Cadets crash boards, beat Crusaders 55-42

Fort Frye’s Coen Fouss attacks the basket during a game against Parkersburg Catholic Saturday at Dan Liedtke Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)
BEVERLY — Fort Frye may not be the tallest team, but the Cadets have strong, physical players who are not afraid to mix it up in the paint.
In a Saturday afternoon affair at Dan Liedtke Court, Fort Frye flexed its muscles inside, out-rebounding visiting Parkersburg Catholic 46-24 en route to a 55-42 victory.
The Cadets, who play host to Meigs Tuesday, snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 5-9 on the year.
“It was a game we definitely needed,” said FFHS head coach Eric Henniger. “Our guys came out in the second half and played the way we wanted them too. We missed a lot of easy opportunities in the first half that kept the game close. Once we started making those layups in the second half it really helped us out.”
The Crusaders (3-7) are quick and have several guys who can shoot from anywhere on the court, but struggled to generate second chances against Cadets.

Parkersburg Catholic’s Leonardo DeAngelo (4) handles the ball as Fort Frye’s Wyatt Duskey defends during Saturday’s game at Dan Liedtke Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)
“They were bigger than they were on film,” said Catholic head coach Jim McLean. “As much as we tried to hang with them physically, obviously that wasn’t going to happen. It’s hard to compete with that kind of size in their gym.”
Clayton Miller scored a game-high 16 points while Treven Nicholson netted 12.
The rebounding was spread out evenly with Nicholson leading the way with 11. Miller and Kainan Bradford grabbed seven apiece while Coen Foess tallied six to go along with a team-high four assists.
“It was something we emphasized,” Henniger said. “We thought we should be able to dominate the inside this game. That’s why we were passing the ball inside and rebounding. We kind of put it on our three bigs and said we need to dominate the glass all day long, and they did. They did a great job.”
Miller and Nicholson are two of Fort Frye’s leaders who have had to take on more responsibility lately with key contributors Chatum Courson and Grady Hesson out due to injury. Both stepped up nicely against Catholic.

Fort Frye’s Caden Henniger, left, scans the floor as Parkersburg Catholic’s Leonardo DeAngelo defends during Saturday’s game at Dan Liedtke Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)
“Treven played a heckuva game,” Henniger said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a guy with a double-double and Treven pulled it off today.”
Fort Frye led 11-8 after the first quarter but trailed 19-17 by halftime.
Branson Lott opened the third quarter with a layup off an alley-oop from Preston Randolph to make it 21-17, but the Cadets responded with an 8-0 run go up by four. They led the rest of the way. Consecutive baskets by Miller and Nicholson made it 35-23 going into the fourth.
The Cadets took their largest lead, 46-27, on back-to-back 3-pointers by Caden Henniger in the fourth.
“When you’ve got guys coming off the bench knocking down shots, it don’t matter who it is, that gets everybody excited,” coach Henniger said. “Everybody roots for those guys, and when they’re hitting their shots it ups everybody else’s play a little bit.”
Catholic cut it down to 10, 50-40, with 53 seconds left on treys by Carter Nelson and Leonardo DeAngelo, but only found the bottom of the net once the rest of the way.
“That’s what we talked about in the scouting report — a 10-point lead isn’t a lot to them,” Henniger said. “They’ve got five guys out there who can make a 3. We were lucky they weren’t making them all tonight, and credit to our guys. We were playing pretty good defense out there too.”
Catholic finished 17 for 49 (34.7%) from the floor and 5 for 25 (20%) from beyond the arc. Nelson led the Crusaders with 15 points. DeAngelo added 10 while Randolph finished with eight points, five boards and four dimes.
“We definitely missed a lot of wide open looks that we had all night that normally fall for us. We were not very good from the foul line. We’re normally pretty good from the foul line. Give Fort Frye credit — they know how to defend their gym.”
Caden Henniger and Wyatt Duskey chipped in nine points apiece for the Cadets, who were 22 for 56 (39.3%) from the floor.
“Happy for our guys,” coach Henniger said. “They needed the win and they deserved it.”
Catholic is hoping to build on some positives from the game.
“I scheduled this game on purpose to try to help us prepare for bigger, stronger teams in our region,” McLean said. “We’re doing a good job of getting the looks we want. Honestly, I can’t complain about how we played on offense. The shots were there, the looks were there, they normally go in and they just didn’t tonight.”
The Crusaders head home on Monday to take on Clarksburg Notre Dame.
“Monday’s a big game for us,” McLean said. “We’ve been getting better every day, practicing better every day, and we’ve been getting closer to winning games. This was just a great test for us to help us get better in different aspects that we might not see in our conference.”
Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.