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| Freshman Drew Moore gave the Patriots a spark off the bench with aggressive defense and 11 points including (3) three-pointers. TV however didn't have enough offense falling to hot handed Fort 66-50. |
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New Madison, OH December 1, 2007
By George Starks Sports Writer for The Daily Advocate
When an Indian fires his arrow, if it’s true to form, it will more often than not, find its mark. In the case of the Ft. Recovery Indians, that arrow found its mark way too many times, not to the liking of Tri-Village in Saturday night varsity boys basketball.
Ft. Recovery hit 26 of 53 field goals on the night, but it was a first quarter barrage that all but buried the Patriots. The Tribe dropped eight of its 13 shots in the bucket in the first eight minutes of play Saturday night en-route to a 66-50 win over the Patriots.
While it seemed like the Indians couldn’t miss, the Patriots couldn’t hit, going just four of 15 from the field, trailing 18-7 after one frame. Even though the Patriots stumbled in the first quarter, they would be able to bounce back, winning the second quarter by four points, and playing the Indians even in the third.
“We came out to start the game and we couldn’t match up with those guys man-to-man wise,” said Patriots coach Josh Sagester. “We thought the only way we could stay in the hunt with them was to make them hit some perimeter shots. To their credit, they did.” Recovery jumped out to an early 9-0 lead, bombing the Patriots zone defense. That brought on a change of personnel on the part of the Patriots.
“Called a time out at that point and we were forced to go with a smaller, scrappier lineup,” said Sagester. “We’re really not a team that wants to go small. We have two horses that we want to play. “We went real small in the second half and I thought to our kids credit, we gutted it out. We could have folded at 24-9 (deficit), but we kept digging, but just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Trailing 34-27 at the break and 49-42 after three, the Patriots fell behind 57-44 with 4:56 remaining in the game. It was the sharp shooting of Drew Moore that got the Patriots back to within striking distance. The Tri-Village freshman dropped back-to-back treys on the Indians, and with 2:59 remaining, the Patriots trailed by just a 57-50 count.
That would be as close as the Patriots would get on their Homecoming Night. Tri-Village would be forced to foul the rest of the way, and the Indians would do what was needed, hit the shots from the charity stripe.
“Drew is a very skilled young kid, and we are bringing him along slowly,” Sagester said of his young bombardier. “He has a nice stroke, and hopefully by making a few shots tonight, it will help improve his confidence. Making the perimeter shot in the past is something we’ve lacked. Hopefully, we can bring that to our arsenal, and we can use it in the future.”
After starting 2-0 to open the season, on the road, the Patriots are now 2-2 on the season, 1-1 in the Cross County Conference (CCC) and will face Tri-County North on the road next Friday.
“We just faced two of the best teams on our schedule, back-to- back,” Sagester pointed out. “Now we have to get the ship moving in the right direction. Last year, we lost six games in a row, and we got back on the right track.
Now that we’ve lost two in a row, I think the kids are going to be hungry, and we have to be able to get wins on the road. I believe in these kids, and I think they believe in us (the coaching staff and program). We will get things in line.”
Ryan Buck and Tyler Greer led the Patriots on the floor with 12 points, each while Moore dropped in 11 tallies.
Greg Kahlig led all scorers with 22, and pulled down 12 boards for the Indians. Fort Recovery hosts Versailles Friday night in the rescheduled Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) opener for both teams.
The Patriots junior varsity also fell, 36-27. Brett Foreman led the Patriot attack with 14 points.
Score By Quarters:
TV 7 20 15 8 - 50
FR 18 16 15 17 - 66
Tri-Village
Barger 2
Brubaker 2
Buck 12
Greer 12
Moore 11
Stutz 6
West 5
Totals 50
Ft. Recovery
Braun 2
Thien 4
Rammel 11
Metzger 4
Kahlig 22
Faller 8
Tobe 15
Totals 66
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| Tyler Greer split the defense all night but the Indians still came out on top. |
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