Fort Frye's Kainan Bradford wins the jump ball against Federal Hocking's Gabe Bray, who scored a game-high 20 points in the Lancers' 54-49 setback on Friday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

BEVERLY — Fort Frye watched Federal Hocking battle back from a 29-9 deficit in the second quarter here Friday night, but the Cadets secured their fifth straight win after holding on for a 54-49 victory.

Gabe Bray drained a quartet of trifectas and led all scorers with 20, but the Lancers slipped to 4-17 and will enter the postseason on a 12-game losing streak.

“Credit to them,” said Cadet head coach Eric Henninger, who got 15 points and eight boards from Kainan Bradford, 13 markers from Grady Hesson along with 10 counters, eight caroms and a game-high five steals from Nate Adams.

“They did not lay down at all and they battled back in the second and third quarter and we held them off in the fourth quarter. I would’ve liked to see us get a bigger lead and make it a little easier on ourselves.”

Fort Frye, which shot 34% (17 of 50) compared to the Lancers’ 40.8% (20 of 49), opened the affair with a pair of 3s. An Adams offensive rebound led to a Hesson triple and following another miss Terry Tompkins grabbed the board and kicked it out to Adams.

Fort Frye's Ty Worthington goes in for a basket while Federal Hocking's Mosiah Cottrill attempts to block it during the Cadets' 54-49 victory Friday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The Cadets managed to build a 20-7 cushion after one with the help of a Bradford three-point play and a Cade Hoskinson trey.

It was deja vu to open the second for the Lancers as Caden Henniger hit from downtown as did Hesson, whose 3 was assisted by Ethan Wagner following another offensive rebound.

Federal Hocking, which has the No. 14 seed and returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday versus No. 3 Fairfield in a Division VII district quarterfinal, faced their 20-point deficit after Adams hit from beyond the arc again with 4:14 left in the half.

However, FHHS ended the second on a 14-5 run to close within 11 at the break. Mosiah Cottrill, who had game-highs of 10 rebounds and six blocks, started it with a deuce. Bray had a triple during the spurt that ended with a lay-in just before the buzzer by Cam Joy, who was the only other Lancer in double figures with 11.

“Our defense let us down a lot, especially just getting back,” admitted coach Henniger, whose squad won the turnover (19-12) and rebounding (35-31) battles. “I mean like simple things like getting back on defense and slow the ball down.

Fort Frye's Ethan Wagner defends against Federal Hocking's Cam Joy during the Cadets' 54-49 victory Friday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We tried to run a couple different presses against them and they figured it out pretty quick. Then it was just get back. If you sprint back it takes care of a lot of things.”

A 7-2 run to open the third, all fueled by Bray was followed by a Brody Rutter field goal for part of his nine counters as the Lancers drew within four, 36-32, at 4:14 of the third.

Hesson, who had six rebounds, answered 23 seconds later, but a Rutter putback for the final hoop of the third closed it back to four at 40-36.

Despite only converting half of their 14 free-throw attempts in the fourth, Fort Frye never let the game get back to a one-possession affair. The hosts got a little breathing room to open the quarter thanks to buckets by Adams and Bradford.

“With the injuries and everything a lot of guys have had to step up throughout the year,” added coach Henninger, whose program lost seniors Aiden Brooks and Chatum Courson for the season. “We’ve seen a lot of good things from them. It’s hard to take minutes away from them when someone else comes back from injury.

Fort Frye's Nate Adams, who had 10 points, eight rebounds and a game-high five assists, drains a 3 during the Cadets' 54-49 victory Friday night versus Federal Hocking. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We’ve been stressing to our guys to know your role and play your role as well as you can whether you are a shooter, a rebounder or whatever it is. We got 10 guys. There’s no excuse, they can’t be going hard whenever they come. We got 10 guys who can play.”

Despite the victory, coach Henninger said the boys will be back at practice Saturday morning.

The Cadets are back in action at 7 p.m. next Saturday for their final home game of the campaign when the No. 4 seed entertains No. 9 Meadowbrook in a Division V district quarterfinal.

“We can’t do two days off. It’s tournament time,” added the coach. “I’ve seen them play one time on film, but I haven’t even written anything down yet. I know they are big and we’re going to have to play a great game. Better than what we did tonight to beat them.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com