Three in a row for Fort Recovery

ELIDA, Ohio — Kade Stevenson scored on an assist from Wyatt Schlaeppi.

Then Schlaeppi had a basket of his own.

Matthew Ayers followed with a layup, and just like that what was once a 10-point Indian lead was just one.

Following a pair of Payton Jutte free throws, the Tribe had the ball for the final shot of the third quarter. Clay Schmitz drove the baseline and kicked the ball to Grant Knapke at the top of the key.

The sophomore buried the triple as the buzzer sounded.

Two minutes into the final period he drilled another and the Black Knights never recovered as the Fort Recovery High School sophomore scored all 12 of his points in the second half to help the Indian boys basketball team to a 54-46 victory over the Van Buren Black Knights in the Division III Lima District sectional final at Elida Fieldhouse.

“I felt really good at that time,” Van Buren coach Tyler Niekamp, a 2003 Fort Recovery High School graduate, said of his thoughts when the Black Knights cut the deficit to one point. “I felt like we had momentum on our side. We were kind of getting in a little bit of a rhythm offensively.

“That three Knapke hit was just a killer. I don’t know what happened or how we lost him, but that was a good shot by him.”

First-year Fort Recovery coach Michael Bashore was proud of Knapke for hitting those two shots at crucial times.

“Those are momentum changers,” he said. “They were starting to creep back in and they didn’t get there. I’m awful proud.”

Fort Recovery (15-9), which has won eight of its last nine games and is now three-time sectional champion, advances to the district semifinal at 8 p.m.

Thursday against Midwest Athletic Conference rival Coldwater at Lima Senior. The Cavaliers defeated Lima Perry by a score of 60-54 in the second sectional final at Elida.

“I can’t say enough about how well we played defensively,” said Bashore, whose team beat Coldwater 54-51 on a Cade Wendel 3-pointer at the buzzer Feb. 9 at Fort Site Fieldhouse. 

“It’s our second straight game we played well from start to finish. We’re always going to have lapses here and there.

“For the most part, we played really well.”

Entering Friday, Ayers led Van Buren (15-8) with 16.6 points per game, and the Indians held him to 10.

Ayers hit a 3-pointer in each of the second and fourth quarters, but FRHS senior Cade Wendel mostly limited his effectiveness on offense, when the Indian was actually on the court and not in foul trouble.

“That’s a credit to Cade,” Bashore said. “He’s one of the best defenders in the (Midwest Athletic Conference), especially on the ball. He works so tirelessly. Cade just works his butt off from baseline to baseline.”

Ayers finished 4-of-14 from the field.

Stevenson was two points below his average of 10.2 points per game. Niekamp said it was his plan to get the 6-foot, 5-inch, senior forward the ball in the post in the second half but he wasn’t very effective in getting his shots to fall. He was 3-for-7 after the break and missed all four of his 2-point field goals in the fourth quarter.

“For whatever reason (Stevenson) couldn’t get those shots to fall,” Niekamp said of the Black Knights’ second-half offense. “On top of that we struggled with free-throw shooting. I felt like that was it.”

Michael Kramer led the Black Knights in scoring with 14 points, which included four baskets from behind the arc.

Van Buren was 5-of-12 from the stripe while the Tribe was 21-of-25. Payton Jutte, a Fort Recovery junior who led all players with 19 points, was 10-of-13 from the line including making five in the fourth quarter.

Fort Recovery had its season end each of the last two years in the Division IV district tournament to the Perry Commodores. Perry won in the district semifinal in 2016 and the championship last year on its way to reaching the state semifinal.

This year, in Division III, the Tribe is hoping to win the first district crown since 2010.

“With how our season ended last year in districts with Lima Perry we wanted to revisit that,” said Ryan Braun, a Tribe senior who scored six points with a broken shooting hand. “With coach Bashore, he brings so much energy. We felt like we had to win this one for him.

“Us seniors, we’re not ready to be done yet.”