Local Sports

Cadets outlast Wildcats in rivalry tilt, 52-47

WATERFORD -- It took Waterford a half and a minute to open up a double-digit lead over Fort Frye in Friday night's rivalry game at the Harry Cooper Annex.

It took the Cadets less than five minutes to completely erase that lead and then go on and register their fourth straight win with a 52-47 victory.

Chatum Courson and Tavin Brooks combined to score 15 points in the pivotal third quarter that saw the Cadets out-point Waterford 21-11 to take the lead.

"Our team is just playing better together right now than we were early in the season," said Fort Frye head coach Eric Henniger. "We are playing really good as a team and executing a lot better and that's what it took to come back and get this win tonight."

Early on it seemed there was a lid on the basket on both ends as Waterford led 8-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cadets got a two-pointer and a triple from senior Braden Morgenstern to cut the lead to one early in the second quarter but the Wildcats were able to extend their lead to as many as eight points.

Waterford got a boost of their own from Cole Sparling late in the opening half as the junior scored the final seven Waterford points of the second quarter including an inside basket off of an assist from Chip Adams to send the home team into intermission with a 23-15 lead.

The Wildcats opened the second half with a two-pointer by senior Jarrett Armstrong to take their first double-digit lead of the game and it looked like there may be an opportunity to run away and hide from the Cadets.

That would be anything but the case as the Cadets quickly began to climb their way back into it.

A left handed lay-in by Cadet senior Zach Huffman got things started and after a Courson two-pointer off of an offensive rebound, Huffman delivered again with his first 3-pointer of the game to cut the lead to just three.

Armstrong connected on four, 3-pointers in the game including one midway through the third period that pushed the lead back to seven but the Cadets never lost momentum and went on a run to take the lead.

Courson canned a 3-pointer and then on the next Fort Frye possession scored a two-pointer off of an assist by Huffman before Brooks knocked down his first triple of the game to give the Cadets their first lead of the game.

Brooks scored another field goal off of an assist from Clayton Miller and the Cadets' lead swelled to three with 1:30 to play in the third quarter.

The offense that the Cadets got off the bench and especially from Brooks played a huge role in the comeback win.

"Tavin (Brooks) is very capable of doing that. He's a guy who can come in and get us a lot of points real quick," said Henniger. "When he is on sometimes you just have to roll with him and let him do his thing and I was proud of the way he stepped up."

Armstrong rang the bell from long distance once again to open the fourth quarter to put his team back in front but the Cadets answered with six straight points to take a 42-37 lead.

Miller, Brooks and Huffman each scored field goals, the latter coming on a steal and finish at the other end.

Fort Frye managed to keep the lead around five until the closing minute when Waterford made a valiant effort to take the lead back.

Armstrong brought his team back to within a single point when the Wildcat senior banked in a long 3-pointer from well behind the arc.

The Cadets got a pair of crucial free throws by Courson and a single freebie by Coen Fouss to extend their lead to four with just 13 seconds to go.

The Wildcats got a huge break when Armstrong drew a foul from behind the three-point line sending the Wildcat sharp-shooter to the line with a chance to close the lead to a single point.

Uncharacteristically Armstrong missed two of three three including the final one but Shawn Adams grabbed the rebound and fired the ball back out to Armstrong for a 3-pointer that bounced off of the rim.

Morgenstern yanked down the rebound for the Cadets and then made a pair of free throws at the other end to seal the victory for the visitors.

Brooks led the winners with 14 points while Courson and Morgenstern reached double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Wildcats got 27 from Armstrong and just 20 from the rest of the squad.

"He (Armstrong) was a really hard guard tonight and I felt like our guys were doing a pretty decent job on him." said Henniger. "He's just one of those guys who can make a bucket from anywhere with a hand in his face."

The win improved Fort Frye's season mark to 6-2 with a home game against St. Marys next up on the schedule on Wednesday.

Waterford head coach D.J. Cunningham felt like the game was one his team let slip away from them.

"We stopped doing a lot of little things that got us in front like taking care of the ball and rebounding," said the second-year head coach. "Just chalk it up to not doing the little things you have to do to win ballgames and we didn’t do them in the second half."

The Wildcats slipped one game below .500 with the loss (3-4) and will look to get back on track Saturday in the Alexander Classic against Nelsonville-York.