Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Indians get revenge on Cavaliers in overtime
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Dave Heirholzer/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Cody Fiely, 25, goes up for a lay up as Coldwater's Tim Brunet, 42, tries to block the shot during their Midwest Athletic Conference contest on Friday night at The Palace. Fort Recovery defeated Coldwater, 56-51 in overtime.
COLDWATER - The rematch of Fort Recovery and Coldwater certainly lived up to the hype.
And 32 minutes was not enough to contain the action.
The Cavaliers tied the game at 48-all with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter. In the overtime, Coldwater got a lead with 90 seconds to go, but the Indians scored the last six points of the game to avenge their only loss of the season with a 56-51 overtime victory in a jam-packed Palace.
The win moves the Indians, ranked 13th in the first Associated Press Division IV poll, to 9-1 on the season and 3-0 in Midwest Athletic Conference play. The loss snaps the Division III fourth-ranked Cavaliers' eight-game win streak and Coldwater is now 8-1 overall and 2-1 in the MAC.
"Anytime you can beat a ranked team, we're obviously excited about that," said Fort Recovery coach Brian Patch. "... At this point, I'm not sure how much rankings mean. We'll definitely enjoy the win."
The game was evenly matched for most of the night, everything from shooting to rebounding to turnovers (which the teams combined for only 15 in the contest).
"Coming in at halftime, the stats were identical," said Patch. "At first, I'm looking at the stats and I didn't know which team was which. ... It was two even teams, basically, the whole way out."
The Cavaliers worked hard to contain Greg Kahlig, who entered the night 77 points away from the all-time scoring record at Fort Recovery. Using Luke Grieshop and Cory Klenke - the pair that helped contain Kahlig to 19 points in the Mercer Health Holiday Classic championship game in December - Kahlig was held to seven points at the half.
The big difference between the first meeting and Friday night was that other Indians were able to get some shots to drop. Jason Pottkotter came off the bench for the Indians to score seven points in the first quarter and freshman Wade Gelhaus added seven points.
"If you think we're a one-man band, we're definitely not that," said Patch. "We just didn't hit some shots the last time (we played) compared to this time."
"I thought Fort Recovery had a couple kids that stepped up," said Coldwater coach Mike Kanney. "I thought Gelhaus played well and Pottkotter off the bench did too. I thought we did a pretty good job containing Kahlig and made some other guys try and beat us. They made some shots."
Kahlig caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 12 of the team's 16 points as the Indians had a 44-38 lead with 1:47 to go in the third quarter, only to have Coldwater's Keith Wenning hit back-to-back treys to cut the Cavaliers' deficit to 44-42 before Kahlig scored to send it to the fourth quarter with the scoreboard reading 46-42 in favor of Fort Recovery.
A Gelhaus bucket with 2:52 to play in regulation were the first points of the quarter, but the Cavaliers came storming back. Wenning hit a bucket to make it 48-44, and after the Cavaliers got the ball back, Eric Lefeld scored and was fouled with 1:42 to go. Lefeld missed the free throw, leaving the score 48-46, but the Indians missed a shot on the ensuing possession and Cavalier Tim Brunet was fouled.
Brunet made both free throws to tie the game with 79 seconds left. The Indians took their time on their next possession, looking for Kahlig, who missed a 15-footer as the horn sounded, sending the game into overtime.
Fort Recovery took first blood in the extra session on a Kahlig bucket, but Wenning came back with a three-pointer to make it 51-50 in favor of the Cavs with 1:33 left. After the bucket, Lefeld and Kahlig were tangled up and Kahlig went hard to the floor and appeared to have some blood. Patch wasted no time in sending in Jared Kahlig, who had not played in the game to that point, to take the free throw. Jared Kahlig made the first to tie the game, but missed the second.
"He's a good free-throw shooter. He has confidence and we have confidence in him," said Patch of putting Jared Kahlig in that situation. "It was a no-doubter who we were (going to put in) at that situation. ... He's mad because he missed the second one because he's such a good foul shooter."
After Coldwater missed a shot, Fort Recovery's Cody Fiely got the rebound and the Indians called timeout, but on the ensuing inbounds, a bad pass went out of bounds and gave the Cavaliers the ball near their basket.
Wenning tried a jumper, but missed with Gelhaus rebounding and getting fouled. Gelhaus made one of two from the charity stripe to give the Indians a 52-51 lead. The Cavaliers rebounded, but lost the ball on a Greg Kahlig steal and Greg Kahlig went to the line and made both shots with 23 seconds left to make it 54-51. Coldwater came down and Wenning tried a three-pointer to no avail before Pottkotter wrapped up the night with two free throws to ice the game.
"It was definitely an intense game," said Patch. "We had a great crowd, they had a great crowd. It was a tournament-like atmosphere. I told Mike before the game that this will be great for our kids. This is our sectional (Coldwater hosts the Division IV sectional), that gives us a confidence boost coming here playing in front of a great crowd and playing well."
"Great ball game," said Kanney. "I thought we just didn't make the big baskets down the stretch that we needed to. We made a nice comeback to tie it in regulation and our kids showed a real gut-check there."
Greg Kahlig finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds while Tobe and Pottkotter each added 11 with Gelhaus scoring 10.
Wenning, who did not make a field goal in Tuesday's game against Shawnee, was 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the three-point line en route to a 21-point night. Lefeld added 12 points and 11 rebounds with Brunet scoring 10.
Fort Recovery will make a trek down to Franklin-Monroe tonight while Coldwater will get a rare Saturday night off, the only one for the rest of the regular season, before hosting Versailles next Friday.
NOTES - Coldwater Athletic Director Eric Goodwin confirmed that the game was an official sellout, only the second one since The Palace was opened in 1990-91. The other occasion was the Backyard Battle with St. Henry during the 2002-03 season. ... The game will be replayed this morning at 10:45 a.m. on WTLW.
Photo by Dave Heirholzer/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Greg Kahlig, 32, is fouled by Coldwater's Eric Lefeld, 50, as fellow Cavalier Tim Brunet, 42, also defends on the play with the Indians' Wade Gelhaus, right, looking on during their Midwest Athletic Conference contest on Friday night at The Palace. Fort Recovery defeated Coldwater, 56-51 in overtime as the Indians handed the Cavaliers their first loss of the season.
Photo by Dave Heirholzer/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Craig Tobe, 30, goes up for two points in front of Coldwater's Eric Lefeld, right, during their Midwest Athletic Conference contest on Friday night. Tobe had 11 points in Fort Recovery's 56-51 overtime win over Coldwater.
