2024-25 Fort Recovery boys basketball preview

Fast facts

•With the move to the Southwest District, the Tribe will be on the hunt to make its first regional appearance since the 2009-10 season. FRHS has only competed in the district final twice since the previous regional berth.

•Fort Recovery returns 36.6% of its scoring from the 2023-24 season, largely in part due to brining back its leading scorer, Briggs Overman. He put up 218 points as a junior, which was 58 more than Reece Guggenbiller, who finished second.

•The Indians had 11 different players make up the starting lineup last season.

•The Indians last won the Midwest Athletic Conference title in the 2011-12 season under coach Brian Patch.

Projected lineup

Grant Fortkamp - Point guard

Briggs Overman – Shooting guard

Gavin Evers – Small forward

Brody Barga – Power forward

Breaker Jutte – Center

Douglas Bihn – Forward

Braylon Dilworth – Guard

Dylan Klenke – Guard

Colson Post – Guard

Key departures

Rex Leverette

7.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 bpg

Reece Guggenbiller

5.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.0 spg, 1.0 apg

Troy Homan

4.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.0 spg

Gavin Faller

5.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.3 bpg

Key returners

Briggs Overman

9.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.6 spg

Gavin Evers

3.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.7 spg, 0.4 apg

Brody Barga

3.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.3 bpg

Breaker Jutte

3.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.4 spg

2023-24 season

The Indians had a solid start to their season despite losing Midwest Athletic Conference first-teamer Cale Rammel, going 4-2 in their first six games, only falling to Fort Loramie by one in overtime and to Parkway by three in the MAC opener. Things turned south during the  Ohio 119 Classic as Fort Recovery dropped nine consecutive. They snapped the losing streak against Mississinawa Valley before finishing the season 2-5 for a 6-16 record. The Tribe fell in the sectional opener to fifth-seeded Upper Scioto Valley by 13 points, failing to make the district tournament.

Games to watch

Saturday, Dec. 7, at Jay County

Jay County will have already played three games by the time the Indians travel across the boarder. This rivalry game can be used as a measuring stick for how ready FRHS is this year. 

Friday, Dec. 20, vs. Parkway

If FRHS wants to move up in the Midwest Athletic Conference, they need to beat the Panthers, who finished just above it and only won the 2023-24 matchup by three points.

Saturday, Jan. 25, vs. Mississinewa Valley

Jeff Vaughn, the former assistant boys basketball and current head girls golf coach at FRHS, recently took the job as the head man of Mississinewa Valley. Fort Recovery will have an opportunity to spoil his homecoming. 

Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Marion Local

Due to success with the Flyers football team, this game that initially was scheduled for Dec. 13 will be played over a month later. The Indians will now see MLHS in the Ohio 119 classic before their MAC game.

Coach Bob Leverette says

“We don’t really have a lot of pressure on us this year, per se, just with the experience we have coming back, which kind of makes it nice. We can go out and play loose, which is what we plan on doing. Obviously we want to compete in the league. The goal is to be about 0.500 in the league, same with our overall record on the season, and then go on a tournament run like we say every year. The goal always here is to get to districts. That’s a feat in itself. So, came up a little short last year with that, so kind of hoping we can do that with this group. It’s a great group of kids. They are eager, they put a ton of time in the summer, more than we’ve ever put in here at Fort Recovery. I think that has helped with our shooting and our skill set, so hopefully it translates into some wins for us.”