Tobe tames Trojans (02/15/06)

ARCANUM, Ohio — At halftime of Tuesday night’s game five fans had a chance to shoot a half-court shot for $1,500. Several of those selected chose to have someone else shoot for them, hoping for a better chance at cashing in.

They all missed.

Maybe they should have called Clint Tobe from the visiting locker room.

Tobe’s game-winning shot wasn’t quite from half-court, but his rainbow 3-pointer from well beyond the arc fell through at the buzzer to give Fort Recovery a 59-56 victory over the Arcanum Trojans.

“I just got a really good screen set by Tony Diller and just let it all fly. It went in,” said Tobe, who went 3-of-5 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points. “I was above the NBA range ... I think. It was out there.”

Tobe’s opportunity came after Mike Eilerman of Arcanum split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 56 with 7.2 seconds remaining. The Indians (7-10) pushed the ball up the floor and got a time-out with 4.4 seconds to go, then handed the ball to freshman Toby Metzger.

Working from the right sideline, Metzger looked for Ryan Staugler on the right side. The first option on the play was to pass to Staugler, then to Travis VanSkyock underneath the hoop for a point-blank shot or possible free throws.

But when it wasn’t there Diller set a back-screen for Tobe at the top of the key. Metzger hit the sophomore with a pass as he faded toward the left sideline. Standing at about the “R” in the word “Trojans” painted on the court and with a pair of defenders flying at him, Tobe eschewed overtime as his shot rang true.

“We were hoping Toby would throw it a little closer to the bucket so he could catch it and shoot an eight-footer instead of a 23-footer,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch. “But he threw it out there and Clint went and got it and hit the shot.”

“That was a tough shot,” added Arcanum coach Don Taylor. “Certainly we had a hand in his face and the kid just stuck it in there.”

Just minutes earlier it looked as if Tobe would not play any factor in the outcome as he left the game at the 4:54 mark of the fourth quarter after landing hard on his knee. But VanSkyock scored six straight to keep the Tribe rolling, and Tobe was able to return after just a minute or so on the bench.

VanSkyock then missed the front end of a one-and-one try with 12.3 seconds left before Eilerman tied the game and Tobe engineered his heroics. The senior leading scorer, who finished with a game-high 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting, missed a similar shot against Jay County before Luke Bihn nailed a pair of game-winning free throws.

After struggling early in the season in close games, Patch said he’s happy with the way his team has responded against Jay County and Arcanum.

“I think we’re starting to gel a little bit more,” said Patch, who had a senior-dominated team last season and is now starting two sophomore and a freshman. “We’ve got four classes together. These kids aren’t used to playing with each other. The chemistry of just playing well together has not been there. For us it’s taken 16 or 17 games to get that around. I think everyone understands their role. They understand what we want to do. They understand what we want to accomplish.

“It’s nice we won just for the fact that our kids played hard tonight ... It’s nice to get a win and show a reward for your kids when they play hard. We didn’t play intelligent all the time, but we did play hard. We had some good intensity tonight.”

The victory continued Fort Recovery’s run of non-conference success. While losing all eight Midwest Athletic Conference games this season, the Indians are 7-2 against non-conference opponents.

Tuesday’s win put an end to Arcanum’s 12-game winning streak.

Following VanSkyock and Tobe for the Indians was Tony Diller with nine points. Luke Bihn finished with 10 points and three assists.

Fort Recovery trailed 10-2 midway through the opening quarter, but rallied for a 20-14 lead early in the second as the Trojans went scoreless for nearly five minutes. The teams were separated by just one after the second and third quarters. Neither team led by more than four points in the final period as the lead changed hands six times.

Trevor Moore’s 12 points led a balanced Arcanum attack as the home team had four players score seven or more. Ty Cates had team highs of seven rebounds and three assists.

“We’re always at our best when we can create some pressure on defense and create some problems for the other team and then get out and run,” said Taylor. “We got out early and then we just ... had a hard time maintaining consistency.

“I thought maybe we were going to get into overtime and then see what would happen. Fort Recovery played very well. They’re a pretty good team. They don’t have a winning record, but they play in a tough league and they have some nice players.”

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery struggled mightily from the field in the first half and was never able to make a serious run in the second in a 41-33 loss to the Trojans.

The game never got out of hand, but the Indians were unable to recover from a 3-of-18 (17 percent) effort from the field before the intermission. They finished 1-of-16 from 3-point range.

Clint Hale and Cameron Lambert shared scoring honors for Arcanum with nine points apiece. Colton Oda added seven points, and Ryan Buck had eight rebounds and four points.

Aaron Kahlig paced Fort Recovery with 12 points. Lucas Staugler added seven points and eight boards.[[In-content Ad]]