Indians romp past Cavs

COLDWATER - Jim Melton couldn't ask for a better performance from his Fort Recovery squad on Friday night.

The Indians opened the game with a 16-0 run and posted their best defensive effort of the season in a 46-27 win over Coldwater for their fourth straight win and 11th of the season.

Fort Recovery (11-3, 3-3 MAC) shot 50% from the floor in the game and limited the Cavaliers to just 28% shooting with 12 turnovers.

"We got after it and the boys executed," said Melton. "They followed the gameplan to a T. I'm proud of these guys. They worked hard all week and were dialed in."

Grant Knapke got the opening run going 86 seconds into the game with a 3-pointer, followed two minutes later by a Regan Martin trey. After buckets by Ryne Post and Brian Bihn, Knapke made a trey to make it 13-0 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the quarter.Will Broering finally snapped the run with a trey with under a minute to go in the quarter. Tyler Schwieterman capped off the quarter with a bucket to cut the Cavalier deficit to 16-5. Coldwater was 2-of-9 from the floor in the quarter with five turnovers.

"We were turning the ball over and were 0-for-3 out of the gate," said Cavs coach Nick Fisher. "We also had five turnovers. That's eight possessions where we got nothing."

Noah Miller and Schwieterman each hit buckets, followed by a Myles Blasingame trey to cut the Fort lead to 18-10 with 6:35 remaining in the half, but that was all the closer the Cavaliers got in the game as Fort Recovery quickly put the lead back into double digits for the rest of the night.

"They're starting to figure out our defensive scheme," Melton said of his team. "I knew it would take a while. It's a thing of beauty when executed."

The Indians' lead margin reached the low 20s in the third quarter. The Cavaliers worked to keep the game from getting farther out of reach.

"When we had to start gambling on defense, especially in the second half, (Fort Recovery) had enough weapons and enough (offensive) sets that it's going to be a tough hole to dig out of," Fisher said.

"I was proud of our execution as a whole on both ends," said Melton. "I was proud of the guys playing together."

Bihn finished with 16 points to lead Fort Recovery. Knapke finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arch.

Miller led Coldwater with seven points.

While Fort Recovery is off until next Friday's home contest with Marion Local, Coldwater (6-7, 2-3 MAC) travels to Van Wert tonight.