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Fairfield defends Grandle Gymnasium for SHAC win over Peebles

Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — From the 5:00 mark of the third quarter until the final buzzer sounded on Tuesday night (Jan. 10), the Fairfield Lions’ lead never dipped under 10 points, resulting in the home team Lions winning the Southern Hills Athletic Conference showdown against the visiting Peebles Indians, 59-37.

The first frame had a combined 11 points with the Lions leading 7-4 after the first eight minutes ticked off the clock with Wyatt Collins connecting with a 3-pointer, while Tytis Cannon sank two buckets for four points in the frame. 

Cannon led the Lions in scoring for the game with 29 points, finishing the game with nine two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and he was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.

Collins finished the game with seven points, making two two-point baskets and the aforementioned 3-pointer. 

Peebles scored the first four points of the second quarter, taking a 8-7 lead. From there, the lead exchanged hands multiple times, with the Lions eventually leading 15-13 following a 3-pointer by Cannon with 4:17 left in the second quarter. The Lions added four straight points off two baskets by Larkin Friend for a 19-13 advantage with 2:43 left in the first half.

The quarter ended with one more point by Peebles, while TJ Mootz scored a basket with 46 seconds left in the quarter, resulting in a halftime score of 21-14 in favor of Fairfield.

Fairfield eventually increased their lead to 10 points with 5:00 left in the third with Cannon scoring the first two points of the frame, and at the five-minute mark, it was Mootz sinking a 3-pointer for a 26-16 advantage.

By the time the third frame came to a close, it was the Lions outscoring Peebles 19-12 for a lead of 40-26 after three frames.

“I was proud of my kids,” Fairfield head coach Quentin Williams said. “We've been handed a lot of adversity lately, and I think we overcame that tonight, played together and did a really good job.

Cannon scored a majority of Fairfield’s third-quarter points with 11 points in the frame, while Mootz and Friend each sank a 3-pointer in the quarter, plus Trey House scored two points in the third. 

The Lions added 19 points to their total in the fourth quarter, with their lead never being under 15 points, while Peebles scored 11 points in the same frame. 

“When Peebles ramped up the intensity, they started being really physical with us, and we didn't do a good job adjusting to that at first,” Williams said. “We were trying to dribble through everything. W

“We had a lot of open guys, and we did too much of trying to do our own thing and dribble. We talked about that in a timeout, and I thought we did a better job after that.”

Cannon scored 10 points in the fourth, while Mootz had five points and Friend and Collins each added two points in the fourth. 

Friend ended the game with nine points, with Mootz totaling 10 points in the win. Scoring two points each were House and Fouch.

“[Friend] does a lot of things that people don't realize,” Williams said. “He’s a great passer, a good floor general, takes care of the ball, and one thing people don't realize he's a great offensive rebounder. He rebounds the ball really well, and he gets us into our sets really well.

“I have a special group of kids. I've been with them for five years now, between the seventh and eighth grade when I started with them, and now they're juniors and seniors. I kind of saw this coming, and I don't think a lot of people did. They're just great kids, they buy in, they believe. The biggest thing is we all love each other.”

The Lions finished 7-of-10 from the free-throw line, while they also totaled six 3-pointers with Cannon and Mootz each making two, while Friend and Collins had one.

Peebles finished 9-of-15 from the free-throw line, with the team also making two 3-pointers from Carson Reed and Mason Sims. Sims also led Peebles in scoring for the game with 11 points. 

Fairfield improves to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in Division I of the SHAC, where they are in first place. 

Next for FHS is their homecoming game on Friday, Jan. 13 against Eastern.


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