PIQUA – The Mississinawa Valley Boys basketball team took on Fort Loramie in the second round of the OHSAA Piqua DIV Boys Sectional Tournament. In a very low scoring affair, it was Fort Loramie who made enough plays late to pull away from the Blackhawks to win the game 39-25.
In the opening frame Fort Loramie jumped on top 9-2 by the 3:30 mark prompting a timeout by MV coach Tim Barga to try and regroup.
The Hawks did just that and rallied to score the next 7 points to tie the game at 9 to end the first quarter.
It started with a drive to the basket by Alex Scholl, followed by short floater by Josh Fett and then a big triple by Blake Scholl in the corner. Meanwhile the defense held the Redskins in check to the rest of the frame.
The 2nd quarter was a physical grind with bodies banging and hitting the floor and points tough to come by. In fact, Mississinawa was only able to put up 3 points but 2 late triples off turnover by Loramie boosted them to an 18-12 lead at the break.
It was more of the same in the 3rd quarter the Hawks were able win the quarter 7-6 and close the gap to 5 points trailing 24-19.
But the Loramie was able to convert off a couple turnovers and widen their lead to 30-20 at the 3:25 mark as the Hawks went cold.
From their Fort Loramie was able to work the clock and keep the Hawks from at bay by making 8 free throws down the stretch and go on to win the game 39-25.
“It was tough for us tonight on the offensive end … but it’s been like that for us all year long. We knew coming in here they have a lot of big bodies, they are strong and physical and have a perfect team that can go a long way, so we though if we were going to win the game had to be in the 30’s and we just were quite able to get it done tonight,” MV coach Tim Barga stated after the game.
“I give Fort Loramie credit, their defense gave us fits and we had too many turnovers, to win we needed to get more shots.”
It was the last game for seniors Alex Scholl, Blake Scholl, Josh Fett, Max Dirmeyer, Mason Hiestand and Cody Dirksen.
“The 6 seniors who played their last game were great to have around for the last 4 years. Such great kids not only on the court but off the court as well and so many kids looked up to them. They have had good careers not only in basketball but football and baseball too. They are going to be missed no doubt, not just by me but by everybody. They can be proud to finish in 2nd place in the Cross County Conference. Their parents should also be very proud of what they have done as well,” Barga concluded.
Mississinawa Valley finished the season with a 12-12 overall record and 9-3 in the Cross Country Conference.
Box Scores:
Score by Quarters:
FL … 09 … 09 … 06 … 15 – 39
MV . 09 … 03 … 07 … 06 – 25
Team Scoring:
FL: Meyer 6, Ratermann 4, Albers 3, N. Meyer 11, Mescher 7, Berning 5
Totals 39
MV: Feltner 1, A. Scholl 4, Godfrey 2, Hiestand 5, Fett 3, Dirksen 3, B. Scholl 7;
Totals 39
