Poor shooting hurts Tribe in loss to visiting Wildcats (02/28/04)

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians fired away 11 more times than the visiting Minster Wildcats Friday night. They simply did not shoot well enough to keep up.

The Fort Recovery boys basketball team shot a paltry 35 percent and never led in a 65-54 loss to Minster.

The Indians (6-14, 3-6 Midwest Athletic Conference) never trailed by much until the fourth quarter, but they also never led after Minster’s Dane Sommer opened the scoring with a 3-pointer just over a minute into the game. They tied the game three times in the first period and once early in the fourth, but consistently fell behind from there.

They trailed by four at the half and five after three quarters before the Wildcats (13-7, 5-4 MAC) pulled away.

Fort Recovery struggled to find scoring behind Sean Kahlig and Tyler Wuebker, who finished with 15 and 11 points respectively. The pair combined to shoot 11-of-19 (58 percent), but the rest of the team was just 9-of-39 (23 percent).

The Tribe stumbled to a 4-of-24 effort from 3-point range for 17 percent.

Kahlig completed a double-double with 10 rebounds, and Wuebker was right behind him with eight. Wuebker also had three assists and two steals, and Greg Faller finished with four assists.

Minster scorched the nets in comparison, shooting 53 percent overall with Sommer scoring a game-high 17 points. Sommer also had seven assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Aaron Dues finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Josh Boeke grabbed eight rebounds, and Justin Spillers added four.

Fort Recovery will open sectional action at Coldwater Tuesday when it meets the Marion Local Flyers at 7:45 p.m. The Indians lost the Marion Local 41-40 during the regular season.

Junior varsity

The Indians’ junior varsity squad fell behind quickly and never had much of a chance in a 61-30 loss to Minster.

Fort Recovery trailed 20-5 after one quarter, and went on to be outscored 11-1 in the third in the blowout. It shot just 34 percent and had 21 turnovers, compared to just 12 give-aways for Minster.

Seth Bihn scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds for Fort Recovery. Matt Thobe added seven points, and Aaron Kahlig had three assists.

Dean Ripploh had 12 points to lead the Wildcats. Max Philpot and Jake Luttmer also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Ripploh had seven rebounds, Mark Luebke grabbed a game-high 10, and Mark Dues added seven as Minster took a 41-19 advantage on the glass. Philpot had five assists and four steals.[[In-content Ad]]