Rangers roll over Fort (01/14/06)

NEW KNOXVILLE, Ohio — There wasn’t any late collapse for the third week in a row.

But the result was the same for Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team.

The Indians, who had been in control in the fourth quarter in their past two games only to let potential victory slip away, fell behind early and stayed there in a loss to the New Knoxville Rangers here Friday night.

New Knoxville, getting a 25-point outburst from Josh Niemeyer and 16 more from Dustan Kruse, grabbed a double-digit first quarter lead and cruised to a 65-42 win.

The Indians, who will return to their home court Friday against St. Henry, were led by Travis VanSkyock’s 18 points. Luke Bihn added 10 for the Fort, which scored one more point as a team than the tandem of Niemeyer and Kruse.

Niemeyer sizzled on his home court Friday, hitting 9-of-12 shots overall and 4-of-5 from 3-point range on his way to the game-high 25 points.

The host Rangers who held leads of 17-6 after one quarter and 33-17 at halftime, finished the game 24-of-51 (47 percent) from the floor.

Fort Recovery, which committed 22 turnovers Friday to just six for New Knoxville, shot 41 percent (16-of-39) from the floor — including 3-of-13 from 3-point range.

VanSkyock led the Indians with six rebounds, while Clint Tobe and Bihn each grabbed five.

New Knoxville also won Friday’s junior varsity game, by a 38-16 margin.

Caleb Allen scored a game-high 12 points for the Rangers, while Fort Recovery got six each from Lucas Staugler and Eric Lamm.[[In-content Ad]]