Tribe overcomes sloppy play, beats Fort Loramie

FORT RECOVERY — Four days after Christmas, the Indians and the Redskins were still in the giving spirit.
Both teams gave the ball away over and over and over again in a first quarter that saw 15 turnovers compared to one made field goal. The sloppy basketball continued most of the way, but the home team was able to take control in the final four minutes.
Finishing on a 12-2 run, Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team overcame a scoreless first quarter Tuesday for a 45-35 victory over Fort Loramie.
“It was definitely a grind-it-out game,” said FRHS coach Chris Guggenbiller, whose team improved to 5-1 with its lone loss to Jay County. “You’re going to have games like that when things just aren’t going your way all the time and you’ve got to find ways to get it done.”
The Indians were able to do that thanks to a mini scoring spurt from by senior Chase Bruns followed by finally making free throws in the last 50 seconds.
Bruns broke a tie game when he scored with 3:51 remaining. On the next trip down the floor, classmate Brandon “Speedy” Schoen found him for a 3-pointer for a 38-33 advantage.
Fort Loramie (4-6) scored just once in the final four minutes, and the Indians iced the game at the foul line. After shooting 5-of-14 (36 percent) over the first 31 minutes, the Indians connected on six straight free throws, including four by senior Darien Sheffer, to close the game.
“When you get into games like this … it’s just having the mental strength, the mental focus to be able to execute things down the stretch when the team needs you to,” said Guggenbiller, also noting a couple of key 3-pointers by Schoen late in the third quarter. “That’s what Chase, that’s what Speedy, that’s what Darien were able to do down the stretch.”
That finish came on a night when the Indians played their worst quarter of offensive basketball of the year, going 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-2 at the line with eight turnovers in the opening eight minutes. They added another miss and another giveaway in the second quarter before Micaiah Cox — he led the way with 14 points and 12 rebounds — finally put back his own miss for the first FRHS points with 7:20 on the clock.
But Fort Loramie was suffering through similar troubles — 2-for-14 with 15 turnovers in the first half — allowing the Tribe to grab the lead thanks to a pair of free throws by Jason Roessner and a steal and score by Schoen.
“For us, it’s just been a common theme,” said FLHS coach Corey Britton of the offensive struggles. “We started the season with three sophomores and two juniors in our top seven. It’s no longer an excuse anymore. We’re after Christmas. We’ve got to start growing up at the offensive end of the floor. I think when we figure that out we’re going to have a chance to be really, really good, but until then this is what’s going to be the result.”
The Redskins opened the second half with a 14-3 run to reclaim the lead, but the triples from Schoen and another by Sheffer helped push Fort Recovery back ahead 26-25 with eight minutes to play. The teams traded the advantage a couple of times early in the final period before Bruns put the Indians ahead for good.
Drew Wehrman scored 14 points, including three 3-pointers, for Fort Loramie to share the game-high with Cox. Tyler Siegel had 12 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
Junior varsity
Fort Recovery’s lead at the end of the first quarter matched its winning margin as it played even with the Redskins in each of the final three periods in a 38-35 win.
Fort Loramie used a 3-pointer to get within three, in the fourth quarter, but a potential game-tying shot by Eli Rosengarten at the buzzer missed its mark.
Reese Rogers was the lone Indian in double figures as he scored all of his 12 points from long distance. Payton Jutte added nine points and seven  rebounds.