Stockaders put up a fight but season ends to New Riegel

FOSTORIA – If Old Fort was going to go down in Tuesday's sectional semifinal against New Riegel, it wasn't going down without a fight.

Entering the fourth quarter trailing by 16 points, the Stockaders scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to get within eight of the Blue Jackets. Old Fort, however, couldn't get any closer in a 59-44 loss.

With the win, New Riegel improves to 13-9 overall, has won nine in a row, and advances to a sectional final match-up against Cardinal Stritch.

Hootie Cleveland, who led Old Fort (11-12) with 19 points, hit a pair of 3-pointers, sandwiched around a bucket from Adam Alexander, to trim the Blue Jackets’ lead to 44-36. New Riegel responded with five-straight points to halt Old Fort’s momentum.

"I always thought we had a chance," Old Fort coach Eric Hoover said. "I thought we had a chance all the way down to the last minute. We needed a couple shots to go."

Cleveland nailed another 3-pointer later to make it a 10-point game but Old Fort couldn't overcome New Riegel’s size advantage, particularly that of 6-foot-5 Michael Kirian. The sophomore pumped in 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Blue Jackets. New Riegel out-rebounded the Stockaders, 32-19.

“I'm not surprised by that (rebounding edge)," Hoover said. "That's something we had to keep in check to give ourselves a chance.

"New Riegel is bigger than us," Hoover added. "For as long as I've known, they've been bigger than us. They're hard working kids."

A key 14-0 run over a 6:55 span of the second and third quarters hurt Old Fort.

Jon Lotycz backed Cleveland with 10 points and six rebounds but the Blue Jackets’ rebounding edge was too much for Old Fort to overcome.