Tribe falls in nail biter to open up MAC play

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians dropped their first game of the season on Tuesday.

On Friday, a slow third quarter ended up being the difference in their second loss of the season.

The Fort Recovery High School boys basketball team was held to only three points in the third quarter as it lost the Midwest Athletic Conference opener against the Parkway Panthers 33-30.

The Indians (2-2, 0-1 MAC) led 20-19 at halftime because of a 14-point second quarter. Alex Dues fueled the scoring for Fort Recovery, hitting two threes and a pair of twos to score 10 of his game-high 13 points.

The game took a turn in Parkway’s (3-2, 1-0 MAC) in the third quarter, only allowing Reece Guggenbiller to hit one 3-point jump shot to hold the Indians to three points from the field.

The Panthers scored seven points of their own on a three from Trent Rollins and a basket by both Wyatt Carpenter and Douglass Hughs.

Parkway knocked down just enough of its fourth-quarter free throws to keep the lead, thwarting the Indians’ comeback effort. The Panthers went 5-for-11 from the charity stripe while Fletcher Smith added a hoop.

No one on Parkway scored in double-figures, but it didn’t matter as eight players contributed offensively. Rollins and Brayden Bruns led the way with eight apiece.

Gavin Faller was the only Indian outside of Dues to hit more than one shot, putting in one in the first and two in the fourth to tally seven points.