FR reaches 5-1 (12/26/06)

The Trojans kept getting close. But the Indians would not let them take over the Fort.

Fort Recovery's boys basketball team staved off Arcanum's final rally Saturday night, finishing on a 9-2 run in its 64-52 victory.

After the Trojans (4-4) scored nine consecutive points to get within 55-50 with just over three minutes to play, Fort Recovery answered by scoring eight in a row and hit 7-of-8 free-throw attempts down the stretch. The Indians hit 13-of-14 foul shots for the game, including a 4-for-4 effort from freshman Greg Kahlig.

"Shooting 93 percent is obviously something we pride ourselves on," said FRHS coach Brian Patch of the effort from the foul line. "We've got good shooters. Those are uncontested shots that we expect them to hit, and we finished out the game the way we wanted to."

Fort Recovery jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the game, the Trojans got to within two and the pattern continued throughout the 32 minutes.

The Indians pushed their lead back to nine points by scoring the final six of the opening half. But, Arcanum closed the gap again, getting within three points at 39-36.

"We had gotten ourselves back in the game and instead of being down four or five, we were down nine," said Arcanum coach Don Taylor. "Defensively we had a hard time covering them in their zone. They made a lot of threes, and when they did miss we didn't always get the rebound."

A 14-2 run bumped Fort Recovery lead to a seemingly insurmountable 53-38 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Trojans rallied again with their 9-0 run to get within five points only to have the Indians put them away.

Although only six players scored for the Tribe (5-1), which shot 55 percent in the second half, they did it with incredible balance. Tony Diller topped the charts, scoring 12 of his game-high 14 points in the second half, and Bobby Rammel was the low scorer with eight points.

In between the two Clint Tobe scored 12 points, Toby Metzger had 11, Greg Kahlig posted 10 and Aaron Kahlig finished with nine.

"On the year six guys are averaging between eight and 13," said Patch, who noted that most of his team's field goals were assisted. "So far, it's been different guys on different nights. Tonight Tony Diller stepped up. ... They just are very unselfish."

"For other teams that's going to be hard to defend. As a staff we don't know who's going to score for us, and the kids don't know."

Greg Kahlig grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as Fort Recovery won the battle of the glass 28-22. Metzger had six rebounds and six assists, and Tobe and Rammel added three assists apiece.

"At times our effort was good, our intensity was good. Some of our decision making wasn't as good as we need it to be," said Patch of the waxing and waning of his team's lead. "We had 19 turnovers against a team that hardly didn't press at all. I think we were the ones pressing. At times our there it looked like we thought we had a shot clock."

Arcanum got 15 points and six rebounds from Caleb Means, and 13 points and six rebounds from Nathan Greve. Darren Printz and Cameron Lambert each had three assists.

"We've been doing this a lot, getting down and trying to come back," said Taylor. "It's hard playing from behind.

"They got some break-outs and made some lay-ups. And we had a lot of unforced turnovers. We're just having a hard time making good decisions on the run right now."

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery fell behind by 12 after a rough third quarter and never got closer than eight points again in a 47-32 loss to the Trojans.

Arcanum outscored the Indians 19-8 in the third quarter to take the advantage. A Cody Fiely 3-point with 4:32 to play get the Indians back within eight, but they didn't score again.

Tyler Jutte paced Fort Recovery with 13 points, and Matt Braun added six points. Frank Thien had seven steals, five assists and five rebounds.

Brenton Balsbaugh dominated the game with 17 points and 13 rebounds, leading Arcanum to a 37-17 advantage on the glass and 52 percent shooting in the second half. He also had five steals and two blocks.

Braden Means had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks.[[In-content Ad]]