Indians hold on to defeat Panthers 61-58

ROCKFORD - Fort Recovery held off a frenzied Parkway comeback Friday night and escaped the Panther Gymnasium with a 61-58 Midwest Athletic Conference victory.

Trailing be as many as 17 points in the first half, Parkway got hot from behind the 3-point line and rallied for a fourth quarter lead before running out of gas.

"That's a really good Parkway team. They've come along way," Fort Recovery coach Mike Bashore said. "We knew that once we got up - and we talked about it at halftime - that the lead wasn't big enough, because we knew they were going to start hitting some shots."

After feeling each other out in a low-scoring first quarter, the Indians lit a fuse. Fort Recovery scored 21 points in the first five minutes of the second quarter to take a 31-14 lead. The Tribe got four 3-pointers during the run, including two from Payton Jutte and one each from Derek Jutte and Grant Knapke.

"We were getting looks," Bashore said. "When we run our offense, we can score, or at least get a good look, every time down the floor. We got some great kids on the outside that can shoot the ball and our big kids are getting better every day. We're just not always consistent. We got kids that are stepping into new roles this year."

The Panthers took the blow but did not panic.

"We talked about making a run in the second half," Parkway coach Doug Hughes said. "When we got down 17, we talked about getting it to 10 at half. And then we wanted to get it to four by the end of the third quarter."

The Panthers followed the script and then some.

Caleb Kinney, Mason Baxter and Dylan Hughes all hit 3-pointers to close out the half, as Parkway went on a 9-2 run to trail 33-23 at intermission.

Employing a 1-3-1 half court defense, Parkway was able to convert some Fort Recovery turnovers into easy buckets. The Panthers opened the second half with a 14-4 run. An old fashioned three-point play by Corey Walls tied the game, 37-37, with 3:40 left in the third.

"That zone helped us to pick up the tempo," Hughes said. "That's really the first time we played it a lot this year, and it created some open looks for us."

Caden Slusher and Walls opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back treys to give the Panthers their first lead, 51-49, since very early in the game.

However, Parkway cooled off and Fort Recovery responded with a 7-0 run to take a 56-51 lead. The Tribe still led 59-53 with 2:45 left in the game before the Panther made one more run.

Preston Stober hit a driving layup. Baxter followed with a 3 -pointer that trimmed the Indians' lead to 59-58 with 1:49 left in the game.

Payton Jutte hit a pair of free throws on Fort Recovery's next possession to push the margin back to three. After a Parkway turnover, Derek Jutte missed the front end of a one-and-one, keeping it a one possession game with 28 seconds to play.

Following a timeout, and thanks to two offensive rebounds, Parkway would have three shots from behind the arc to tie the game, but couldn't connect as time ran out.

"We did a nice job of hanging on at the end against a good 1-3-1 half court trap that we haven't seen before," Bashore added. "After losing last week at Versailles, this was important for us to get back to .500 in the league. There's still a lot of ball to play, but anytime you can go win one on the road in the MAC, it's a huge plus."

Despite the rally, there was no moral victory for Hughes.

"This was a real tough loss," he said. "I thought we did a great job a battling and staying together. We had numerous guys step up and make plays when they had to, but we've got to find a way to get over the hump and win that big game."

The Panthers, 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the MAC, had three players in double figures led by Kinney with 13, Stober with 12 and Hughes and Baxter with 11 each.

The Indians were 7-for-10 behind the arc, thanks in part to Payton Jutte, who was 4-for-4 on his way to a game-high 26 points. Knapke added 15 and Derek Jutte 10.

Both teams will host South Adams in their next games, Parkway tonight and Fort Recovery on Tuesday.