FORT RECOVERY - Both St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck and Fort Recovery coach Bob Leverette used "grind" in their postgame comments on Tuesday night.
St. Henry fought off a determined Fort Recovery squad and left Fort Site Fieldhouse with a 46-42 victory in Midwest Athletic Conference boys basketball action.
The Redskins were up as many as seven points late in the third quarter, only for the Indians to tie the game twice, including at 39-all with 4:19 to play. St. Henry regained the lead with three minutes to go and held on to bounce back from last Friday's loss to Coldwater.
"Just a definition of a grind," said Rosenbeck as his Redskins improved to 5-6 and 2-2 in the MAC. "Just so many times, the ball wouldn't go in the hole (St. Henry shot 36% from the field). Give (Fort Recovery) credit. They fought back."
Both teams were missing key players due to injury and illness. St. Henry still went nine deep on their bench while Fort Recovery played primarily their starting five with two subs off the bench.
"Without (Fort's Colson) Post, they were down to five regulars and a couple of JV players that don't play as much," said Rosenbeck. "With all the sickness going around Mercer County, they got something to deal with and we're dealing with some. Our ability to go hunt the basketball with fresh guys was a big deal."
"We're going five guys with a couple of JV guys as subs due to sickness and injury against (St. Henry's) 10 (player rotation)," said Leverette. "I think our guys played their butts off and never quit. Couple breaks here and there and who knows? We're on the other end of (the decision)."
Fort Recovery led 5-0 halfway through the opening quarter, but the Redskins finally got on track, taking the lead on a Charlie Werling 3-pointer with 28 seconds to play to give St. Henry a 9-7 lead after one. Braylon Dilworth tied the game at 9-all 15 seconds into the second quarter, but Werling hit another trey to put St. Henry in the lead.
St. Henry tried to put some cushion in its lead, leading 19-13 with just over two minutes to play, but Fort Recovery battled back to cut the margin to 21-18 at halftime.
In the third quarter, St. Henry tried to pull away again, going up 33-25 with three minutes to play on a Max Delzeith 3-pointer and were up 37-30 heading into the fourth quarter, but Fort Recovery got hot. Brody Barga scored with 6:31 to play, then Briggs Overman scored five straight points, hitting a 3-pointer with 6:02 to go, then got a steal and layup with 5:44 to play to tie the game at 37. Werling put the Redskins back up 39-37 with 4:56 to go on a bucket, but Grant Fortkamp tied the game again at 39-all with 4:19 to play. Landon Schwartz followed with a bucket with 3:04 to play to put St. Henry into the lead to stay at 41-39.
The Redskins had the lead up to 43-39, but a Gavin Evers basket cut the margin to 43-41. St. Henry went into a slowdown, forcing Fort Recovery to foul four times in a span of 42 seconds to put the Redskins in the bonus with 37.4 seconds to play. Jack Huelsman missed his two free throws as Barga rebounded, the ball came loose and the tie-up resulted in St. Henry getting the ball back via the possession arrow. Landon Schwartz was fouled with 19 seconds remaining, making both free throws to make it 45-41. Overman made one of two free throws with 11.5 seconds left to make it a one-possession game again, but Werling made one free throw with 10.5 seconds remaining to lock up the win.
"We'd get up 5-7 and looked ready to blow it open, and the ball wouldn't go in the hole," said Rosenbeck. "I'm so proud of the guys fighting their way through what we've been going through the last 48-72 hours. I love them to death. I'm proud of them."
"We're going to continue to grind," said Leverette. "It's a moral victory, I hate saying that, but at this point, that's what we need to keep building on."
Werling led St. Henry with 13 points. Huelsman added 10 points.
Overman had 13 for Fort Recovery. Fortkamp added nine points with Barga scoring eight and pulling down nine rebounds.
Both teams are back in MAC play on Friday. St. Henry returns home to host New Knoxville in a freshmen/JV/varsity tripleheader starting at 5 p.m. Fort Recovery stays at Fort Site Fieldhouse to take on Minster.