Big mans’ game

ST. HENRY, Ohio — Fort Recovery didn’t put forward its best foot on Thursday night in a 61-34 loss to Marion Local.

Without any time to digest what happened, it was thrust into another matchup with a familiar opponent. The immediate response wasn’t what it would have liked, but the Indians picked up traction as the game went along to keep things close.

They just didn’t have enough to complete the comeback.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team nearly erased a 12-0 deficit, but strong free throw shooting from St. Henry’s basketball team led to a 54-40 defeat Friday night.

“I think that blowout loss is a bit deceiving because we had two starters in foul trouble from the second quarter on,” FRHS coach Bob Leverette said. “I’m not going to read too much into that game. But, that being said, I like our chances for playing both of these teams for our league play.”

St. Henry (4-3) was able to take control early in the game with a 12-0 run to start the first quarter. Two keys to building the lead were the offensive pace and inside play for St. Henry. 

Of the five initial baskets, two came in transition and two were off of offensive rebounds – one of those was the same shot when Evan Bowers had a putback off of a missed shot in transition.

The Indians (4-4) ended the dry spell with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left in the opening period, when Briggs Overman came in off of the bench, drove to the hoop and converted a 3-point-play.

Six of St. Henry’s 18 field goals either came off of steals or manufactured transition opportunities, where it would rip the ball down after a missed or made shot and hustled down the floor to put pressure on Fort Recovery’s defense.

“We wanted to get stops and then we thought we could run,” SHHS coach Eric Rosenbeck said. “We’re trying to get as many live ball turnovers as we can get. …

“It’s a defensive grind, because it was a lot slower pace than our normal. We’re going to see that throughout the year. We probably have another three or four teams on our schedule that’re going to slow us down. We have to have the grit, the toughness, and the want to work to be able to execute and get a win in a low scoring game.”

St. Henry ended up forcing the Indians to commit 16 turnovers in the game. 

The closest FRHS came to St. Henry’s lead came late in the third quarter. Rex Leverette took the ball from coast-to-coast with one minute left in the third to cut the deficit down to six. After that, SHHS took control at the free throw line, knocking down 13-of-18 foul shots in the final nine minutes of play.

St. Henry also had two big inside weapons to use against Fort Recovery. Luke Beyke had a strong first half, hitting five baskets, while Evan Bowers had a slower start, but ultimately matched that throughout the game.

“When they get it that deep, we try to wall up, and if you get it that close you probably should score,” Leverette said. “I think our defensive effort was fine. We’ll probably change some things up for the next time we see them, but overall I’m proud of the guys.”

Beyke also added a 3-point shot and hit 6-of-7 free throws to earn a game-high 19 points. Bowers hit both of his attempts to add 12 to the board for St. Henry.

Bowers was just one rebounds short of a double-double as he led all players with nine rebounds. Three of the nine boards he snagged were offensive rebounds. The Indians ended with one more offensive rebound than St. Henry with 13.

Overman provided the biggest lift for Leverette’s team. The junior came off of the bench with an aggressive mindset, looking to get downhill and attack the rim by finding small seams in the defense.

“He's the only guy on our team right now that can create off the dribble and create his own shot,” Leverette said. “He's starting to get things going. He's starting to understand the physicality of the game, being a JV guy last year, he's starting to figure things out. We're very proud of him.”

The Indians played the strongest in the second quarter and the third. In the second, the Tribe matched SHHS with 13 points apiece, while outsourcing it 13-10 in the third. The Indians got the ball inside a lot easier during the two quarters, while also making more trips to the free throw line. They also turned the ball over the least amount of times in the third quarter, only coughing the rock up three times.

The Indians did shoot better from the outside than St. Henry because of Reece Guggenbiller. The senior led the shooting effort with 3-of-5 from distance, while Beyke only hit one shot from beyond the arc.

Guggenbiller finished the game as the Indians’ second-leading scorer with nine points. No one else scored more than five.

Overall, Leverette was happy with his team’s defensive effort in the game and is looking forward to when it will match up with St. Henry on Feb. 2 on the Indians’ home court.

“Kudos to them, they had some good movement offensively,” Leverette said. “I’m very proud of our defensive effort. These guys just scored 80 the other night at Marion Local so to hold them to 53 at home is a pretty good effort on our part.”