Ford's Home-Court Advantage Sinks Ike

If you were in the Ford gym Wednesday night, your ears are no doubt still ringing.

With incredible school spirit and support from their classmates and fans alike, the Ford boys basketball team defeated 61-52 in the district semifinal game and advanced to the district finals on Friday night against Chippewa Valley.

It’s no coincidence that the Falcons are now 11-1 at home (1-9 on the road) and enjoying the 200-300 fans that come out each game.  They look forward to the home-court advantage again on Friday night.

“We have, by far, the best fans I’ve ever seen,” Ford senior Eric Posavetz said. “They are amazing. They help us out in the games and I give them so much credit.” 

Posavetz was on fire for the Falcons with a game-high and season-high total of 22 points, 11 points in each half.  

“This is a season high for me and it feels good,” said Posavetz. “Since this is a district game for us, if we lost we’d be done for the season. So I just stepped up and made some free throws and hit some shots and I was lucky.”  

Ford coach Mark Bray called it something other than luck.

“Eric Posavetz was absolutely dominant,” said Bray. “He is the purest competitor that we have on our team and the best competitor we’ve seen all year. He is all heart, very aggressive and just wants to win. The fans were chanting MVP.”

Ford outscored Ike 12-9 in the first quarter and 15-13 in the second. With a halftime score of 27-22, Eisenhower was in the hunt.

In the third quarter, however, Ford went on an 11-point run to stretch the lead to 45-27 with one quarter remaining. Senior Shane Ellis came up big in the third with 7 points for Ford.

“I thought our seniors were dominant tonight,” Bray said. “I thought Shane Ellis played probably the best game of his career on both ends of the floor. He was just outstanding. Aaron Cox guarded their best player, Brandon Bartneck, and he’s so solid for us. Nick Boguth is our ball handler and he did a great job as well.”

Cox scored 14 points and had seven rebounds, Ellis had 12 points and six rebounds and Boguth finished with 9 points and five assists.

For Eisenhower, it was a tough gym to walk into. Senior standout Bartneck was the top scorer with 17 points. 

“One of our goals was to try to keep the points out of the paint,” Eisenhower  coach Brandon Lemley said. “But they are so dang strong and physical and they did a great job of getting it down low. We are an outside team, so trying to get it inside against their bodies is tough and they did a great job of guarding Brandon (Bartneck) in the paint tonight. Their crowd was awesome and we just wore down physically and missed a lot of shots. I’m proud of our kids as they fought all year long and continued fighting until the last buzzer tonight.”  

As for the Ford Falcon frenzy, athletic director David Ledbetter put it best.

“Our students and fans have been coming out in droves all year and their spirit is contagious,” said Ledbetter. “Our supporters are led by a number of seniors that take ownership and responsibility for the group. They control the vocal encouragement and make sure that everyone stays respectful and positive. As athletic director, I am proud of our athletes–and equally as proud of our student body for their unwavering support of our teams.”