Tribe tops Tigers

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians had trouble getting shots to fall in the opening quarter Monday.
The Tigers weren’t able to keep up in the final three frames.
Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team used a 21-6 run — including a stretch of 11 straight points — to grab a second-quarter lead, and then pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 65-44 victory over the Ansonia Tigers.
“I told them it’s all about execution,” FRHS coach Chris Guggenbiller said of the sluggish first quarter. “We were doing a pretty good job of moving the ball and getting open looks, we just weren’t hitting anything.
“That second quarter, just keep on it. We’ve got to focus and finish around the basket and it started coming around.”
Dane Wentworth hit a 3-pointer early in the second to give the Tigers (4-17) an 18-9 lead. Micaiah Cox scored at the other end for Fort Recovery, and then assisted on a bucket by Caleb Martin to start the second-quarter scoring spree.
Following another Wentworth triple, Cox benefited from a dish by Chase Bruns for the first two of six straight points, getting the Indians within two, 21-19. Following Wentworth’s third trey, Martin hit one of his own at the other end to spark an 11-point Indian run to end the half as they led 30-25. Derek Backs and Brandon “Speedy” Schoen both hit shots from long range.
Fort Recovery limited Ansonia to two second-chance points in the final 16 minutes, and Guggenbiller stressed the significance of keeping the opposition to one shot per possession.
“It is the utmost importance,” he said. “We’ve talked all year about limiting teams to one possession. When we get in trouble is when we give up two or three shots on one possession.”
Cox grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and Chase Bruns chipped in with nine. Darien Sheffer, Schoen and Backs each added five, as the Indians had a 44-28 rebound margin.
Additionally, Fort Recovery was able to share the ball offensively. Four players reached double figures — Cox and Martin both had 13, Sheffer tallied 12 and Schoen added 10 — and 20 of its 26 scoring plays had assists. Schoen led the way with eight assists, two shy of notching a double-double.
Schoen could have surpassed the 10-assist margin, however, but a few of his attempts were off the mark. He tossed a couple alley-oop attempts to a cutting Kyle Schroer that didn’t fall, and he almost had an assist late in the fourth quarter but Cole Hull had his shot blocked from behind.
“That’s something we’re getting pretty good at lately is having a high assist percentage,” Guggenbiller said. “That is the team game. We don’t have too many guys that can break a kid down and get to the cup.
“We do have guys that can move the ball and make solid passes and finish off those passes.”
Ansonia tied the game at 34 midway through the third quarter, but a 12-4 run to close out the quarter created some separation. The Indians continued the pressure on both ends of the court in the fourth, outscoring the Tigers 19-6 in the final eight minutes.
“We ran out of steam, ran out of gas,” Ansonia coach Darrick Barga said. “It’s happened to us all year.”

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery overcame a sluggish first quarter and limited Ansonia to two points in the second in a 40-34 victory.
The Indians trailed 11-6 after the first quarter, and caught fire for 15 points in the second as it had a 21-13 lead heading into intermission.
Fort Recovery extended its lead to 33-24 after three, and hung on down the stretch for the win.
Cade Wendel shared the game-high with 11 points to lead Fort Recovery. Kyle Knapke added eight points and Jackson Hobbs tallied seven. Tanner Koch and Ethan Schoen chipped in with five and four points respectively.
Brayden Swabb paced the Tigers with 11 points.