Tribe tumbles in sectional

ST. HENRY, Ohio — The old adage is true in the Midwest Athletic Conference; what happened in the regular season means nothing come tournament time.

The Indians found that out the hard way Friday.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team had too many crucial turnovers and wasn’t able to get shots to fall all the while St. Henry was more fortunate on offense in handing the Indians a 59-38 loss in the Division IV Wapakoneta District sectional final.

“Well, going into this game we knew they were very good and it (was) going to be a challenge,” said FRHS senior Clay Schmitz, whose team ended its season 12-12. “But down the stretch they hit a few more shots and ours weren’t falling.

“This opened their lead, and it’s hard to come back in games like these.”

Fort Recovery coach Jim Melton, whose team lost 43-42 to St. Henry during the regular season, would not speak with media following the game.

St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck, however, reiterated something he’s been telling media all season.

“I just love this team,” he said. “Their toughness, their moxy, the way they approach practice on a daily basis, and for it to showcase itself out there … We try to hang our hat on defense, but for whatever reason teams have been shooting really well against us.

“Fort shot really well against us in the first half.”

St. Henry, the district’s No. 3 seed, meets top-seeded Lima Perry (16-3) in the district semifinal Tuesday at Wapakoneta.

The Indians, who have now lost in the sectional final for three straight years, got a 16-15 lead in the second quarter following a pair of Brian Bihn free throws.

At the other end, Bennett Gels gave the Redskins (17-6) back the lead, and three straight Indian turnovers resulted in points at the other end. Luke Gels scored from the right block, Carter Ontrop almost had a clean dunk but the ball bounced around the rim before going through the hoop, and Bennett Gels added a jumper from the left elbow as the Tribe deficit rose to nine, 23-16.

Fort Recovery had a bit of a rally on four points each by Derek Jutte and Bihn and went into the break only down four, 28-24.

A Schmitz 3-pointer from the right wing on a Cale Rammel pass brought the Tribe as close as two, 30-28, with 6:10 to play in the third quarter. After four points from Ontrop and two by Rammel, it was a 34-30 game nearly three minutes into the second half.

That’s when things started to unravel for Fort Recovery’s offense, which had shot an even 50% (8-of-16) in the first half while St. Henry was 12-for-20 (60%).

Jaden Lange, who had three offensive rebounds in the third quarter, put back one of them for two points after the teams traded turnovers. Following another FRHS giveaway, Lange grabbed another offensive board, which led to a Bennett Gels 3-pointer. Ontrop later added two points as St. Henry scored 10 straight while the Tribe committed three turnovers and missed four 3-pointers.

“That was just will,” Rosenbeck said of the effort by Lange, who at 5-feet, 8-inches tall is listed as the shortest player on the court. “He wanted it that bad so he comes flying in there from the 3-point line, all 5-8 of him or whatever he is — and that’s being generous — and did a great job.”

Bennett Gels led a SHHS contingent of four players to score in double figures with his game-high 16 points. Ontrop finished with 14 points, Lange had a dozen and Logan Lefeld put in 10.

Fort Recovery committed six of its 15 turnovers during the fourth quarter when it tried to trim away the 44-30 deficit it had at the end of the third. Half of those six turnovers were charge calls.

“Their defense is pretty good,” Schmitz said. “But we had some open looks that we couldn’t capitalize on and we had some bad turnovers.”

Bihn, who led the Indians with 11 points, made two free throws with 3:05 to play, bringing the score to 52-38, but the Indians never scored again.