March 1, 2023 at 6:07 p.m.
No call for FR
Indians come up just short against the No. 7 Flyers in district semifinal
No call for FR
WAPAKONETA, Ohio — The fans clad in purple and white chanted “Danny P, Danny P” after Daniel Patch scored a quick five points to open the second half.
They erupted when Cale Rammel’s 3-pointer gave their team its first lead of the second half with 3:50 to play.
They roared again when Rammel hit a pair of free throws for a two-point advantage in the final minute.
In the end, though, those cheers turned to screams of frustration — from both the fans and coach Bob Leverette — when their Indians didn’t get a call in the final moments.
There was contact but no call on Rammel’s potential game-winning shot Tuesday as Fort Recovery High School fell just short of upsetting the top-seeded and seventh-ranked Marion Local Flyers in the Division IV boys basketball district semifinal at Wapakoneta.
“Tough way to end,” said Leverette, a first-year coach whose team was playing in a district tournament for the first time since 2018. “Very tough way to end.”
The Indians (15-10) were in the lead or tied for more than three minutes — they spread the floor and held the ball for much of that time — before Marion Local’s Jadyn Mescher hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 32 seconds left for a 35-34 advantage. They looked for a shot but were unable to find anything before Leverette took a timeout with 7.3 seconds left to set up a play for Rammel, who led all scorers with 19 points.
Rex Leverette, the coach’s son, inbounded from underneath the basket to Rammel, who was immediately double teamed. He spun toward the middle and put up a shot over Tate Hess of Marion Local (21-4). Hess made contact with Rammel’s right forearm when the ball was still in his hand, but there was no foul call and the shot missed its mark.
“We just wanted to either have the lead at the end or have a shot to win it at the end,” said Bob Leverette. “And we had a shot to win it at the end. Maybe he got fouled, maybe he didn’t. I kind of think he did. But, you know what, if we make some free throws earlier, it doesn’t come down to that shot.”
FRHS finished 4-of-8 from the line, with three of the misses coming in the final two minutes.
A foul by Rex Leverette on the rebound after Rammel’s potential game-winner preserved one second on the clock, but Hess was able to throw a deep inbound pass to Mescher to end the game.
“You have to survive a game like this if you want to get on an extended tournament run,” said Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller, whose team advances to Friday’s district final to play No. 4 seed St. Henry (14-12). “We’re gonna be playing a great St. Henry team that has really improved, so we’re going to have our hands full Friday. … This Wapak district is tough because it’s league teams, and you know each other so well.”
St. Henry knocked off second-seeded New Bremen 58-45 in Tuesday’s first semifinal. Friday’s winner — the Flyers won the regular-season game 68-52 over St. Henry — will advance to the regional tournament at Bowling Green State University.
Fort Recovery never trailed in the first quarter Wednesday and had an 14-8 lead after a Rammel 3-pointer from the right wing early in the second. But it scored only two points over the final six-plus minutes of the half to fall behind 22-16.
Patch’s pull-up jumper and 3-pointer, followed by a Rammel free throw, pulled the Indians even early in the third quarter. But Marion Local pushed back to a four-point lead at the end of the period.
Fort Recovery then held the Flyers scoreless for the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, taking a 31-30 lead on a Rammel 3-pointer with 3:50 to play. After a miss by Marion Local’s Austin Niekamp, the Indians spread the floor in an effort to burn the clock. Rex Leverette split free throws to make it 32-30, Hess tied it up on a driving layup and Rammel hit a couple of foul shots before the Mescher triple that set up the final sequence.
“Great effort by our guys,” said Bob Leverette, whose team lost 48-32 to Midwest Athletic Conference champion Marion Local on Jan. 20. “We told them coming in that it was going to take a great effort.
“Had a good game plan. Kind of worked on it for the last month or so, hoping that we would get here to see Marion. I thought we executed it great.
“I’m just super proud of our effort. To be in the game like we were, it was awesome. We executed everything we wanted to do besides the very end.”
Offensively, that game plan involved using the 6-foot, 7-inch Patch — he hit a pair and followed Rammel with eight points — to pull Marion Local’s big men away from the basket. Defensively, they employed a 1-2-2 zone to try to keep the ball out of the middle. And generally, they wanted to limit possessions.
