ST. MARYS – While both teams traded runs on Friday night it was the host Roughriders who finished with the final flurry in the final minute of the game to open their season with a 53-45 victory over visiting Ft. Recovery.
Fort Recovery senior post Brian Bihn opened the scoring just under two minutes into the ballgame with a basket to give his team the lead and helped to keep St. Marys off of the scoreboard until 5:42 remaining when LeTrey Williams cut the lead to 2-1 by knocking down one of his two free throw chances.
St. Marys duo of Jadin Davis and Austin Parks combined for nine points during a 14-7 run through the rest of the period that was punctuated by basket by Brandon Bowers on the way to a 14-9 lead at the buzzer.
Three pointers and free throws by the trio of Owen Jutte, Bihn, and Cale Rammel ended a 2:33 span of offensive futility for the visitors early in the second stanza, but a three each from Williams and Davis and a trio of makes that included a dunk by Brandon Bowers punctuated another Riders run and a 28-26 halftime advantage.
Though Fort Recovery would net just a trio of makes in the third period they would take the lead momentarily on a three pointer by Owen Jutte in the opening moments. Baskets by Austin Parks and Jadin Davis put the Roughriders back into the league, but it was a switch to a 3-2 zone defense late in the first half and into the second that helped force turnovers and a chance to take the lead.
Entering the fourth quarter of play the Indians themselves switched to a zone defense and succeeded in forcing their opponent into turnovers and fast break scores and eventually even were able to pull even with 1:16 on a two from Cale Rammel at 45-45.
Another Brandon Bowers slam dunk fired up the Riders offense in the ending moments and brought the socially distanced home fans to their feet at Grand Lake Health Systems Court.
Senior guard LeTrey Williams, a 3rd team Western Buckeye League selection a season ago pushed the Riders up 47-45 with 1:03 as he swiped an Indian pass near the midcourt line and raced end to end for the go ahead basket before half a minute later adding the final touches on the victory by nailing a pair of free throw tosses to give the Riders the victory to open the season and snaps a four game skid against Fort Recovery.
Jadin Davis led all scorers with 18 points for the Roughriders (1-0) who will travel to Maria Stein on Saturday night to take on Marion Local. Fort Recovery (0-1) was paced by Cale Rammel with 13 and is off until next Friday, December 4th when they head to Indiana to battle Monroe Central.
Box Score:
St. Marys (53):
LeTrey Williams 12
Jadin Davis 18
Brandon Bowers 11
Gavin Reineke 3
Austin Parks 9
FG: 20/36
3PT: 4/17 (Davis 2, Williams, Reineke)
FT: 11/16
REB: 21 (Parks 7)
TO: 14
Bench Pts: 0
Ft. Recovery (45):
Regan Martin 2
Derek Jutte 5
Gavin Thobe 3
Clay Schmitz 2
Owen Jutte 8
Dillan Evers 2
Brian Bihn 8
Cale Rammel 13
FG: 16/44
3PT: 5/16 (C. Rammel 3, O. Jutte 2)
FT: 8/14
REB: 32 (15 offensive, Bihn 10)
TO: 18
Bench Pts: 17
JV: 40-39 St. Marys – Game winning free throw by Jace Turner with 4.9 seconds left (Turner also blocked attempted game winning three pointer on other end as time expired).