Jensen Daulton propels Lions past Tigers in final seconds

LEESBURG — Both the Fairfield Lions and the McClain Tigers connected with baskets in the final 30 seconds, but it just happened to be the host Lions were the team that made the last shot of the game, sending them to a one-point victory.

The shot that sent the Lions to a win in Grandle Gymnasium came with 8.5 seconds on the clock, when Klay Walker passed the basketball to Jensen Daulton, and Daulton turned to the hoop, went through the lane and scored two points with pressure from the Tigers for what turned into a 54-53 non-conference win Tuesday night.

This win by the Lions (4-7) was about “finishing the game,” as they’ve had a few games slip away from them this season in the final quarter, but not on this night, as Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder spoke about that subject following the win.

“We put together four quarters (Tuesday night),” Snyder told The Highland County Press. “We made a good run in the third where we went up 10, but they came back and went on a run of their own. We came back and had the lead after the third by a point, and the game was close throughout.

“We didn’t have a bad quarter all night. Playing all the close games this season, those helped, because a couple times this year we let a lead slip away and we didn’t recover from it. This time, we came back and battled. In the final seconds, we played great defense, and those close games we’ve played this season helped us.”

As for the shot by Daulton (who finished with 13 points) in the fourth frame, before that shot swished through the hoop, McClain’s Alex Hollar had just put the Tigers in the lead with a layup of his own, going to the hoop with defenders near him, for what was a then 53-52 lead for McClain with 25 seconds left in regulation.

“Coming off that shot (by Hollar), we came to the bench with our heads down, and I told them, ‘We still have time to come up and score, so get your heads up,’” Snyder said. “I was thrilled Jensen took the ball to the hole. He might been the only one out there who was willing to do that, at that point of the game, so it was a pretty gutsy play on his part.”

McClain head coach Jesse Mitchell credited the Lions on the win.

“Give them credit,” he said. “They made plays when they had to, and we didn’t. At times, I thought their intensity never turned off, and ours turned off.”

As Snyder said in his postgame comments, the game was a closely played affair for a majority of the night, and the first frame was evident of that as the Lions led by one point at 10-9 once eight minutes ticked off the clock.

The Tigers (3-7) were first to score in the non-conference contest with a bucket by Hardesty, and the Lions tied the score early on with two points from Wyatt Evans. Mat Barton responded with a 3-pointer for the visitors, only to see Ethan Putnam score two points on a layup for the Lions. Putnam led the Lions with 17 points.

The quarter continued with a layup by Jacob Starkey for the Tigers, and the Lions came back to tie the score at 7-7 with a three-point play by Daulton, followed with a 3-pointer from Daulton for a 10-7 FHS advantage. MHS ended the scoring in the first frame with a two-point basket by Randall Mischal for the one-point differential.

Starkey led the Tigers with 14 points, and teammates Barton scored 13 points and Mischal added nine points.

When halftime rolled around, the two teams continued to battle tough in the second frame, with Fairfield beginning the second by extending their lead to four points with a bucket by Walker, as he finished the contest with nine points.

The Tigers answered with a 3-pointer from Barton, only to see Putnam equal that shot with a trey of his own with 6:43 left in the quarter for a 16-12 Lions advantage.

As the quarter continued, both teams kept answering each other’s baskets, though a 3-pointer by Walker pushed the Lions ahead by five points with 42 seconds left in the first half.

That was soundly answered with a 3-pointer from the Tigers, as Barton was there once again for MHS, sinking a trifecta with 23 seconds left on the second-quarter clock and wrapping up the first-half scoring, as the Lions ended the second frame with a 26-24 advantage.

The score was tied twice in the third quarter at 26-26 with Mischal scoring the first points of the third and at 28 when Starkey added two points for the Tigers with a put-back basket with 6:46 on the scoreboard.

Following that put-back basket from McClain, the Lions roared back with nine consecutive points for a 37-28 lead as Putnam, Wyatt Harris (who totaled eight points) and Daulton all contributed to the scoring, including four points by Harris, a 3-pointer by Daulton and two points from Putnam for a nine-point lead.

Later, after each team scored points, FHS built a 10-point lead with a 3-pointer by Putnam with 3:26 left in the quarter.

Following a timeout by the Tigers, they answered with an 11-0 run of their own, beginning with a jumper by Hollar, two free throws by Hardesty and another jumper, this time by Barton, and a free throw by Hollar, as he finished with seven points.

The scoring continued with two points from Barton and ended with a layup in the paint from Starkey to put the Tigers ahead by one point at 41-40 with 45 seconds remaining in the third.

“Our kids won’t quit, and they are good kids and they wanted the win, but we are trying to teach them to do some things,” Mitchell said. “Again, it came down to Fairfield making plays at the end, and we didn’t.”

Jesse Current scored his only two points of the game at a critical time for the Tigers, as his points with 26 seconds left in the third not only broke up the McClain scoring run, but it put the Lions in the lead once the third frame came to a close at 42-41.

The fourth was even more exciting than the first three quarters, with the score being tied at 45 and 51. Putnam tied the score at 45 with 6:22 left in the game off a 3-pointer, and with 1:32 left in regulation, Barton put the Tigers even with the Lions with a layup.

FHS broke the 51-51 score with a free throw by Evans, only to see Hollar make his aforementioned go-ahead basket with 25 seconds left in the game. That was eventually answered with what was the game-winning basket by Daulton. MHS had one final shot, but they did not connect with their final shot opportunity.

In JV play, the Lions defeated the Tigers, 57-51. Brandon Case led FHS with 13 points, and Cody Gragg finished with 11. For MHS, Dakota Irvin led all scorers with 17 points.

The freshman game saw the Tigers defeat the Lions, 51-46. Trevor Tite led MHS with 15 points and Ethan Cockerill followed with 14 points. For Fairfield, Sam Buddelmeyer led all scorers with 17 points.