Niekamp was the only Flyer to reach double figures as he finished with 11 points, including three second-quarter 3-pointers. Mescher added nine points and Hess scored six.
They erupted when Cale Rammel’s 3-pointer gave their team its first lead of the second half with 3:50 to play.
They roared again when Rammel hit a pair of free throws for a two-point advantage in the final minute.
In the end, though, those cheers turned to screams of frustration — from both the fans and coach Bob Leverette — when their Indians didn’t get a call in the final moments.
There was contact but no call on Rammel’s potential game-winning shot Tuesday as Fort Recovery High School fell just short of upsetting the top-seeded and seventh-ranked Marion Local Flyers in the Division IV boys basketball district semifinal at Wapakoneta.
“Tough way to end,” said Leverette, a first-year coach whose team was playing in a district tournament for the first time since 2018. “Very tough way to end.”
The Indians (15-10) were in the lead or tied for more than three minutes — they spread the floor and held the ball for much of that time — before Marion Local’s Jadyn Mescher hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 32 seconds left for a 35-34 advantage. They looked for a shot but were unable to find anything before Leverette took a timeout with 7.3 seconds left to set up a play for Rammel, who led all scorers with 19 points.
Rex Leverette, the coach’s son, inbounded from underneath the basket to Rammel, who was immediately double teamed. He spun toward the middle and put up a shot over Tate Hess of Marion Local (21-4). Hess made contact with Rammel’s right forearm when the ball was still in his hand, but there was no foul call and the shot missed its mark.
“We just wanted to either have the lead at the end or have a shot to win it at the end,” said Bob Leverette. “And we had a shot to win it at the end. Maybe he got fouled, maybe he didn’t. I kind of think he did. But, you know what, if we make some free throws earlier, it doesn’t come down to that shot.”
FRHS finished 4-of-8 from the line, with three of the misses coming in the final two minutes.
A foul by Rex Leverette on the rebound after Rammel’s potential game-winner preserved one second on the clock, but Hess was able to throw a deep inbound pass to Mescher to end the game.
“You have to survive a game like this if you want to get on an extended tournament run,” said Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller, whose team advances to Friday’s district final to play No. 4 seed St. Henry (14-12). “We’re gonna be playing a great St. Henry team that has really improved, so we’re going to have our hands full Friday. … This Wapak district is tough because it’s league teams, and you know each other so well.”
St. Henry knocked off second-seeded New Bremen 58-45 in Tuesday’s first semifinal. Friday’s winner — the Flyers won the regular-season game 68-52 over St. Henry — will advance to the regional tournament at Bowling Green State University.
Fort Recovery never trailed in the first quarter Wednesday and had an 14-8 lead after a Rammel 3-pointer from the right wing early in the second. But it scored only two points over the final six-plus minutes of the half to fall behind 22-16.
Patch’s pull-up jumper and 3-pointer, followed by a Rammel free throw, pulled the Indians even early in the third quarter. But Marion Local pushed back to a four-point lead at the end of the period.
Fort Recovery then held the Flyers scoreless for the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, taking a 31-30 lead on a Rammel 3-pointer with 3:50 to play. After a miss by Marion Local’s Austin Niekamp, the Indians spread the floor in an effort to burn the clock. Rex Leverette split free throws to make it 32-30, Hess tied it up on a driving layup and Rammel hit a couple of foul shots before the Mescher triple that set up the final sequence.
“Great effort by our guys,” said Bob Leverette, whose team lost 48-32 to Midwest Athletic Conference champion Marion Local on Jan. 20. “We told them coming in that it was going to take a great effort.
“Had a good game plan. Kind of worked on it for the last month or so, hoping that we would get here to see Marion. I thought we executed it great.
“I’m just super proud of our effort. To be in the game like we were, it was awesome. We executed everything we wanted to do besides the very end.”
Offensively, that game plan involved using the 6-foot, 7-inch Patch — he hit a pair and followed Rammel with eight points — to pull Marion Local’s big men away from the basket. Defensively, they employed a 1-2-2 zone to try to keep the ball out of the middle. And generally, they wanted to limit possessions.
Niekamp was the only Flyer to reach double figures as he finished with 11 points, including three second-quarter 3-pointers. Mescher added nine points and Hess scored six.
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