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Fort Recovery's Gavin Evers (14) closes guards Parkway's Trevor Stearns during Friday's MAC boys basketball matchup at Fort Site Fieldhouse. The Indians picked up their first win of the season with a 53-48 decision over the Panthers.
FORT RECOVERY - After three tough losses to start the season, Fort Recovery was looking for a boost in its Midwest Athletic Conference boys basketball opener Friday night against Parkway.
The Indians rode several waves as the battle came down to the fourth quarter. A Breaker Jutte bucket with just under 21/2 minutes to play gave the Indians the lead they needed with clutch defense and free throws giving the Indians a 53-48 win at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
"We were down two going into the fourth (quarter)," said Fort Recovery coach Bob Leverette. "We told the guys at halftime that it's 0-0. That (first) half (with Fort leading 29-28) didn't mean anything. Let's go out and continue to do the same things we wanted to do."
In Doug Hughes' opinion, defensive struggles were a factor in the contest.
"Our defense wasn't nearly enough to win a MAC game," said the Parkway coach. "Our defense was bad. As good as I thought we played defense and was locked in on Tuesday night (in the Panthers' 42-35 win at Celina), it was the exact opposite."
Parkway's Brayden Bruns (3) shoots over Fort Recovery's Grant Fortkamp.
Fort Recovery started hot, spotting the Panthers the opening bucket before running off 10 straight points to force coach Hughes to call a time out. The break worked as Parkway started to work its way back, eventually taking the lead at 22-21 on a Trevor Stearns bucket with 5:28 to play in the first half. Brayden Bruns followed with a trey to 25-21. Parkway later went up 28-23 on a Xavier Samples' 3-pointer, but the Indians scored six straight to end the half, taking the lead back on a Brody Barga bucket with 19 seconds to play in the half.
Bruns quickly put Parkway back in front in the third quarter with a 3-pointer, only for Barga to tie the game a minute later. The teams had three ties in the half, but Parkway kept the Indians from regaining the lead. Ethan Pond's triple made it 38-35 with 31/2 minutes to play in the quarter and later Stearns got a bucket to fall to raise the Panthers' margin to 42-37. With under a minute to play, Colson Post knocked down a three to get Fort Recovery to within two at 42-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
Fort Recovery's Brody Barga (5) and Briggs Overman (0) go up to defend the shot attempt of Parkway's Xavier Samples.
Briggs Overman tied the game at 42-all with a bucket 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. A Trevor Stearns bucket and Samples free throw put the Panthers back in front at 45-42, but Post knocked down another trey with 3:52 to play in regulation to make it 45-all. After a Parkway timeout, Samples drilled a three of his own to make it 48-45 Panthers with 3:14 to play. Breaker Jutte's hoop-and-harm basket with 2:54 to play got the Indians back to within a point. Jutte missed the free throw, but a Parkway foul gave the Indians the ball, where Jutte scored with 2:27 to go to give the Indians the lead.
Parkway missed on its next possession as Barga got the rebound and was fouled with 80 seconds to play.Barga made both free throws to make it 51-48. Parkway tried to work for the tying shot, but turned the ball over out of bounds with 1:03 to play. Fort Recovery tried to take time off the clock and force Parkway to foul to put them in the bonus, but the Panthers got a tie-up for the jump ball, with the possession arrow pointing Parkway's way. The Panthers' next try missed as Overman rebounded and got the ball to Gavin Evers, who was fouled with 29 seconds to play. Evers missed both free throws to give Parkway another chance, but the three-point try was off the mark as Gavin rebounded and was fouled again with 5.3 seconds. This time, Evers sank both free throws to seal the victory.
"(Parkway) kind of had a spread out there, and we almost started fouling to get the ball back," said Leverette. "Luckily, we got a couple turnovers there late to get the ball back.
"We told them it was going to be a war. Parkway is similar to us as far as where we're at."
"All we needed was a couple stops," said coach Hughes. "We had a 2-3 point lead and needed a stop. We could never count on our defense to be good enough to win a MAC game tonight.
"Maybe we didn't shoot as well (38.3% from the floor to Fort Recovery's 51.2%), but we played well enough offensively to win the game."
Barga finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds to lead Fort Recovery. Grant Fortkamp and Jutte each finished with 10.
"What a great team effort," said Leverette. "Just super proud of our guys. They've been grinding. Just super happy."
Stearns had a game-high 17 for the Panthers to go with eight rebounds. Samples scored 14 and Bruns chipped in with 10.
Both teams will play home games this afternoon with earlier start times of 4:30 p.m. due to Ohio State's College Football Playoff game this evening. Fort Recovery plays host to Ansonia while Parkway welcomes Botkins to Panther Gymnasium.
