Lions advance to district round in sectional final win over Symmes Valley
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — It may have not been the best game the Fairfield Lions have played all season, but the Lions had a strong start and a stronger finish in their Division IV SE District sectional final game Friday night, and in the process of their roller coaster game on their home court, they defeated the Symmes Valley Vikings, 55-37 to win a sectional championship and cut the nets.
One plus for Fairfield — who improved to 23-0 overall — was the way they began the game following a 14-day break in play. They led by an 11-3 score within the first three minutes of the tournament contest, starting what was an 11-0 run by tying the score at 3-3 with a 3-pointer by T.J. Mootz, followed by a 3-pointer from Wyatt Collins, another 3-pointer by Mootz and two points off a put-back basket in the paint from Gunner Bennington.
The Vikings answered with four straight points, cutting the Lions’ lead to four, only to see that lead jump back up to six points following a rebound and basket in the paint from Gabe Fouch with 2:18 on the clock. The Vikings answered with a three-point play, but Fairfield was last to score in the first quarter with two points from Mootz for a 16-10 first quarter lead.
The No. 1 seeded Lions outscored the Vikings 12-5 in the second quarter, as they led by as many as 13 points on two occasions and never lower than nine points, taking a halftime advantage of 28-15.
Fairfield — who finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the state — in the second had a 3-pointer from Cade Miller to start the quarter for a 19-10 lead with 6:57 on the clock, while other scoring in the quarter included Bennington with two baskets for four points, Fouch with two points, Larkin Friend with two made free throws and Collins with one point off a free-throw conversion.
Coming out of the locker room after halftime, the Lions looked like they were going to pull away from the Vikings with consecutive 3-pointers from Mootz, but Symmes Valley had different plans by going on a 10-0 run fron the 6:07 mark to the 3:54 mark, taking advantage of Fairfield’s missed baskets and turnovers to be back to within nine points of tying the game at 34-25.
The Lions called a full timeout to regroup, and the timeout by head coach Quentin Williams paid dividends because the Lions came out of the timeout and scored the next eight points with a 3-pointer by Trey House, a put-back basket by Friend and a 3-pointer by Fouch with 2:14 left in the quarter for a 17-point lead by a 42-25 score.
Symmes Valley didn’t give up, and after a timeout of their own, they scored the final seven points of the third quarter, cutting the Lions’ lead to 10 points at 42-32.
SVHS opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to make it a seven-point game, but the Lions regained the momentum and went on the win the sectional championship with a 3-pointer from Miller, followed by a 3-pointer by Mootz, and later points from Friend in the paint, a layup by Bennington and a 3-pointer by Miller once again, giving Fairfield a 13-0 run from the 6:23 mark of the fourth to the 1:43 mark, sealing the win and a 23-0 record along the way.
“I don't know how much it feels like a win, but I guess we did win,” Williams said. “Symmes Valley did a good job. I thought they were super physical on the rebounds with us, and we were not. They sped us up a little bit in their zone, and they were very active with their hands and got a lot of hands on a lot of balls.
“We wanted to push the ball and transition very fast, get down the court quick, but at the same time, once we got into our half court setup, they did a good job of getting back. We wanted to be more patient and methodical, and we didn't do a good job switching speeds. A lot of times we were too fast in our offense instead of being patient.”
Mootz led Fairfield with 18 points by sinking six 3-pointers in the win. Miller finished with nine points for Fairfield, and the rest of the final scoring for FHS included Bennington (eight), Fouch (seven), Friend (six), Collins (four) and House (three).
As a team, the Lions had 12 3-pointers, eight two-point baskets and were 3-of-6 from the free-throw line. FHS committed 13 turnovers in the win.
Symmes Valley was led in scoring by Braden Corn and Ethan Smith with 11 points each. As a team, the Vikings totaled 10 two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and were 5-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Next for the Lions is a Division III SE District Semifinal game Monday, Feb. 27 against No. 8 seeded Western Latham at Piketon High School with a tip-off of 6 p.m. Western defeated No. 9 seeded Waterford, 66-46 on Friday night.
