Overman overcomes

FORT RECOVERY — In the opener, Breaker Jutte and Brody Barga combined for 35 points.

When the Patriots crossed the border, Aiden Phillips and Gradin Swoveland locked the Tribe’s top scorers up.

But where the leading scorers struggled, the rest of the Indians shined.

Hudson Overman stepped up to lead the Fort Recovery High School boys basketball team to a 49-40 victory over the Jay County Patriots on Saturday evening.

“We knew this was going to be a battle, it is every year,” said FRHS coach Bob Leverette. “They got us over there last year and I thought we played them pretty tough as young as we were. So we came in saying, ‘It’s now. It’s not next year, it’s now with this group and they’re starting to understand that.”

While the Patriots (2-2) didn’t bring a victory back to Indiana, they did have some positives to pull from the game, particularly in the defensive efforts of Phillips and Swoveland.

Phillips matched up with Jutte, who scored 25 points in Fort Recovery’s season opener against Jefferson, while Swoveland checked Barga. The Patriot defenders didn’t give up any easy looks to Jutte or Barga, resulting in only two made field goals between the two. Even then, Barga’s bucket came on an offensive rebound in transition before the defense was ever set and Jutte   scored at the buzzer on a leak-out dunk after Jay County missed its final shot.

In total, they combined for just nine points on 2-of-9 shooting and five free throws.

“They answered the bell,” said JCHS coach Tyler Rigby. “I thought both of them did extremely well. Aiden, I mean, you expect that out of him. He always plays that way, he’s always physical, moves his feet really well for his size. Then Gradin answered the bell.”

While Jutte and Barga came up short on the offensive end of the floor, the rest of the Indians stepped up.

Overman and Grant Fortkamp carried a bulk of the offensive load with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Fort Recovery (2-0) entered the second quarter down 9-8. Overman quickly changed that as he sank a jumper from the free throw line after the ball landed in his hands during a scramble. A minute later he knocked down a 3-pointer on a dribble hand off with Dylan Klenke to go up 13-9.

“We just wanted to come out and it’s kind of like a rival team, and our plan was just to go in there and beat them,” said Overman after making his second career start. “Those were big shots to bring us up and take away, so we could go and do our thing and play regular basketball instead of being rushed.”

Overman scored the next two Tribe points on a pair of free throws. Barga hit two of his four free throws with four minutes remaining to regain the lead before Overman found Fortkamp with a skip pass for a triple. 

FRHS hit another three as Barga made a shallow drive before kicking out to Klenke on the right wing to go up 23-15.

“There was a little bit of, in some timeouts, where we had to say, ‘OK, we’re together,’” Leverette said. “‘Let’s do this together. Let’s finish this together.’ And they did.

“They know they’ve got to win as a team. Brody Barga gets six points, Breaker Jutte gets three, and one is a dunk at the end of the game, and we win by nine. That’s saying something about their team mentality.”

Klenke added his three points, while Colson Post and Douglas Bihn both had four.

The Patriots only had four players score in the game. Gradin Swoveland led the way with 16 points, while Gabe Overton had 14 off the bench. Kade Sommers added three scores at the rim, while Jayden Comer only hit two free throws.

“We didn’t execute the X’s and O’s the way that we needed to,” Rigby said. “It kind of showed in the end result, right? We missed a lot of shots but they weren’t necessarily the easiest shots to make. We just didn’t execute to get the right shots.”

While the Indians walked away with the victory, Leverette had some high praise for Rigby and the direction Jay County is heading in.

“What a great rivalry,” Leverette said. “Stay tuned, because Tyler (Rigby) is going to get this thing going. It’s going to be a well-oiled machine. I’m glad we play them earlier.”