Hard fought

COLDWATER, Ohio — The Indians led the Wildcats for all of 27 seconds in the second quarter.

Then in the second half the Tribe trailed by double digits.

Twice.

On both occasions, the Indians were able to cut the margin to six points or fewer.

Nearing the final minute, they were chasing their conference rival by more than two possessions.

They almost pulled even.

Fort Recovery High School's boys basketball team fought to the bitter end but came up short in a 67-60 loss to the Midwest Athletic Conference rival Minster Wildcats on Friday in the Division IV Wapakoneta District sectional final at Coldwater.

“It was just a toe-to-toe war MAC game in the tournament,” said Minster coach Michael McClurg, whose 15-6 Wildcats advance to the district semifinal on Tuesday against another MAC opponent, St. Henry. The Redskins knocked off the Ada Bulldogs in the first sectional final earlier Friday night.

“Those guys are fighting for their lives like we are,” McClurg added. “I think ultimately we made a run in the third and we were able to hold them off there toward the end.”

When Minster and Fort Recovery met on Jan. 4 at Fort Site Fieldhouse, the Wildcats shot the roof off the gym in a 78-47 throttling of the Indians.

Now, almost two months later, Fort Recovery coach Michael Bashore said he was proud of his team for the way it didn't let up despite being behind so much in the second half.

“Anybody who's watched us all year, when we got down eight to 10 points a couple times they probably would have thought it was over,” he said. “We fought back three times from that. What else can you say?”

Minster led Fort Recovery 48-35 with 2:13 to play in the third quarter, but following consecutive Ian Homan 3-pointers the Tribe (11-12) trailed by just six.

Again the Wildcats got up by 10 after a pair of Jack Heitbrink free throws and a Jarod Schulze basket with five minutes to go.

Yet another Fort Recovery swing — a Clay Schmitz jumper on an assist from Grant Knapke then a layup and foul shot from Payton Jutte — put the Indians within 57-52. And two minutes later, Knapke buried a corner trey to make it a three-point game with 2:31 to go.

Two points apiece from Cody Frericks and Heitbrink ballooned the Wildcat advantage back to seven points before Knapke, who hadn't scored in the second and third quarters, swished a step-back trey to bring the deficit to 62-58.

“(Knapke) had missed one and (assistant coach Scott) Lind … was in his head telling him to be confident,” Bashore said. “Then he went in and hit two in a row. Those were huge.”

But Minster was able to keep Fort Recovery at bay by making four of six foul shots in the final minute.

“We had to hit free throws and we had to handle the basketball,” McClurg said of what it took to secure the win. “We knew they would shoot it. Knapke's last three was from real deep. We knew they were going to knock down some threes and keep chipping away.

“We knew if we handled the basketball, made free throws and made them take tough shots we'd be able to win. That's what we felt like.”

Jutte led the Indians with 17 points in the final game of his career. Schmitz was second with 16 points, and Knapke was third with 11 while also sharing the game high of six rebounds.

Heitbrink matched Jutte's output to pace the Wildcats, who were 10-of-17 from beyond the arc after going 14-of-20 the first time the two teams met. Mike Ketner's 16 points, including four triples, was second to Heitbrink.

“That's a really good basketball team,” Bashore said. “If they end up in Columbus (at the state finals) that wouldn't surprise me at all with the way they shoot the ball. They earned it too. We didn't give it to them. They earned it.”

Minster couldn't quite shake Fort Recovery for a majority of the first half as they never led by more than four points in the opening quarter.

A Ketner layup gave the Wildcats a 21-16 lead, but a Schmitz basket and four Jutte points put the Indians out front 22-21. It was their first lead since scoring on the opening possession.

It looked as if the game was going to head to the break tied at 32 but Heitbrink made a running 3-pointer from the volleyball 10-foot line at the buzzer.

“That was a fun game to be a part of except for the ending,” Bashore said. “We were right there. Our kids played really hard, it's just sad they had to come out on the wrong end of it.”