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Fort Recovery's seniors Dylan Klenke, Colson Post and Douglas Bihn hold up the district championship trophy after the Indians defeated Emmanuel Christian 63-44 for the Division VI district title at Skyhawk Arena at Fairborn High School.
FAIRBORN - Everybody wants to play the MAC until they do.
Fort Recovery showed that off Friday night as they beat Emmanuel Christian 63-44 to win their Division VI district title at Skyhawk Arena at Fairborn High School.
It's the first district title since 2010, when the Greg Kahlig-led Indians finished as regional runner-up.
"It feels good," Indians' coach Bob Leverette said of the win. "It's been a long season, a lot of good battles. We felt we were battle tested coming into this game, and that gave us confidence. I'm just pumped for the guys."
The Indians move on to Tuesday's regionals, where they will take on Marion Local at Vandalia-Butler's Student Activity Center at 7:30 p.m. The first semifinal pits Troy Christian, a 60-45 winner over Deer Park in the early game at Fairborn, against the winner of today's matchup between Tri-Village and Cincinnati Oyler in Middletown. The regional final will be next Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Recovery's Brody Barga (5) battles Emmanuel Christian's Nate Hudson for position during Friday's Division VI district final in Fairborn.
The first quarter saw the teams trade baskets early to a 5-5 score. A pair of turnovers from Fort Recovery allowed the Lions (22-1) to take a slim 7-5 lead after Nate Hudson's layup.
Emmanuel Christian's lead would not last long however. Breaker Jutte put the Indians ahead 11-9 minutes later, and they took a 16-12 lead into the first break. Hudson Overman, who led the team in points during the regular season, had six early to pace Fort Recovery.
Fort Recovery's late-quarter push carried over into the second quarter. Overman found Jutte in the corner for a three to make it a seven-point game, but the Lions responded immediately to make it 19-14.
Later in the quarter, Grant Fortkamp found Overman low to make it 24-18. The sophomore then put it in himself to make it an eight-point game, but the Lions struck last to set the score at 26-20 at the half.
Overman paced the Indians with 10 points at the break, all from the paint. The Indians were 11-of-20 in the half, but led by only six.
That lead would shrink quickly in the third quarter however. Back-to-back layups from Josh Witherow and Jayden Thomas made it a 26-24 game one minute into the quarter. The run was aided by a steal from guard Bryson Shrik, who found Thomas on the break.
Despite being on the receiving end of a Lions' run, Fort Recovery looked calm. Jutte got a layup to fall in response to kickstart their own 9-0 run. Overman extended the lead to 30-24 from the paint, and a three from Braydon Dilworth capped off the spurt. It was all of a sudden a 35-24 Fort Recovery lead with four minutes left in the third.
"We locked in," Leverette said of the run. "We have some juniors and seniors that were tested out there. That was on them to lock in a get those stops."
Shirk got his layup to drop to halt the run, but it was the final Emmanuel Christian field goal in the quarter. With the score 41-26, Jutte got his highlight moment. The forward picked a Lion's pocket, and flushed home a two-handed slam to make it a 17-point lead. The margin grew to 47-27 by the buzzer after Fortkamp's free-throws.
Fort Recovery's Breaker Jutte dunks the ball during Friday's district final game against Emmanuel Christian.
One slam was fun, but two is a treat. Jutte got a pass from Overman at the low block and leaped for another dunk, and the jersey-filled student section erupted. It signified a dagger, as the score was 49-30 with just six minutes left.
After Shrik made it 49-31, Dilworth nailed another from the corner to get Fort Recovery into the 50s.
It was a drive-and-kick that found the sophomore guard, as the Lions' defense had been sucked into the paint too often. Colson Post's three made it 57-37 minutes later, and the celebrations began.
The final minutes saw the teams trade points at the line, and the Indians were able to cut down the nets.
It was a big win for the Indians, who stopped Emmanuel Christian's 22-game winning streak.
"We thought we had mismatches offensively. They would have to guard our size, and if we didn't get something quick, we wanted to spread them out and find mismatches," Leverette said.
