TROY — Riverside saw its season come to an end on Wednesday, as the Pirates lost 45-37 to Fort Recovery in Division VI boys basketball at Troy.
The defeat ends the season for Riverside at 8-16. Fort Recovery advances to meet Anna in the district final on Saturday afternoon. The Rockets downed Miami Valley 60-15 in the other half of the doubleheader.
Riverside started off slow, but had a big second quarter to take a three-point lead at the intermission. However. Fort Recovery was then able to get rolling and hold the Pirates to just two baskets in the third, and stretched the lead up to double digits in the fourth.
One factor was the size of the Indians, with all of their starters standing at least 6 feet, which saw them create defensive pressure and pull down rebounds.
“It’s tough when you’re going against that length,” said Riverside coach Tim Woods. “I mean, they can shrink the floor and they can get out on your shooters a little bit quicker than the average bear.”
Jaxon Woods, one of Riverside’s six seniors, had 21 points. Gavin Orsborne had seven. Rounding things out were Damien Smith with four, Landon Purtee with three and Hayden Sanford with two.
“They took us out of some of the stuff we wanted to do,” said Woods. “We knew coming into it that we were probably going to have to try and junk it up a little bit the best we could. That little dry spell, we just couldn’t weather the storm there in the third quarter.”
Fort Recovery (8-16) had balanced offense. Briggs Overman led with 11, followed by Gavin Evers with 10, Grant Fortkamp with nine and Brody Barga with eight.
Woods had the game’s first basket after a minute of play. After Fort Recovery tied it, Orsborne hit a corner three. Evers then got a couple of baskets to regain the lead for the Indians. The final points with just under two minutes left as Colson Post connected on a three-pointer for the Indians to make it 9-5.
The squads traded scores to begin the second frame. Woods then drove for a layup, and followed that with a 3-ball from the top of the arc.
After Fort Recovery retook the lead by two, Orsborne and Smith hit shots for the Pirates. The latter came with just under a minute left in the half.
The Indians tied it, but Woods had the last word. With the final seconds ticking down, he scored and drew contact. The bonus shot was good as well to put them up 19-16.
Neither side was able to increase its total for the first couple of minutes of action in the third period. Woods picked up his third foul during this stretch as well.
Fort Recovery stepped up its pressure. Overman had a three-point play with 5:34 to go, and Evers repeated the feat shortly thereafter. Fortkamp then stole an inbounds attempt and scored. A free throw by Overman capped the run. Riverside called timeout near the midpoint, now trailing 24-19.
Fortkamp connected on a 3-pointer, then made one of two from the line. Woods finally broke the scoring drought on a short jumper with under two minutes to go, but Fort Recovery answered that.
With 17 seconds to go, Purtee made a 3-pointer, just the second one of the contest for Riverside. That left the Pirates down six, 30-24.
Another Indians run came in the fourth period. Barga made a layup, then Fortkamp and Overman had basket-and-foul shot combinations. With just over six minutes left, the Pirates were now facing a 14-point gap.
Sanford put one in and Smith banked in a jumper. Breaker Jutte scored for the Indians.
During the closing minutes, Woods had all nine of the Pirates’ points. Fort Recovery scored once from the field and hit a few free throws to ensure the victory.
“I feel like our kids, they have nothing to hang their heads about,” said Coach Woods regarding the season as a whole. “We had an up and down year. We had a kid transfer out of our program that would have been a really big help for us. So we had a lot of kids kind of get shuffled around. It took us a little bit to find our DNA. But I’m super proud of our kids and our community for all the support through the season.”
Playing their final contest for the Pirates were Gavin Orsborne, Jaxon Woods, Damien Smith, Braylon Dunn, Carter Kreglow and Landon Purtee.
Fort Recovery and Anna will meet Saturday at 2 p.m. in Troy, with the winner moving on to regionals.