By Mark Ruschau
FORT RECOVERY -- The Fort Recovery Indians used a three-point field goal by Travis VanSkyock with three seconds left in the game to defeat the Marion Local Flyers, 46-42, in Midwest Athletic Conference play Friday night at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
With the win, Fort Recovery raises its conference ledger back to .500 at 3-3 and improve to 8-4 overall. Marion Local falls to 1-2 in the league and 5-5 overall.
A conventional three-point play by the Flyers' John Alexander with 2:56 left tied the game at 42 and also proved to be the final points for Marion Local.
After a Fort Recovery turnover, Marion Local had a chance to regain the lead but Alexander missed a three-point field goal and after a Ryan Stucke rebound, the Flyers turned the ball over. Marion Local had another chance to break the tie as they got the ball back after a Dusty Tobe miss but the Flyers came up empty as a Ryan Winner miss was rebounded by the Indians' Tyler Wuebker with 1:04 left.
After a Fort Recovery timeout, the Indians worked the clock down to 19 seconds left and again called timeout. After the timeout, VanSkyock came off a screen at the top of the key and drained the three with three seconds left. After a Flyers timeout, Stucke's inbounds pass was stolen by Greg Faller who was fouled on the play. Faller hit one of two foul shots to seal the game.
"Obviously, with the way Dusty (Tobe) was shooting the ball, he was our first option," said Fort Recovery coach Brian Patch. "Our second option was Travis VanSkyock and he came up and hit a big shot."
"We got it back to a tied ball game and I had confidence in our zone and it backfired," said Marion Local coach Keith Westrick. "The zone defense allowed them to get that shot off and had we been more patient offensively I don't think the game would of come down to that play."
On the night, Fort Recovery hit on 7-of-19 shots from three-point range, including 4-of-8 in the second half. From all spots on the floor, Fort Recovery hit 16-of-36 from the field for the game, including 10-of-18 in the second half.
"In the first half, Marion spread out its defense to the wings and made it tough for us to get our shots off," said Patch. "In the second half we penetrated a little more and we were able to kick it out and get good looks."
According to Westrick, the troubles that cost his ballclub came on the offensive end. For the game, the Flyers connected on just 16-of-47 shots from the field, including 5-of-17 from beyond the three-point line.
"The thing that got us in trouble tonight was not executing our halfcourt offense," said Westrick. "We had stretches where we didn't score and they would come down and be effcient offensively and they got a lead."
Dusty Tobe led the scoring for the Indians with a game-high 19 points while VanSkyock chipped in 10.
Curtis Moeller led the Flyers with 13 points and added a team-high six rebounds while Alexander added 11 off the bench.
Marion Local is back in action tonight hosting Wapakoneta. Fort Recovery is action tonight as well playing host to Arcanum. |
