Versailles tops Fort in MAC opener (12/10/05)

FORT RECOVERY — There was an abundance of snow falling in Indiana and Ohio Thursday night. Friday it was the media which descended on Fort Recovery.

Six newspapers and three radio stations gave the Fort Site Fieldhouse the look of a tournament game rather than an early-season conference match-up, but the added attention didn’t help the home team as it fell 67-46 to the visiting Versailles Tigers.

The host Indians weathered an outburst from Versailles early on, pulling back to within three points at the quarter break after trailing 13-3. But they could not do the same in the second half, going scoreless for more than five minutes as the Tigers built a double-digit lead they would not relinquish.

Fort Recovery was plagued by turnovers (20) and poor rebounding as the Tigers won the battle of the glass 38-29 in the first Midwest Athletic Conference game of the year for both teams.

“Their defense and rebounding hurt us a lot,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team played on a night when many high school games were postponed because of Thursday’s snowstorm. “They just went to the boards whenever they wanted. We basically let them. We tried to out-jump them. We didn’t try to get position on them. They basically shoved us around and got those boards and we let them do it.

“(And) it’s pretty hard to score when you’re throwing the thing away or getting it taken away from you all the time.”

After bouncing back from the early double-digit deficit the Indians trailed by six late in the first half and were seeking to hold the ball for the final shot. Instead they turned it over and Jeremy Shardo of Versailles hit a pull-up jumper just before the buzzer for a 32-24 Tiger lead.

The Tribe (1-2) pulled to within four points early in the third period before going ice cold. Versailles put together a 14-0 run while the Indians missed four straight free throws during their long scoreless stretch.

Fort Recovery, which missed nine free throws including four on the front end of one-and-one tries, never pulled closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

“For the short season free throws have been our Achilles’ Heel,” said Patch. “It’s something we work on every day. We put them in pressure situations in practice. It’s just something our kids have got to learn how to do. That can change the outcome in a game.”

Versailles coach David Peltz praised the efforts from seniors Clint Hufford and Zac Richard, who dominated the paint. Richard scored a game-high 17 points while grabbing eight rebounds.

Hufford totaled 10 points and 11 rebounds, and held Fort Recovery offensive leader Travis VanSkyock to just seven points of 1-of-8 from the field.

“Clint had a tough defensive assignment on VanSkyock,” said Peltz. “He did a heck of a job selling himself out defensively. We were trying to limit VanSkyock’s touches.

“That’s awesome when you have your wing guy playing excellent defense and grabbing eleven rebounds.”

Shardo hit 8-of-8 free throws as he matched Richard with 17 points while also dishing out four assists. Adam Barga finished with 11 points and three assists.

Tony Diller was the top Indian scorer with 10 points, and he also grabbed five rebounds. Bobby Rammel had nine points, seven of which came in the first half, and Clint Tobe added seven.

VanSkyock grabbed eight rebounds.

Junior varsity

The Indians were dominant in the first half en route to a 44-32 victory over Versailles.

Fort Recovery rolled out to a 12-4 lead in the first quarter. It added 15 more points in the second period for a 16-point advantage at the intermission as it shot 55 percent from the field in the opening half.

Aaron Kahlig paced the Indians with 17 points. He also had three assists.

Curt Heitkamp had seven assists and six rebounds, Lucas Staugler scored eight points and Eric Lamm grabbed six rebounds.

Bryant Ahrens had 15 points and six rebounds to lead the Tigers’ victory.[[In-content Ad]]