Tribe falls short (01/04/05)

VERSAILLES, Ohio — The Indians made big shot after big shot in the second half. They needed one more.

Fort Recovery rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit, but couldn’t get a final shot to fall in the closing seconds as it lost to the undefeated Versailles Tigers 48-47 Monday.

Joe Shardo’s pair of 3-pointers, one of which was launched from well beyond the arc, in the final 3:03 proved to be enough for the Tiger victory.

“(Having Shardo) makes things a little easier, just a tad,” said Versailles coach Doug Hughes. “He’s a clutch player and we definitely want him having the basketball.”

Despite Shardo, the Tribe got two chances at the winning shot after Greg Faller’s lay-up put them within one point with 47 seconds left and Jayson White missed the front end of a one-and-one for Versailles.

Faller took the first try at a game-winner, missing a 16-footer over Jeremy Shardo to give the ball back to the Tigers as Clint Hufford grabbed the rebound. But Hufford missed another front end of a one-and-one, and Travis VanSkyock grabbed the board and got a timeout with 2.4 seconds left to give Fort Recovery one more try.

After Versailles (6-0, 2-0 Midwest Athletic Conference) kicked away the first inbound pass, Tyler Wuebker got the ball in to Dusty Tobe on the right side. With just 2.0 seconds to work with Tobe launched a leaner, but the shot flew long.

Shardo scored the only points for Versailles in the final four minutes with his pair of 3-pointers. He finished with a game-high 19 points.

“They hit some big shots,” said Fort Recovery coach Brian Patch, whose team is now 5-2 with its only losses coming on the road against undefeated Minster and Versailles. “They have some good guys. A couple of those shots I thought were well contested, they just hit them.

“It’s hard to tell your kids to go out and guard someone at the volleyball line when you’re not used to doing that, but that’s where (Shardo) can hit them from. When he steps in the gym he’s in range.”

Fort Recovery nearly sent Shardo and company out of the gym with their first defeat, even after crumbling in the second quarter.

After holding a 10-8 lead through the first eight minutes, the Indians scored just three points in the second quarter. Versailles put 21 on the board, including three consecutive 3-pointers to open the period and a 7-0 run to close the half.

The Tribe shot a paltry 22 percent before the break.

The visitors fell behind by 17 early in the second half, but went on an 8-0 run after a timeout with 4:47 to go in the third quarter. They trailed by just eight with one period to play, and added a 10-0 run to take a 40-39 lead with 4:42 remaining.

However, Clint Hufford dropped a 3-pointer with 4:25 left, Shardo hit his pair of triples and Fort Recovery fell just short.

“Obviously we didn’t start off very well ...” said Patch. “Our kids battled back, which I was hoping we would. Our kids are pretty relentless, and they won’t give up. We got back in the game.

“I thought we played really hard.”

Travis VanSkyock paced the Indian effort with 12 points, and Dusty Tobe finished with 11. Tobe finished 3-of-5 from 3-point range as the Tribe hit seven 3-pointers.

Sean Kahlig came off the bench for nine points and 12 rebounds. Tobe and VanSkyock each grabbed five boards.

“I thought the second half really boiled down to that we really got hurt on the boards,” said Hughes. “I thought we dominated the glass in the first half and limited them to one shot. We knew that was a big key the way they crash the boards.”

Versailles held a five-rebound advantage in the first half, but the teams were even after the break. Joe Shardo, who had the play of the game on the opening possession with a reverse slam dunk on an alley-oop from Jeremy Shardo, grabbed 11 rebounds.

Hufford and Kevin Paulus each grabbed six boards, and Adam Barga added five. Hufford was the No. 2 Tiger scorer with eight points.

Jeremy Shardo dished out a game-best five assists.

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery’s junior varsity team had a big third quarter and survived for a 30-27 victory over Versailles Monday.

The Indians (4-3) outscored the Tigers 10-2 in the third period for a 25-17 lead, but were up by just one point in the final minute. Tyler Thobe’s fast-break lay-up on an assist from Tony Diller pushed the lead to three with 10.8 seconds remaining, and Versailles couldn’t come up with a tying 3-point on the final possession.

Thobe paced Fort Recovery with eight points, and Eric Lamm grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Bobby Rammel finished with six points and five rebounds, Curt Heitkamp had four assists and Diller notched three assists.[[In-content Ad]]