve been getting beat on the glass, especially on offensive rebounds,” said Goettemoeller, who also got 18 points from Knapke. “It was a point of emphasis in my pre-game speech and in practice this week. … That was probably the difference in the game.”
The Flyers used a triangle-and-two defense to focus their attention on Gelhaus and Kahlig, who entered Tuesday’s action averaging a combined 39 points per game.
Kahlig matched Knapke for the game high with 18 points, but shot just 6-of-16 from the field. Gelhaus took just six field-goal attempts and no other Indian had more than four points.
“We knew exactly what they were going to do,” said Patch of Marion Local’s defensive strategy. “We knew that was coming and worked all week on being able to make plays and get cutters and being able to get guys the ball …
“We shot 25 percent tonight. You’re not going to win many games doing that.”[[In-content Ad]]