July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Kahling breaks record in win

Kahling breaks record in win
Kahling breaks record in win

By RAY COONEY
President, editor and publisher

NEW KNOXVILLE, Ohio - Hounded throughout the opening 16 minutes Friday night, Greg Kahlig had just six points at halftime. That was enough to tie him for the school's scoring record.

In breaking the record early in the second half, he eliminated the defense from the equation.

Kahlig broke Ken Heiby's 40-year-old Fort Recovery High School boys basketball scoring record with a long 3-pointer early in the second half and poured in 30 points to lead the Indians to a 61-59 victory over host New Knoxville.

"Any time you break a record, it's a great accomplishment," said FRHS coach Brian Patch of the senior, who now has 1,442 career points. "When you break a scoring record, then that shows his longevity. That talks about his career as a player and what he's done. Especially (breaking a record) that has lasted for 40 years. For him, it's a great honor. ... He's a great kid. He's a great person. He's a great player."

Kahlig scored just six points in the opening half and his team was down 38-29 after Tyler Wright of the Rangers (9-5, 2-3 Midwest Athletic Conference) scored the opening hoop of the second half.

But after Wright's score, Kahlig took the inbound pass and dribbled down the left side of the floor. Before the defense could get in his face as it had been all night, he pulled up from five feet behind the 3-point line and let the ball fly.

His shot was true, dropping through the net to break the record of 1,418 points that Heiby set in 1969.

Kahlig referred to the long shot as a "heat check." It was definitely the start of a hot streak.

"It was definitely a weight off my shoulders," said Kahlig of the record breaking shot. "I was kind of thinking about it in the first half and it probably showed a little bit. But after I hit that, I quit thinking about it and just played basketball."

After assisting on hoops by Cody Fiely and Craig Tobe, Kahlig proceeded to score his team's final 13 points of the quarter. He added the first five points in the fourth as the Indians (12-1, 5-0 MAC) pushed out to a seven-point lead.

New Knoxville closed the gap again, but Kahlig's two free throws, his final tallies of a 24-point second half, with 7.1 seconds left put the game away. The Rangers' Ryan Vanderhorst hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.

"It was an awesome night. I finally broke that record I've been trying to get. I caught fire there for a little bit and we got a huge MAC win tonight.

"We haven't won in here in a long time. Two years ago we got drilled here. To come back here and finally beat Knoxville and get a huge MAC win to make us 5-0 is something special."

Kahlig shot 10-of-19 from the field, hit three 3-pointers in the second half and finished 7-of-9 from the foul line.

"I give our defenders credit in the first half," said New Knoxville coach Kort Fledderjohann. "We did an excellent job making him work for things. I think we played on him just as hard in the third and fourth quarters, but right before halftime he made a couple moves and you could just see that he wanted to take the game over and start scoring. In the third quarter he caught fire. ... At that point he just starts shooting over top of you. That's hard to defend. He's a great player."

Kahlig, who will play at the University of Findlay next season, also had four assists, frequently dishing to teammates in the first half as the defense harassed him. Patch said the senior's work getting Wade Gelhaus and Craig Tobe (10 points each) involved early was a big part of the victory.

See Kahlig page 9

"Early on, either you're going to come out as a scorer and you're going to get your shots or you're going to let other guys get their shots," he said. "Greg came out and didn't force anything. It was a game, again, where he could have been forcing stuff up to try to get points. He hasn't done that. That's what you love about the kid. He just wants to win so bad. ... He got other guys involved."

Tobe had seven rebounds to go along with his double-digit point total, and Cody Fiely led the Tribe with eight rebounds. Michael Gaerke matched Kahlig with four assists.

Vanderhorst carried the Rangers, who shot 50 percent in the first half but just 30 in the second, with 21 points. He also had seven rebounds.

Tyler Wright added 11 points, and Brian Baumbauer and Marcus Reineke added 10 apiece.

Junior varsity

The Indians were outscored 28-11 in the second and third quarters Friday on the way to a 44-28 loss to New Knoxville.

Jared Kahlig led Fort Recovery, which trailed by just one after the opening quarter, with 10 points and two assists. Ryan Schoen added eight points and five rebounds, and Chad Schroer also had eight points. Trent Kaiser pulled down seven boards.

Lucas Leffel set the pace for the Rangers, who limited FRHS to 22 percent shooting in the second half, with 17 points. Scott Schwieterman added 15 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and a block.[[In-content Ad]]
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