FR rolls in opener

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians have set goals of winning their conference championship and competing for a state title.
In their season opener Friday, they gave their home fans a taste of why they believe they can achieve those goals.
Once it calmed down after committing seven first-quarter turnovers, the Fort Recovery High School boys basketball team dominated the visiting St. Marys Memorial Roughriders the rest of the way for a 54-29 victory.
The Tribe outscored St. Marys 22-8 in the second quarter to take control and limited the visitors to seven second-half points.
“We’ve talked all preseason that if we’re going to win anything this year it’s got to be with our defense,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team will host Wapakoneta tonight. “We’ve got to hang our hat on our defensive end and our effort, our intensity, our execution. … They had some guys step up early and hit some shots … but the kids stepped up and executed well.”
Fort Recovery trailed 14-13 late in the opening quarter before Wade Gelhaus gave it the lead with a driving lay-up with three seconds left. The Indians dominated the remainder of the half, with Jared Kahlig scoring the first five points of the second quarter and three players combining for a 9-0 run before the intermission.
With Jason Pottkotter and Wade Gelhaus each reaching double figures in the first half, FRHS shot 13-of-23 (57 percent) from the field compared to just 32 percent for the Roughriders. It also won the battle on the glass with a 20-8 advantage before the break.
And after giving the ball away seven times in the first quarter, the Indians averaged just three turnovers over the final three periods.
“We came out a little flat, a little cold, obviously a little nervous,” said Patch. “But we settled down and played well. I’m very happy with first game and getting the jitters out of the way a little bit.
“It was a good start for us.”
The Indians clamped down even harder on St. Marys in the second half, holding the visitors to just 3-of-18 (17 percent) shooting. The Roughriders went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal before J.D. Meyer finally scored with 4:52 left in the game, and they never pulled closer than 15 points after trailing 39-22 at the half.
Meyer was the lone St. Marys player to reach double figures with 11 points, but he shot just 5-of-20 from the field. Austin James and D.J. Manning each added seven points.“I thought we were tentative instead of taking it to the basket,” said Roughriders coach Dan Hegemier, who also got 11 rebounds from Meyer. “We were settling for some fade-away shots.
“We have to be able to learn to handle pressure, run our half-court, not get impatient. When we got in a good flow, shots were falling. But if you just make one pass and throw it up, it’s not good …”
St. Marys was without suspended junior guard Garet Fledderjohann, who averaged 5.1 assists and hit 29 3-pointers last season.
Fort Recovery got a balanced scoring effort, with senior Jason Pottkotter taking the lead early. He scored nine of his 11 points in the opening quarter, in which he also grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds.
Jared Kahlig and Gelhaus added 11 points apiece. And Elijah Kahlig did most of his damage after the intermission, hitting four 3-pointers on the way to a game-high 16 points.
“Tonight with them playing a triangle-and-two, we were just trying to get some movement going,” said Patch. “Elijah has been shooting the ball real well this week. …
“We just talked to them about trying to be aggressive and making good decisions.
“We had four in doubles tonight. … It doesn’t matter who scores as long as we score.”
Gelhaus led the Indians’ dominant effort on the glass by grabbing 10 rebounds, and Pottkotter added six. Pottkotter also dished out a team-best six assists.

Junior varsity
The Indians limited St. Marys to just two points in three out of four quarters on the way to a 29-14 victory.
Kent Retz had nine points and seven rebounds for Fort Recovery, which led 10-2 after the opening period. Chad Schroer added seven points.
Mason Gross paced the Roughriders with three points.[[In-content Ad]]