Fort Recovery blasts Parkway

FORT RECOVERY — Tribe coach Chris Guggenbiller challenged his team to be more up-tempo and intense on defense from the opening tip.
The Panthers had trouble keeping up.
Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team forced Parkway into 12 first-half turnovers, extended the Panthers’ defense with shots from long range and dominated the offensive rebounds Friday in a 67-42 victory at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
“That was a big focus of ours … to come out with the correct intensity, come out with a focus that we needed to do our job really well tonight,” said Guggenbiller, whose team moved to 6-2 on the season and 2-0 in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
“Part of that is a mental thing. I don’t think we’ve been playing very well mentally of late.”
The Indians had their foot on the gas pedal from the get-go.
The Tribe used an 8-0 run to lead 10-3 midway through the opening quarter, and later scored five consecutive points on a baseline drive from Brandon “Speedy” Schoen and a 3-pointer from Matt Bihn to force Parkway coach Rick Hickman into calling a timeout.
Three consecutive turnovers by the Panthers (2-9, 0-3 MAC) led to seven more points — a jumper from Wes Wenning followed by a put-back and triple from Caleb Martin — to force yet another Hickman timeout.
Fort Recovery closed the opening quarter on a 12-0 run, and added the first points of the second quarter for a 27-7 advantage.
Chase Bruns added two 3-pointers for the Indians during the first eight minutes. They were 6-of-14 from beyond the arc in the first half.
“They got loose and hit some outside shots,” said Hickman.
Fort Recovery had 11 players get playing time with all but one attempting at least one shot from long distance.
“When you start shooting well against Parkway’s 1-2-2 zone, it stretches the zone and allows you to get layups down low,” Guggenbiller said. The Tribe’s ability to hit outside shots forced the Panthers into guarding the perimeter, opening up the area under the hoop. “That is what we were able to do. We were able to work the ball around and get open looks.”
And on the off chance that one of those easy looks underneath the basket didn’t fall, the rebounds found the hands of Fort Recovery players. The Indians had 15 offensive rebounds compared to 16 defensive boards for the Panthers.
“If we want to continue to be successful we have to out-rebound guys,” Guggenbiller said. The Indians held a 32-21 advantage on the glass. “Part of that is being physical and going after offensive boards.
“There is no better play on offense than an offensive rebound. It is demoralizing to a defense.”
Throughout the game, especially in the first half, the Tribe’s defensive intensity forced Parkway to make bad passes that led to points in transition. Darien Sheffer — he had a game-high 17 points — and teammates Jason Roessner and Schoen each had easy baskets in transition. Sheffer also stepped outside and knocked down a trio of 3-pointers.
Micaiah Cox, who grabbed five offensive rebounds and finished with a game-high nine boards, followed Sheffer with 13 points, and Bruns added 10. Roessner added seven points, as did Martin, who missed the last two games with a foot injury.
Fort Recovery’s largest lead of the night was 32 points, 58-26, in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Parkway never got closer than 25 in the final eight minutes.
“We are trying to put four quarters together and we haven’t done that a whole lot this year,” Hickman said.

Junior varsity
In similar fashion to the varsity game, Fort Recovery jumped out to an early lead and built on it as the game went on in a 51-34 victory.
The Indians led 22-14 after the first quarter and pushed the score to 34-22 at half. An 11-7 advantage in the third made it 45-21 heading into the final seven minutes.
Payton Jutte had a team-high 11 points, and Ryan Braun followed with nine. Ethan Schoen and Reese Rogers each totaled eight points, and Cade Wendel tallied seven.
Parkway’s Preston Stober led all players with 13 points.