Indians roll

ST. MARYS, Ohio — The first quarter was sloppy for both teams. But the Indians’ defense couldn’t have been any better in the second.
Fort Recovery held the host Memorial Roughriders to an 0-for-10 effort in the second quarter, outscoring them 16-0 in the period on the way to a 58-43 victory.
“I thought our first-half defense was really solid,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team has opened with eight straight wins each of the last two seasons. “Our kids did a good job of … knowing what they were trying to do, what they were trying to get. … They run a lot of ball screens and … we did a good job of communicating and rotating.”
The Indians were up just 9-6 after an opening quarter in which the teams combined for 10 turnovers, but then dominated the next eight minutes.
Fort Recovery owned the defensive end in the second period, mostly forcing the Roughriders (0-1) to fire away from long distance. They missed all of their 10 field-goal tries in the period, five of which came from 3-point range, and committed two turnovers.
Gelhaus scored eight of his game-high 21 points during the run, including a jumper from the top of the key with 1.1 seconds remaining. Elijah Kahlig added eight points, and Alex Kaiser scored the other two.
The Indians went on to shoot 58 percent in the second half.
“For our first game I thought we did a lot of positive things,” said Patch. “Once we settled down and relaxed, I thought we played better offensively.
“I thought our second-half effort on offense our execution was better. We got good looks. We executed those looks.”
Gelhaus and Kahlig, the team’s top two returning scorers and both first-team All-Midwest Athletic Conference selections last season, scored 40 of Fort Recovery’s 58 points despite facing a variety of defenses designed to keep the ball out of their hands. They combined to hit 8-of-9 at the foul line, with Kahlig trailing Gelhaus with 19 points.
Kahlig also shared the team high of eight rebounds with Mason Evers, while Gelhaus had four blocks and two assists. Kyle Schroer, a freshman, come off the bench for four rebounds and two assists.
“I thought Mason and Alex did a good job of getting to the bucket and hitting some of those shots in the second half,” said Patch. “Kyle Schroer as a freshman coming in tonight played well. I thought his effort was good. He gave us a great spark off the bench with his defense.”
Garet Fledderjohann tallied 16 points to lead Memorial, which scored 37 points in the second half after hitting just 2-of-21 (10 percent) from the field in the first. He also had five assists.
Quinn Zaerr added 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Jarrett Taylor had eight points and six boards.

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery struggled to hold on to the ball and shot just 27 percent as it fell 62-33 to the Roughriders.
Justin Overton and Mitch Stammen each scored eight points for the Indians, who hit just 4-of-20 from the field in the first half and committed 20 turnovers. Mitch Stammen added five points, and Overton grabbed five rebounds.
Jordan Fisher was 6-of-9 from the field for Memorial as he scored 17 points. Josh Young shot 5-of-8 and hit four 3-pointers to finish with 14 points.[[In-content Ad]]