Tribe takes one at Troy

TROY, Ohio — Neither team could find significant separation in the first half.

Coming out of the locker room at the intermission, the Tribe was ready to attack the Wildcats. Being the aggressor paid off for the Indians.

The sixth-seeded Fort Recovery High School boys basketball team jumped on top of the No. 7 seed Houston Wildcats in the OHSAA Division VI Southwest 1 sectional championship hosted by Troy on Thursday, controlling the glass and getting to the foul line at will to earn a 59-50 victory.

After falling in the first round last season, the win advances the Indians (7-16) to the district opener in which they will face the No. 5 seed Riverside on Tuesday at approximately 7:30 p.m.

“I’m just super excited,” said FRHS coach Bob Leverette. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight. (Houston’s) a Shelby County League team. They’re in the same boat we are. It’s 0-0 (now) but we both had pretty tough seasons. Felt like we were both pretty battle-tested and know it would be down to the wire. We made our free throws, I’m just proud of our kids and we get to go play for a second.”

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Fort Recovery boys basketball sectional championship vs. Houston (2/20/2025)

The Indians came out of the locker room with aggression and looked to get to the rim.

As a result, Fort Recovery got to the free throw line at a large clip, found success on the offensive glass and even got some opportunities for kick outs.

FRHS went on a 10-4 run over the first 3 minutes, 17 seconds, of the third period. Breaker Jutte opened the quarter with a bucket on an assist from Briggs Overman, before Grant Fortkamp hit a three off a Overman outlet pass.

Jeffrey Leist, who led Houston (5-18) with 13 points, scored the Wildcats’ first bucket 45 seconds into the period. The Tribe grabbed the ball right of the net and Grant Fortkamp stormed down the floor to score just eight seconds later.

Davis Burks then got to the free throw line to cut the HHS deficit to 27-24 before Brody Barga scored on an offensive rebound in transition and Fortkamp hit a pair of free throws after being fouled by Joseph Mohler on a curl cut.

The teams traded baskets through the rest of the third before Barga finished with back-to-back baskets on an offensive rebound and in transition to go up 38-32. Barga put forward a strong day as he led the Indians in points, rebounds, assists and field goal percentage. The sophomore had a double-double with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting (85.7%) and 14 rebounds and also dished out four assists.

Barga found a lot of his success on the offensive glass as he pulled down six of the team’s 14 offensive rebounds, resulting in four buckets for him.

“I’m 6’5” obviously, but it’s all positioning,” Barga said. “I watch Dennis Rodman on documentaries, getting it off the backboard, getting in the right position and all that stuff.”

The Wildcats got the score down to four points with 5:22 left to play, but the free throw line became a major factor down the stretch. After Burks cut the game to 43-39, FRHS scored the next six points on free throws from Overman and Colson post and a Barga drive.

With a 10-point advantage and only three minutes remaining, the Indians only needed one more bucket from Jutte on a baseline-out-of-bounds play assisted by Barga before bonus free throws took them home.

Fort Recovery outscored Houston by 18 points at the foul line. The Tribe shot 21-for-32 (65.6%) on free throws, including 11-for-15 (73.3%) in the fourth quarter, while the Wildcats went 3-for-5 (60%).

On the defensive end of the floor, Leist carved the Indians up inside during the first half before quieting down and Luke Crim found his 3-point shot late in the third quarter to hit four triples. While Houston’s big man and shooter found ways to score, the Indians held the HHS guards — Burks and Skylar Boman — to just 14 combined points.

Jutte started his day on Bowman, but as the Houston senior got into foul trouble, he switched onto Burks to finish off the game.

“(Bowman) was their dude that kind of created everything and we wanted to keep him out of the paint,” Leverette said about matching him up with Jutte, a 6 foot, 5 inch forward. “Once he fouled out, Breaker had to go to the next best guy and he did a really good job on him. We lost (Crim) a few times near the end and let him hit a couple of threes, but overall pretty solid efforts.”

Fort Recovery had a balanced offensive attack as Barga was supported by 12 points from Overman, 11 by Fortkamp, nine from Jutte and seven from Post. Braylon Dilworth and Gavin Evers each scored a basket as well for three and two points, respectively.

Next up, the Indians will face the Pirates of Riverside (8-15). The team from De Graff beat the fourth-seeded Northeastern 55-53 to make it to the district opener.