Fairfield continues down tournament road to sectional finals
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MCDERMOTT — The tournament road continues for the Fairfield Lions, who won in convincing fashion on Wednesday night and were led by four players in double figures as they defeated the Clay Panthers, 69-43, securing their spot in the Division IV SE District Sectional Finals next week.
Getting to that point for the Lions wasn’t easy for Fairfield, as they had a closely played first frame, leading by just three points at the conclusion of the first quarter by an 18-15 score. The second quarter was more in favor of the Lions with their defense holding Clay to just four points, while the FHS offense added 14 points to their side for a halftime advantage of 32-19.
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“[Clay] got the lead to start with,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said. “We are young, with the two sophomores starting and the one that comes off the bench – and he had to come off the bench early – for the sixth man. Our nerves could have played a role in that, I don’t know. Either way, we were froze instead of going for loose balls. We started loosening up and going for everything, and it made all the difference in the world, as far as effort.
“The number-one thing is the thing that we’ve talked about more than anything the second half of the season, because it’s cost us a lot of games, is walling up and don’t let the ball handler get to the middle of the floor. We’ve talked about the cutters in the middle of the floor. We did a good job with that. We missed a few assignments, but still, overall, we did pretty well.”
In the 18-point opening frame for the Lions, Cody Gragg sank a 3-pointer for the first points of the game and scored eight points in the quarter. Also in the opening quarter were Sam Buddelmeyer and Tucker Ayres each adding four points and Wyatt Willey connecting for two points.
The second quarter for the Lions saw points by Gragg, Buddelmeyer, Willey, Ayres and James Bentley for the 14-point frame.
Ayres and Buddelmeyer led the Lions in scoring with 15 points each. Ayres totaled seven two-point baskets and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. Ayres made two 3-pointers, three two-point field goals and he was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line in the sectional semifinal win.
Also with double-figure scoring in the game for the Lions were Bentley totaling 13 points and Gragg with 12 points.
With the roller coaster that was the first half for the Lions, they really broke the game open in the second half with a 24-point third frame that began with back-to-back 3-pointers by Ayres within the first two minutes of the quarter, increasing their lead to 38-19. From there, the Lions built a 43-19 lead with points from Ayres, Bentley and Buddelmeyer with 4:18 left in the quarter.
“Tucker’s probably the most committed athlete I’ve ever seen at any level,” Howland said. “He works, he stays two hours after practice almost daily and has for years. He worked on his shot a lot over the summer, and he goes hard. That’s why you feel confident at some point he’s going to go off for some scoring.
“That helped. That made it basically so we could get subs in, which is what we wanted to do. We wanted to get everybody in, get our guys some breaks and let everybody participate.”
As the quarter continued, the Lions’ lead increased, with the Lions also having points from Austin Setty and Bryson Simmons in the frame for a 56-29 advantage.
In the final quarter, they were outscored 14-13 but had the lead well in hand as Setty, Buddelmeyer, Willey, Griffin Irvin and Bentley all scored points in the final eight minutes.
Clay was led in scoring by Hunter Mathias with 15 points and Reece Whitley with 10 points. The Panthers totaled five 3-pointers in the game and were 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Fairfield finished 14-of-21 from the free-throw line and totaled three 3-pointers in the win.
Next for the Lions is a sectional final game on Wednesday, Feb. 28 vs. Glenwood New Boston at 6:15 p.m.
“We went and watched New Boston last Monday,” Howland said. “They had 15 3’s and shot 61 percent. They have a 6-7 freshman from Sciotoville East, and their point guard, Conley, had 30 points that game. He’s a lights-out shooter and a pretty good defender on the ball. They’ve got a few guys over 6-3, so they’ve got some size, some athleticism, but most importantly, some shooters.”
Getting to that point for the Lions wasn’t easy for Fairfield, as they had a closely played first frame, leading by just three points at the conclusion of the first quarter by an 18-15 score. The second quarter was more in favor of the Lions with their defense holding Clay to just four points, while the FHS offense added 14 points to their side for a halftime advantage of 32-19.
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“[Clay] got the lead to start with,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said. “We are young, with the two sophomores starting and the one that comes off the bench – and he had to come off the bench early – for the sixth man. Our nerves could have played a role in that, I don’t know. Either way, we were froze instead of going for loose balls. We started loosening up and going for everything, and it made all the difference in the world, as far as effort.
“The number-one thing is the thing that we’ve talked about more than anything the second half of the season, because it’s cost us a lot of games, is walling up and don’t let the ball handler get to the middle of the floor. We’ve talked about the cutters in the middle of the floor. We did a good job with that. We missed a few assignments, but still, overall, we did pretty well.”
In the 18-point opening frame for the Lions, Cody Gragg sank a 3-pointer for the first points of the game and scored eight points in the quarter. Also in the opening quarter were Sam Buddelmeyer and Tucker Ayres each adding four points and Wyatt Willey connecting for two points.
The second quarter for the Lions saw points by Gragg, Buddelmeyer, Willey, Ayres and James Bentley for the 14-point frame.
Ayres and Buddelmeyer led the Lions in scoring with 15 points each. Ayres totaled seven two-point baskets and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. Ayres made two 3-pointers, three two-point field goals and he was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line in the sectional semifinal win.
Also with double-figure scoring in the game for the Lions were Bentley totaling 13 points and Gragg with 12 points.
With the roller coaster that was the first half for the Lions, they really broke the game open in the second half with a 24-point third frame that began with back-to-back 3-pointers by Ayres within the first two minutes of the quarter, increasing their lead to 38-19. From there, the Lions built a 43-19 lead with points from Ayres, Bentley and Buddelmeyer with 4:18 left in the quarter.
“Tucker’s probably the most committed athlete I’ve ever seen at any level,” Howland said. “He works, he stays two hours after practice almost daily and has for years. He worked on his shot a lot over the summer, and he goes hard. That’s why you feel confident at some point he’s going to go off for some scoring.
“That helped. That made it basically so we could get subs in, which is what we wanted to do. We wanted to get everybody in, get our guys some breaks and let everybody participate.”
As the quarter continued, the Lions’ lead increased, with the Lions also having points from Austin Setty and Bryson Simmons in the frame for a 56-29 advantage.
In the final quarter, they were outscored 14-13 but had the lead well in hand as Setty, Buddelmeyer, Willey, Griffin Irvin and Bentley all scored points in the final eight minutes.
Clay was led in scoring by Hunter Mathias with 15 points and Reece Whitley with 10 points. The Panthers totaled five 3-pointers in the game and were 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Fairfield finished 14-of-21 from the free-throw line and totaled three 3-pointers in the win.
Next for the Lions is a sectional final game on Wednesday, Feb. 28 vs. Glenwood New Boston at 6:15 p.m.
“We went and watched New Boston last Monday,” Howland said. “They had 15 3’s and shot 61 percent. They have a 6-7 freshman from Sciotoville East, and their point guard, Conley, had 30 points that game. He’s a lights-out shooter and a pretty good defender on the ball. They’ve got a few guys over 6-3, so they’ve got some size, some athleticism, but most importantly, some shooters.”