First title in five years

ST. MARYS, Ohio — For the first time in five years, the Indians are sectional champions.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys basketball team used a strong first half to propel it to a 61-50 victory Friday over the Upper Scioto Valley Rams in the championship game of the Division IV sectional tournament at Memorial.

It marked the Tribe’s first sectional championship since winning three in a row from 2016 through 2018.

The Indians (15-9), who are the No. 5 seed in the district, advance to play top-seeded and seventh-ranked Marion Local (19-4) in the district semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Wapakoneta. The Flyers cruised in their sectional title game Friday at Memorial, defeating eighth-seeded Ada 65-38.

Fort Recovery picked up Friday night where it left off in Tuesday’s 57-30 sectional-opening win over New Knoxville, zooming out to a 15-5 lead over the No. 3 seed Rams (16-7) in the opening quarter. It pushed the advantage to 13 points at halftime and was up 44-29 heading into the fourth quarter. Thirteen free throws in the final eight minutes sealed the win.

Cale Rammel’s 19 points led the Indians to the sectional title. He hit four 3-pointers in the victory.

Troy Homan and Rex Leverette added 10 points apiece and Daniel Patch finished with nine.

Upper Scioto Valley (16-7) got 19 points apiece from Maddox Underwood and Drew Stephens. But, other than eight points from Alex Sanders, they got little help on the offensive end.

The Division IV district tournament at Wapakoneta will be an all-MAC affair as the other side of the bracket will feature No. 2 seed New Bremen against No. 4 seed St. Henry. They will play at 6 p.m. with the Fort Recovery/Marion Local game to follow.

The Indians lost the regular-season meeting to the Flyers, 48-32 on Jan. 20.