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Cadet standout had a game for the ages

BYESVILLE – Justin Anderson put on quite an offensive show in last Friday’s Ohio Division 3 boys’ basketball sectional semifinal at Meadowbrook High.

The 6-foot-3 Fort Frye junior scored nearly three-quarters of his team’s points in a 42-40 comeback win against Magnolia Sandy Valley.

Usually, one versus five isn’t going to produce a victory in basketball. But Anderson pretty much debunked that theory – for this particular game, at least.

“Normally we’re a balanced team,” said Fort Frye head coach Eric Henniger afterward. “So, I’m glad that at least one person stepped up.”

If Anderson hadn’t, then the Fort’s season would’ve obviously ended. The Cadets (17-6) needed everyone of Anderson’s career-high 31 points to advance to next Friday’s 7 p.m. final against Coshocton High at Meadowbrook.

Interestingly, and according to Henniger, Anderson had been “struggling lately.”

“So, hopefully this is something that gets him over the edge,” the coach said. “The team really needed that.”

In a big way, too.

Anderson got Fort off to a good start with two quick buckets. After Sandy Valley cut it to two, he nailed a jumper to make it 6-2 Cadets.

Then, the Cardinals caught fire and scored 13 unanswered points to take a 15-6 advantage. A rout looked very much in the making.

But with 28 seconds remaining in the opening stanza, Anderson was fouled in the act of shooting. Toeing the charity stripe, he converted two free-throws to stop the bleeding.

Sparked by Danny Bartholomew’s six second-quarter points, Sandy Valley stretched its advantage to 13 points, 23-10. But Anderson closed out the period with two baskets to reduce the deficit to single digits.

At halftime, it was Sandy Valley 23, Justin Anderson, er, I mean, Fort Frye, 14.

“Did Justin have all our points in the first half?” said Henniger after the game.

The thing is, Fort Frye was only down nine and had an entire second half to make up ground.

Early in the third quarter, Anderson set the tone when he drained a three to make it 23-17.

At the 7:01 mark, Sandy Valley called timeout. When play was resumed, the Cardinals upped their lead to eight with a pair of foul shots.

Then, at the 4:52 mark, it looked like another Cadet besides Anderson was going to get into the scoring column. But Derek Layton misfired on two foul shot attempts.

About 40 seconds later, though, Layton made up for it with a basket underneath, making it 25-19. The Fort Frye faithful had one of those at-last-another-player-scored cheers.

After Anderson drove and scored to cut it to four, Sandy Valley called time again.

Interestingly, the Cardinals were playing a straight-up man-to-man defense against the Cadets. And, more often than not, no help was provided to the defender guarding Anderson.

And, with Anderson’s size advantage and vertical leaping ability, he made the most of it.

With 2:38 left in the third, Grayson Schott gave the Cadets a boost when he scored and converted a bonus freebie to reduce the deficit to one, 25-24.

Then, with under a minute remaining, Carter Kiefer’s jumper gave Fort its first lead since very early in the contest, 26-25.

But it was short-lived as Sandy Valley senior Corbin Brown made a buzzer-beater underneath.

Well, needless to say, it was tight the entire fourth quarter with seven lead changes and three ties.

After Sandy Valley’s Bryce Offenberger knotted it at 40-all with a clutch three, it all came down to the final nine seconds of play. An overtime looked very possible.

Everybody in the gym, including Sandy Valley, pretty much knew who was going to get the ball after Fort Frye called time.

And, quite naturally, Anderson got it without any pressure on him. After dribbling up the court, he made a spin move in the paint on the Cardinal defender, and laid the ball in as time expired.

Surprisingly, the Sandy Valley defender received no help defense.

Everyone on the Fort Frye side, of course, was all smiles and cheering madly.

Now, the only question is, what does Anderson do for an encore in the sectional final?

More of the same?

He’ll no doubt have Coshocton’s undivided attention.

“Coshocton’s a really good team, and we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight,” Henniger said.

Ron Johnston is a Marietta Times sports writer, and can be reached at (740)373-2121 or at rjohnston@mariettatimes.com

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