Christmas break signifies holiday basketball tournaments and Tuesday night the
"Palace" of Coldwater was the hot spot for plenty of small school boys hoop action
that was highlighted by three big name players who delivered the goods.
In the first game, Fort Recovery pulled away after a slim 16-12 first quarter lead
to post a 59-47 win over Fort Loramie in the Third Annual Mercer Health Holiday
Classic.
This highly anticipated match-up between Loramie's 6-6 senior Mark Frilling and
Recovery's 6-5 senior Greg Kahlig was worth the $6.00 price of admission.
Seconds into the game, Mitch Raterman stole a pass and fed Frilling for the easy lay
up. The Indians quickly pushed the ball up court and Kahlig responded with a
three-ball from the top of the key. But then Frilling answered with a post move
bucket in the paint. The Redskins led 4-3.
Both teams exchanged baskets before Kahlig bombed another three from NBA range. Cody
Albers scrambled back and drained a 15-footer to knot the score, 8-8.
Still unconscious, Kahlig swished his third triple of the quarter, this time from
Auglaize County and Fort Recovery took the lead for good, 11-8.
Frilling added four more points and Kahlig three to end a most entertaining first
quarter that produced six lead changes and one tie.
Kahlig led all scorers with 12 points and Frilling tallied eight points.
The Indians jumped out to a 22-13 margin in the second stanza, courtesy of a Kahlig
steal and slam dunk, followed by a nifty 17-footer.
Loramie sliced the lead 22-17 following a Justin Hoying floater down the lane and
two Chris Meyer foul shots. But once again, Kahlig retaliated, this time with an
inside double clutch lay up and the foul shot for a three-point-play.
Fort Recovery led 27-19 at the break and 45-29 after three periods. The Indians
biggest lead of the game was 49-29 with 5:58 left.
Mark Frilling finished the evening with a hard earned 16 points as Fort Recovery's
invasive, match-up zone defense sagged on him most of the game.
Fort Loramie coach Karl Ratermann said, "He's (Frilling) moving better. His feet are
still slow. Right now he is just lacking repetitions offensively. Still a little
rusty."
Coach added, "He had decent opportunities. Just rushing too much. He will come
around, though. He is a hard worker."
Justin Hoying added 12 points for the Redskins.
"We knew their strength wasn't outside shooting. That they would concentrate on
pounding it inside," Fort Recovery coach Brian Patch said. "So we concentrated on
packing it in the paint on defense. We were content on letting them shoot from the
perimeter."
The strategy worked because Loramie was 0-for-12 from three point range.
Coach Ratermann was upset with his team's performance, "Nothing about moving forward
tonight. If any thing, it was a step backwards. We lacked mental focus. We didn't
attack on offense."
Asked if the Anna win had anything to do with the loss, Ratermann paused and then
replied, "I think we had a let down. We need to learn how to take that next step to
keep getting better. We were too complacent."
The Big Man On Campus this night was Greg Kahlig who scored 38 points and dished out
seven assists. No doubt, the kid played with a chip on his shoulder the size of our
national debt. He was 11-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-6 from downtown. In
addition, he was 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Kahlig scored 42 points his last outing against Waynesfield-Goshen. He is 157 points
shy of the Fort Recovery school record of 1418 career points.
Teammate Craig Tobe added 11 points, nine in the third quarter.
The Indians improve to 6-0 and the Redskins fall to 3-2.
Just think, next basketball season, Kahlig and Frilling will be teammates at DII
Findlay. That's scary.
In the nightcap, Coldwater's Eric Lefeld wasn't about to be upstaged. The 6-8 senior
scored 20 points to guide the Cavaliers past Delphos Jefferson 57-50.
Coldwater coach Mike Kanney surmised, "We got a long way to go. Our defensive
intensity was good, but we could have played smarter with the ball."
The Cavs led most of the way and started the game with a matriculated 10-0 run.
Lefeld accounted for six points with a stickback, a basket from the right block, and
another from the left block. It was obvious Cav coach Mike Kanney demanded the
offense to revolve around Lefeld.
In the second quarter, Jefferson clawed back to tie the game on two occasions at
16-16 and 19-19.
Craig Carder headed the rally with two three-balls and Jordan Jettinghoff bombed a
three for the Wildcats.
Coldwater led 23-19 at half behind Lefeld's 12 points.
The Cavaliers exploded for 20 points in the third to take a 43-32 lead. Six players
contributed. Reese Klenke, Keith Wenning, and Lefeld each scored four points and
Jordan Woeske and Adam Rammel added three and Luke Grieshop chipped in for a basket.
Logan Bonifas kept it close for Jefferson with 10 points. The junior guard finished
the night with a team high 16 points.
The Wildcats refused to quit with its pesky defense and cut the margin to 49-44 with
3:24 left in the contest on a three by Carder from the corner. Carder finished the
game with 11 points.
Coach Kanney said, "This was only our second game in 10 days. You can only scrimmage
so much. In fact, I brought some old-timers back from Celina and Coldwater and my
son-in-law for a scrimmage last week. The good news, we out-distanced them for two
quarters."
Coldwater stands at 2-0 on the young season and Delphos Jefferson drops to 5-2.
And so, the championship game will feature MAC foes Fort Recovery and Coldwater at
8:00 pm. The Indians have won this tournament both years.
"I hope Greg Kahlig's arm is sore," Kanney said jokingly. "We are looking forward to
being in the finals. They have a nice team."
The consolation game starts at 6:00 pm. and pits Fort Loramie versus Delphos Jefferson.
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