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One plus for Fairfield — who improved to 23-0 overall — was the way they began the game following a 14-day break in play. They led by an 11-3 score within the first three minutes of the tournament contest, starting what was an 11-0 run by tying the score at 3-3 with a 3-pointer by T.J. Mootz, followed by a 3-pointer from Wyatt Collins, another 3-pointer by Mootz and two points off a put-back basket in the paint from Gunner Bennington.
The Vikings answered with four straight points, cutting the Lions’ lead to four, only to see that lead jump back up to six points following a rebound and basket in the paint from Gabe Fouch with 2:18 on the clock. The Vikings answered with a three-point play, but Fairfield was last to score in the first quarter with two points from Mootz for a 16-10 first quarter lead.
The No. 1 seeded Lions outscored the Vikings 12-5 in the second quarter, as they led by as many as 13 points on two occasions and never lower than nine points, taking a halftime advantage of 28-15.
Fairfield — who finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the state — in the second had a 3-pointer from Cade Miller to start the quarter for a 19-10 lead with 6:57 on the clock, while other scoring in the quarter included Bennington with two baskets for four points, Fouch with two points, Larkin Friend with two made free throws and Collins with one point off a free-throw conversion.
Coming out of the locker room after halftime, the Lions looked like they were going to pull away from the Vikings with consecutive 3-pointers from Mootz, but Symmes Valley had different plans by going on a 10-0 run fron the 6:07 mark to the 3:54 mark, taking advantage of Fairfield’s missed baskets and turnovers to be back to within nine points of tying the game at 34-25.
The Lions called a full timeout to regroup, and the timeout by head coach Quentin Williams paid dividends because the Lions came out of the timeout and scored the next eight points with a 3-pointer by Trey House, a put-back basket by Friend and a 3-pointer by Fouch with 2:14 left in the quarter for a 17-point lead by a 42-25 score.
Symmes Valley didn’t give up, and after a timeout of their own, they scored the final seven points of the third quarter, cutting the Lions’ lead to 10 points at 42-32.
SVHS opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to make it a seven-point game, but the Lions regained the momentum and went on the win the sectional championship with a 3-pointer from Miller, followed by a 3-pointer by Mootz, and later points from Friend in the paint, a layup by Bennington and a 3-pointer by Miller once again, giving Fairfield a 13-0 run from the 6:23 mark of the fourth to the 1:43 mark, sealing the win and a 23-0 record along the way.
“I don't know how much it feels like a win, but I guess we did win,” Williams said. “Symmes Valley did a good job. I thought they were super physical on the rebounds with us, and we were not. They sped us up a little bit in their zone, and they were very active with their hands and got a lot of hands on a lot of balls.
“We wanted to push the ball and transition very fast, get down the court quick, but at the same time, once we got into our half court setup, they did a good job of getting back. We wanted to be more patient and methodical, and we didn't do a good job switching speeds. A lot of times we were too fast in our offense instead of being patient.”
Mootz led Fairfield with 18 points by sinking six 3-pointers in the win. Miller finished with nine points for Fairfield, and the rest of the final scoring for FHS included Bennington (eight), Fouch (seven), Friend (six), Collins (four) and House (three).
As a team, the Lions had 12 3-pointers, eight two-point baskets and were 3-of-6 from the free-throw line. FHS committed 13 turnovers in the win.
Symmes Valley was led in scoring by Braden Corn and Ethan Smith with 11 points each. As a team, the Vikings totaled 10 two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and were 5-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Next for the Lions is a Division III SE District Semifinal game Monday, Feb. 27 against No. 8 seeded Western Latham at Piketon High School with a tip-off of 6 p.m. Western defeated No. 9 seeded Waterford, 66-46 on Friday night.
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