Anna nets big road win at Fort Loramie
By Tim Langevin
After a sluggish first quarter, the Anna Rockets outscored Fort Loramie 42-26 the rest of the way, good enough for the 53-43 victory in a Shelby County League showdown for sole possession of first place.
It wasn’t easy, but the Rockets borrowed a page from Fort Recovery’s playbook and shut down the Redskins perimeter game, forcing Mark Frilling to do it all. The Indians defeated Fort Loramie in a Holiday Tournament in similiar fashion.
It worked. Frilling got his 19 points and 14 rebounds, but guards Cody Albers, Jake Boerger, and Justin Hoying combined for only seven points. Albers was held to one point on a free throw in the fourth quarter.
Anna coach Matt Meyer explained the plan, “The way Albers has been playing, we realized we had to pick our poison. We knew we didn’t match up against Frilling so we pressured Albers with fresh legs all night, rotating Dexter Bensman, Charles Williams, and Grant Gehret on him.”
The Redskins led the entire first quarter and it was clear Loramie wanted to establish the inside play of Frilling. The 6′ 6″ senior scored seven points, including a powerful post move for the 3-point-play. Loramie looked strong and in control with a 17-11 lead.
Derek Billing heated up in the second quarter, scoring eight points, including two triples as Anna forged ahead 23-22 at the break. Frilling paced the Redskins with four points and two blocks.
Fort Loramie recaptured the lead 24-23 on a sweet, turn-around 10-footer by Joe Poeppelman. The 6′ 3″ junior scored again down low and then Frilling added a bucket in the paint to expand the margin 28-23. It was a tight contest for about 21 minutes. During that span, there were 10 lead changes and the biggest margin for either team was six points.
Then Derek Billing turned it up a notch. The quintessential playmaker took control with splendid aptness, delivering didactic passes to open mates for easy baskets.
Sound poetic? Billing exemplified poetry in motion. The basketball court was his canvas and his pen flowed with spin moves, jump-stops, floaters in the lane, long-range jumpers, and no-look passes.
Loramie coach Karl Ratermann shook his head and said, “Billing was quite impressive tonight. He stepped up. He made some big plays.”
The senior leader finished the game with 19 points and dished out eight assists, five in the fourth quarter. Billing needs 11 points to crack the 1,000-point milestone. Anna hosts Covington tonight. Unless Billing runs out of ink, he should leave his mark in Anna basketball history.
The 6′ 2″ guard leads the league in scoring at 20.4 points per game and more than likely, could capture his second straight Player of the Year Award.
But more important, Anna controls their own destiny for a third, three-peat of SCL crowns. The Rockets are 8-1 followed by Fort Loramie at 8-2, and Russia 7-2. Plenty of basketball to be had.
The Rockets have three league games remaining with Fairlawn, at Houston, and Russia.
Fort Loramie has two games remaining with at Fairlawn and Houston. Russia has three games left with at Botkins, Jackson Center, and at Anna. It looks to be a three-team race to the finish to determine the leader. The regular season concludes February 19.
Neither coach was concerned with league standings. Ratermann was worried about New Bremen and Meyer was concerned with Covington.
Alex Fogt scored 12 points and Wes Hunsucker added 10 tallies.
Joe Poeppelman played hard for Loramie, scoring eight points and grabbing four boards.
The Rockets shot a sizzling 56 per cent from the floor and was 3-of-7 from threeville. The Redskins shot 40 per cent from the floor, including a dismal 0-of-6 from beyond the arc. Neither team shot well from the line. Loramie was 50 per cent and Anna shot 53 per cent.
Despite the size disadvantage, Anna outrebounded Fort Loramie 29-23 and both coaches talked about it.
Ratermann said, “The rebound stats show how hard Anna fought. We are much bigger, yet they fought harder and made the plays.”
Meyer said, “Once we started rebounding better, we were able to control the tempo. Fort Loramie is a strong, physical team, and I thought we ran our pattern, motion offense pretty well, all things considered.”
On a more positive note, Ratermann was pleased with Frilling’s performance, “This was a breakout game for Mark. He moved well with and without the ball. Good to see he is coming around.”
Fort Loramie won the first battle 50-47 back in December. One thing is certain, regardless of who wins the SCL, these two teams don’t have to meet again.
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