Indians fall in overtime

NEW BREMEN, Ohio — The Indians had a chance to head into the tournament on a high note.

The opportunity slipped away in the extra session.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team finished the regular season Friday night with a 65-59 overtime loss to the New Bremen Cardinals.

The ninth-seeded Tribe will visit No. 5 seed Upper Scioto Valley at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the Division IV sectional tournament. The winner will advance to take on No. 4 seed Mt. Victory Ridgemont or No. 6 seed New Bremen for a sectional championship Friday.

FRHS (7-15, 1-8 MAC), which dropped its final two games after back-to-back wins over Newton Local and New Knoxville, struggled to score in overtime, managing only a couple of Briggs Overman free throws. Meanwhile, four Cardinals (9-13, 4-5 MAC) scored in the extra session.

The game was tight throughout, with New Bremen leading by two after the first quarter before the Indians nabbed a three-point lead at halftime. The Cardinals flipped the margin for a 38-35 advantage after three periods before a 22-point fourth for FRHS forced overtime.

Overman’s overtime free throws gave him a game-high 20 points. He hit a 3-pointer in all four quarters of regulation.

Brody Barga joined him in double figures with 10 points and Rex Leverette added nine.

Aaron Thieman led New Bremen with 16 points, scoring 11 in the second half and two more in overtime. The Cardinals had four players in double figures, with Hayden Zeller scoring a dozen points while Keaton Puthoff and Rogan Muether added 10 apiece.

In Friday’s junior varsity game, the Indians fell behind early en route to a 48-41 loss to New Bremen. Grant Fortkamp racked up 22 points for FRHS but no one else had more than five.