Old Fort zone slows down Margaretta

CASTALIA — Old Fort coach Eric Hoover said his team doesn't play much zone defense. His team must be quick learners. The Stockaders, one of the top teams in the SBC River Division, jumped out to a big early lead then held on late for a 61-50 win over Margaretta on Thursday night. Old Fort (12-3) used an extended 2-3 zone with a starting lineup featuring nobody taller than 6 feet. The Stockaders have had plenty of height in recent seasons; now they have plenty of quickness. Junior guard Isiah Perez caused the most trouble at the point of the zone, disrupting the Bears' offense. Margaretta finished the game with 20 turnovers. "My job is to force the ball to a side and get traps on the ball," said Perez, who led all scorers with 18 points. "They got a bunch of tall, athletic guys but our will to win and hustle override that. "Our speed is good. We have a bunch of point guards who can handle the ball." Hoover said Old Fort scouted Margaretta and was concerned the Bears would produce a layup drill against a full-court man-to-man defense. The zone did its job. "Our MO is to get people out of control but we watched them and they can handle the ball so we played more zone than we normally do," Hoover said. "I didn't want to take the chance of giving up a lot of easy ones. It was maybe a little slower pace than what we're used to." The pace was still fast, thanks in part to Perez. "He's really quick and has good hands," Hoover said. "You try to throw it over him and he can get up quick." Margaretta (11-6) took its last lead at 9-7 on a Gage Bodey follow midway through the first quarter. Bodey kept Margaretta in the game early, scoring all 12 of his points in the first half. Old Fort led 16-10 after the first quarter before putting together a fabulous shooting display in the second. The Stockaders made five 3-pointers in the second period. After the Bears' Julian Washington scored off a turnover to cut Old Fort's lead to 30-22, Ryan Adelsperger sank a 3 with a minute to play in the half. The Stockaders held for the last shot and Perez confidently swished a 3 right before the buzzer and danced into a jubilant locker room. "They were very ready to play mentally," Margaretta coach Steve Keller said of Old Fort. "We showed a lot of life after halftime but we have to put 32 minutes together against good teams. We had to take care of the ball and we stopped doing that." Old Fort's biggest lead was 16 points (44-28) on Pierson Steyer's basket with 4:11 left in the third quarter. But instead of getting blown out, the Bears showed some fight and rattled off a 14-0 run. "We were freezing up in the third quarter and made some poor decisions and they were able to get stops," Hoover said. Judah Keller made three 3s in the third quarter to jump-start the Margaretta offense. Tate Bailey's basket off an offensive rebound (Margaretta outrebounded Old Fort 31-21) cut Old Fort's lead to 44-39 after three quarters. Cameron Sosa, who returned Thursday after missing nine games for undisclosed reasons, made a 3 in the first minute of the fourth quarter to cut the Stockaders' lead to 44-42. Two Perez free throws, a three-point play by Steyer and another basket by Steyer gave OF a 53-44 lead and Margaretta would get no closer than seven points in the final minutes. Margaretta is off until next Friday when it hosts Edison. Old Fort travels to Danbury on Saturday for an SBC River matchup. OLD FORT Konnor Ernsberger 3 0-0 7, Isiah Perez 6 4-5 18, Adam Magers 2 0-0 4, Pierson Steyer 3 1-1 7, Carter DuBois 6 0-0 14, Ryan Adelsperger 4 0-0 10, Blake Bender 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 24 68 51 MARGARETTA Tate Bailey 2 1-2 5, Julian Washington 5 0-0 10, Judah Keller 4 0-0 11, Gage Bodey 5 1-2 12, Evan Miller 2 0-0 5, Cameron Sosa 2 0-0 5, Hayden Wiley 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 2-4 50 Old Fort 16 20 8 17 -- 61Margaretta 10 12 17 11 -- 50 Three-point goals: OF 7 (Perez 2, DuBois 2, Adelsperger 2, Ernsberger 1); Margaretta 6 (Keller 3, Bodey 1, Miller 1, Sosa 1)