Tribe ends with victory

NEW KNOXVILLE, Ohio — The Rangers tried to rally in their final home game of the season. But the Tribe’s big lead was too much to overcome.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team took control early in the second quarter Friday as it closed the regular season with a 48-41 victory over the New Knoxville Rangers.

The game was tied at 11 late in the first quarter before the Indians (15-7, 6-3 Midwest Athletic Conference) went on a 12-2 run to take control for good. New Knoxville (5-17, 1-8 MAC) got back to within seven, only to have the FRHS advantage balloon to 17 points in the third quarter. The Rangers outscored the visitors 15-8 in the final period, but didn’t pull to within single digits until there were just 28 seconds remaining.

Fort Recovery, which will open tournament play against Ada or New Bremen in the second of two sectional championship games at 8 p.m. Friday at Coldwater, got 18 points and 11 rebounds from Micaiah Cox. The senior, who last week became the 16th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark, shot 8-of-13 from the field and led the Indians to a 33-18 advantage on the glass.

Payton Jutte joined Cox in double figures with 12 points and Cade Wendel finished with six.

New Knoxville got 17 and 15 points respectively from Nathan Tinnerman and Nick Toppe. They each grabbed four rebounds.



Junior varsity

A strong third quarter helped Fort Recovery overcome Jared Osborne’s hot night of shooting for a 49-39 victory.

Nursing a three-point lead at halftime, the Indians outscored New Knoxville 9-2 in the third quarter to take control. Like the varsity team, they dominated the boards to the tune of a 37-17 advantage.

Blayne Thobe shot 6-of-11 to pace FRHS with 14 points. Trevor Vaughn recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Osborne put on a show for the Rangers, going 12-of-18 from the field for a game-high 27 points.