It's Over-man

BERNE — After a tough start from 3-point range for Owen Wanner, he stepped up with a big shot for the Starfires to tie the game.

Too bad for him, Briggs Overman called game.

Dribbling to his left, Overman hit a game-winning buzzer beater to lift the Fort Recovery boys basketball team to a 39-37 victory over the South Adams Starfires on Friday night.

Sitting on the floor after hitting the shot, Overman let out a scream as his team rushed to him in excitement.

“It was a little bit scary but it felt good,” Overman said.

The play wasn’t initially designed for the junior. After a timeout with 10.3 seconds left and a foul that brought time down to less than nine seconds, the Indians (4-2) drew up a play designed for Gavin Faller. However, when forward Rex Leverette caught the ball on the post, the Starfires (1-7) triple teamed him, forcing him to focus on just keeping the ball safe.

He secured the ball and passed toward the right corner to Overman, who took two dribbles toward half court and one inside the free throw line. He elevated over Wanner and sank the shot as the buzzer sounded to win the game.

“I was going to come around and set a screen for our big guy, Gavin,” Overman said. “But I popped out, Rex was lucky enough to get me the ball and I just went and created to hit the shot.”

During a two-minute stretch of the second quarter, Leverette had committed three turnovers in a row while trying to force high-low action from the elbow. As the game went on, he cleaned that up, and even picked up four assists in the game.

None was bigger than the last.

“I just had to not force the ball, make pass fakes, find the open guy and not force it in,” Rex Leverette said. “I knew first of all, I had to keep control. As soon as Briggs was open, I knew he could hit a shot, so I gave him the ball.”

The flood gates opened late in the game as five players scored baskets for Fort Recovery in the fourth quarter while Wanner and Tytus Lehman combined for 18 points in the period.

Wanner struggled from distance early in the game, coming into the fourth quarter 0-for-4 from 3-point range and only 2-for-10 on the evening.

He finally hit one with 2 minutes, 14 seconds, to go off an assist from Lehman to cut the Indians’ lead to two.

A basket from Eli Lennartz extended the lead back to four game before Wanner nailed another, assisted by Derek McKean to cut the deficit to one with 49.4 seconds to go.

A timeout and a scripted play led to Faller getting a wide-open bucket. Wanner wasn’t to be denied, as a jab step gave him just enough space to tie the game with less than 14 seconds left before Overman’s game winner.

“We need some other kids (than Lehman) to step up,” said SAHS coach Garrett Krieg, a 2011 Jay County High School graduate. “Owen Wanner did a great job hitting some shots for us. He struggled to shoot the ball the last few games. It was great to see him hit three threes there.”

Wanner finished with 13 points while Lehman led all scorers with 17.

The first half was a rock fight, with only 28 total points scored. South Adams couldn’t find the basket at all until the 1:14 mark of the first quarter when McKean converted a drive.

Fort Recovery hit four shots in the opening period, all from different players, and three more in the second. The Starfires netted 11 points in the second quarter to trail the Indians 15-13 at the break.

“That 1-2-2 is a tough defense to play against and if you’re not going to hit shots, it’s going to be a grinder,” FRHS coach Bob Leverette said. “We didn’t hit shots. …

“Teams can hang around with that defense. That’s part of the reason why we play our 3-2. It’s the same principles to get teams standing around.”

The Indians had a balanced scoring effort with Overman tallying a team-high eight points. After him, Reece Guggenbiller, Rex Leverette, Faller and Lennartz all had six points, while Alex Dues added five.

“We’ll take the win,” Bob Leverette said. “We told the guys early in the season, ‘Any type of win is a win.’ We’ll take it and go.”

Junior varsity

The Indians rolled out to a large first-half lead as they beat the Starfires 47-27 on Friday.

Fort Recovery scored 15 in the first and then 17 in the second quarter while it held South Adams to only 13 first half points.

Tyler Wendel led the way with 12 points, 10 of which he scored in the first half.

Breaker Jutte and Brody Barga followed up with nine points each. Jutte did all of his scoring in the first period, netting four baskets and 1-of-2 free throws. Barga’s scoring was spread between the second and third with three in the former and six in the latter.

Henry Craig led South Adams with 12 points, of which came from 3-pointers. He hit two early and another in the second and third before running dry.