Rogers, Fort Cherry float to top of section
Eugene Briggs
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry head coach Eugene Briggs directs his Rangers to the banner on the gymnasium wall that lists the section championship years in the final seconds of the game. With the 42-38 victory over Carlynton, the Rangers are tied for first place in the section.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry's Derek Errett drives past Carlynton's Chase Jones for a layup that put the Rangers up 17-16 late in the second quarter.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry's Dylan Rogers drives past Carlynton's Jaiden McClure for a layup.
Maddox Truschel
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Maddox Truschel stuggles for room between Carlynton’s Austin Milliner (22) and Simon Shriver (15).
Mark Marietta/ For the Observer-Reporter
Dylan Rogers
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry's Dylan Rogers looks for a lane to get past Carlynton's Austin Milliner (22) as Fort Cherry fought to a 42-38 victory.
McDONALD – Dylan Rogers had to work his tail off to score 15 points against Carlynton.
The last two were the most important, and the ones that made it all worth it.
Down 38-37 with just over a minute left, Rogers hit a floater to put Fort Cherry’s boys basketball team ahead.
Carlynton wouldn’t score in the final 60+ seconds, and Rogers added two free throws for good measure to widen the lead to three. Fort Cherry ended up winning, 42-38, Wednesday night, keeping its Class 2A Section 2 championship hopes alive.
“I honestly don’t remember the shot,” Rogers, who had to be at least a little worn-down, said. “I just know it was a floater that went in. I’m not really very good at floaters, but it went in somehow. Then we just clamped up, played good defense for a minute, and we hit our free throws.”
Carlynton (8-1, 16-2) gives up less than 40 points per game and has allowed the fewest points in Class 2A. Fort Cherry is the only other team in Section 2 that holds its opponents to under 50 a night, so it was more than reasonable for Rangers (8-1, 18-2) coach Eugene Briggs to say that the game went pretty much exactly how he expected it to go stylistically.
Carlynton won the first meeting 38-35 in triple overtime – yes, you read that right – so neither team is much fun to play offense against.
“It’s very frustrating,” Rogers said. “They have, I’d say, the best defense we’ve played all year. I mean, we have a good defense as well, but theirs is really good, and it’s frustrating getting face-guarded all game.”
“He was getting frustrated a lot because they were trying really hard to take him away,” Briggs said. “Face-guard him, not give him touches. Sometimes, you get a little bit frustrated with that.”
“He’s really good. His length and athletic ability is straight-lined in taking those guys. Even as athletic and tough as (Carlynton is), it’s tough to stay in front of him.”
The matchup had been anticipated for a while. That anticipation lingered five days longer because of a weather-related postponement Friday night and Saturday’s rescheduled bout getting axed because of Fort Cherry’s gym not having any power.
With the game finally underway, the teams went into halftime tied at 19. Maddox Truschel led Fort Cherry with seven points and Rogers added six. Carlynton’s Khalil Kerr led all scorers with nine points. He went on the finish with a game-high 17. Truschel finished with 12 for the Rangers.
Carlynton outscored Fort Cherry 12-6 in the second quarter, and kept that momentum into the second half. At the end of the third quarter, the Cougars had a 32-27 lead.
“We went into panic mode in those quarters,” Briggs said. “You know, just impatient, trying to get a shot off, not understanding the pace of the game.”
The Rangers didn’t let the game get away from them in the fourth quarter. With three minutes left Carlynton led 38-37, and it stayed that way for more than two minutes before Rogers’s shot put Fort Cherry ahead for good.
The Rangers struggled shooting overall, and Rogers cited his hopes that things are better offensively Friday night against Sto-Rox (10-6, 5-3) in its Section 2 finale.
“It would help if we hit our shots, which we couldn’t tonight,” Rogers said. “That would help a lot.”
Carlynton ends its section slate Friday at Char-Houston (9-12, 4-5). Fort Cherry beat Sto-Rox 51-46 earlier in the season, and Carlynton handled Char-Houston, 60-33. Both games are scheduled for 7:30. If both teams win, they’ll split the section championship, as there is no tiebreaker.
With the stakes high once again, Briggs is expecting the house to be rocking Friday night.
“We had a nice, dedicated crowd tonight,” Briggs said. “I think you’ll probably see that on steroids Friday night,” Briggs said with a laugh. “So even if we’re tired, we’re going to have a lot of support. It’s just going to be trying to keep ourselves under control. Don’t get so caught up in the moment. Just stay smart.”