Fairfield Lions open season by winning Clay Invitational
The Fairfield Lions have opened the season with two wins and an invitational title, as they defeated both Portsmouth Clay and Paint Valley to win the Clay Invitational this weekend.
The Lions won their first game of the season by defeating Clay, 56-46 and game two on Saturday over Paint Valley, 70-49.
"I'm pleased with getting two wins over the weekend," FHS head coach Everett Snyder said. "We need to keep hungry for success as we continue the season."
In the first game against Clay on Friday evening, the Lions won every quarter, leading 16-10 after the first frame and 27-20 at halftime with a second quarter where they outscored the hosts, 11-10.
FHS took the third quarter, 13-12 and the fourth, 16-14.
"The win over Clay was a good win to start the season," Snyder said. "They were big and outsized us. We had a slow start, but the kids worked hard, and we out-rebounded them two-to-one on the boards."
The game belonged to senior Blake Hildebrant, scoring a game-high 24 points. Hildebrant added six rebounds, five steals and three assists. Hildebrant made five 3-pointers.
Senior Ryan Bates followed with 11 points and nine rebounds. Fellow senior Gage Montgomery added nine points (one 3-pointer) with nine rebounds.
Also scoring points for the Lions were Cody Bennett with six, Joey Wilson with four and Dustin Willey and Ethan Putnam each having one point.
Wilson added seven rebounds and Matthew Leach had six boards.
For Clay, Gilliland led with eight points, and Schmidt added eight.
On Saturday, the Lions led by a 27-24 score at halftime following FHS winning the first frame, 15-10 and PV outscoring the Lions, 14-12.
Then came the third quarter where the Lions scored 32 points, while the defense allowed the Bearcats to score just six points in the eight-minute quarter.
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In the fourth, PV outscored FHS, 19-11.
The Lions had eight players score points in the non-conference contest. They were led by Wilson with 18 points and six rebounds. Wilson was 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
"Joey had a really good game," Snyder said. "He rebounded well and was aggressive on defense. What I really liked was Joey finished his shots."
Hildebrant added 13 points (one 3-pointer) with six rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Montgomery also had 13 points and six rebounds as he was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Bates totaled seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Bennett collected eight points, while Leach added five points. Also scoring points for the Lions were Brant Huff with four points and Wyatt Harris with two points.
"I was pleased with our performance, especially in the third quarter," Snyder said. "We had four starters on the bench in the second with two fouls each, but Cody Bennett and the younger kids kept us steady during that span."
The Lions will play again on Tuesday, Dec. 3 when they host the East Clinton Astros in a non-conference game.