Focus on D pays off

COLDWATER, Ohio — The Indians spent the week in practice focusing on defense.

It was put to good use on Friday.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team made it difficult for New Bremen to move the ball effectively on offense, forcing the Cardinals into a dozen first-half turnovers — including a stretch of six straight — in a 61-39 victory Friday in the Division IV Wapakoneta District sectional final.

“We know our defense could cause them fits,” said FRHS coach Chris Guggenbiller, whose team has won back-to-back sectional titles and advances to the district semifinal at approximately 8 p.m. Tuesday against Midwest Athletic Conference rival St. Henry Redskins at Wapakoneta. The Redskins knocked off Upper Scioto Valley 64-51 earlier Friday night.

“(The defense) caused them fits in our game earlier this year (a 56-38 win Jan. 13 in New Bremen) and we liked our matchup defensively against the guard play,” Guggenbiller said. “That was the turning point in the game when we slowly and methodically forced them into turnovers.

“We were able to do that pretty consistently starting there midway through the first quarter on.”

New Bremen (2-22) nabbed a 6-2 lead with two minutes gone to start the game on four points from Brandon Heitkamp and two from Luke Vonderhaar. The Cardinals missed a 3-pointer on their next trip down the court before Payton Jutte drained a long-range shot of his own to make it 6-5.

The Cardinals missed twice on their next possession, and then the turnovers started to mount. Each time they attempted to cross the timeline, Fort Recovery (15-9) met the ball handler with three-quarter court pressure. New Bremen committed six consecutive turnovers as the Indians grabbed an 8-6 advantage with 3:03 to play and never trailed again.

“That essentially was the story of the game was that defensive pressure,” Guggenbiller said.

Jutte’s 3-pointer kicked off a run of a dozen consecutive points for the Indians. Matt Bihn, who finished with 15 points, and Jutte each had five points with Caleb Martin adding the other two.

Bihn finished second on the team with 15 points, and Jutte contributed five before rolling his ankle during the second quarter. Martin finished with eight points and a game-high six rebounds.

“Along with that focus of defense, we wanted to prevent them from getting to the rim,” Guggenbiller said of shaking off the 6-2 deficit early. “Those first six points were all two hands on the glass layups for them. We eliminated that and forced them to become jump shooters —a little bit more uncomfortable than what they’d like to be and good things came.”

New Bremen was 36.8 from the field in the first half, and improved slightly after intermission to finish 33 percent for the game.

Fort Recovery, on the other hand, was 47.6 percent in the first 16 minutes, and improved to 52.5 percent once the game was complete. Micaiah Cox was 8-for-10 from the field, including a 7-for-7 effort on 2-point field goals, and finished with a game-high 19 points despite not scoring during the fourth quarter.

The 6-foot, 4-inch senior had three offensive rebound put-backs in the first half.

“That is the quietest 19 I’ve ever seen him score all year,” Guggenbiller said. Cox’s only 3-point basket came at the end of the third quarter, giving the Indians a 52-32 advantage. The Indians led by as much as 58-32 three minutes into the third quarter.

Ryan Braun joined Cox and Bihn in double figures with 10 points, as he made two of the Tribe’s five 3-pointers.

It was a physical game throughout, with Fort Recovery reaching the double bonus with 30 seconds to play in the first quarter. New Bremen was whistled for 14 fouls in the first half, and the Indians made nine consecutive free throws to start the contest. They finished 14-for-17 from the stripe.

“We knew that New Bremen was going to come out and be extremely physical tonight,” Guggenbiller said. “I really like how we responded to the physicalness, to the nature of how the game was being called.”

Fort Recovery accounted for 18 of the 37 total fouls, and Guggenbiller said he was pleased the frequent whistles didn’t change how the Indians played.

“Our kids knew we had to come out with a focus and handle our business.”