Lions close out season with district semifinal loss to Coal Grove
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
ATHENS — One of the goals of the Fairfield Lions this season was to win a conference championship, and another was to play at the Ohio University Convocation Center in the district round, and they accomplished both this season.
Fairfield accomplished those goals but were unable to keep pace with the Dawson-Bryant (Coal Grove) Hornets Sunday night, with the Lions never holding the lead, resulting in an 81-46 loss in the Division IV SE District semifinals.
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Coal Grove finished the game with 14 3-pointers (including eight in the first half), leading to the Lions trailing early on and playing catch-up the entire game as head coach Josh Howland spoke about his Fairfield squad and their play in the district semifinals.
“I think (Coal Grove) ended up with 14 threes, and early in the first quarter, especially, we struggled to find them quick enough,” he said. “We knew they could shoot. We knew (Cory Borders) could shoot, and he made four threes in the first half with one of them with a second to go. We came out a little bit in shock. I thought the third quarter we came on strong and made a little run at them, but then we got fatigued there in the fourth, and you could tell we were pretty much out of energy.”
The Lions finish the season at 12-11 overall, with a 7-6 record in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, enough for them to share the Division II SHAC title with the Peebles Indians this season. They also won a sectional championship when they defeated St. Joseph Central to qualify to play at the Convo.
In the district semifinal game, the Lions were led by junior Wyatt Willey with 14 points, followed by senior Sam Buddelmeyer with 12 points and sophomore Bryson Simmons with 10 points, giving the Lions three players in double figures.
Other scoring for the Lions included five points from Ethan Saunders, two points each from Connor Priest and Jon Bentley and one point from senior Austin Setty.
“It’s always good to get to come to the Convocation Center and play and win a sectional championship and win a share of the conference title,” Howland said of Fairfield’s season. “We’ve got some things to build on. Sam Buddelmeyer and Austin Setty are going to be missed, though. They’ve been a staple of this program for a long time. It’s going to be different looking out there and not seeing them.
“I thought Austin Setty probably played the best game of his career, really, tonight. (Borders) had a bunch of points, but we were mixing up between zones there early on thinking hopefully they wouldn’t be hitting them and we could go spread out our zone, but once we put Austin on (Borders), he did a pretty good job there on him. Wyatt started getting comfortable as the game went on. All of them played with a bunch of heart.”
Borders led the Hornets with 20 points, followed by Aaron Music with 13 points and Evan Holmes with 12 points.
The first frame didn’t get the Lions off to a strong start because after eight minutes, they trailed by 13 points by a 25-12 score after the Hornets stung them early on for a 5-0 lead to start the game off a steal and layup from Jaylen McKenzie and a 3-pointer by Evan Gannon one minute into the opening quarter.
Fairfield came back with a put-back basket by Buddelmeyer, but the Hornets came right back with a basket by Nate Harmon. As the first continued, Ethan Saunders scored a layup for the Lions, but that was answered with a trifecta by Gannon for a 10-4 lead by Coal Grove.
The quarter continued, and following a timeout where the Hornets took a 14-6 advantage, Fairfield came back with a bucket around the 3:00 mark with two points scored by Buddelmeyer.
From there, the first still went in favor of the Hornets as they scored the next five points, and that short streak of scoring was stopped off a bucket by Willey with 1:44 left in the quarter, cutting the Hornets’ lead down to 10 points.
Again, the Hornets answered with five straight points of scoring, but the Lions were last to score in the first with a basket from Buddelmeyer for the 25-12 deficit after one frame.
The Lions scored 13 points in the second, but they allowed 19 points to trail by 19 points as well when the first half came to a close by a 44-25 score.
Fairfield scored first in the second frame with a basket by Priest, only to see the next four points scored by the Hornets for a 29-14 deficit. The Lions came back with a four-point surge of their own off free throw baskets by Simmons and a jumper from Saunders, leaving the score 29-18 with 4:40 left in the quarter.
Later in the second, a jumper by Willey and points in the paint by Simmons put the Lions back to within 12 points of the Hornets, but again the Hornets came back quickly with a 3-pointer from Cory Borders and two made free throws by Harmon for a 39-22 score. Willey sank a 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the second for Fairfield’s final points of the second frame, but the Hornets weren’t finished with a layup by Harmon and 3-pointer near the half-court line by Borders at the buzzer that left the Lions down 19 points.
The closest quarter played by the Lions was the third frame as they were only outscored by a single point at 10-9, but at the end of the frame they still trailed by 20 points at 54-34. The Lions had points in the third from Setty, Willey, Saunders and Simmons with Willey sinking a 3-pointer with 2:07 left in the third for a 46-34 deficit.
Fairfield saw the fourth frame get away from them, resulting in them being outscored, 27-12 in the final eight minutes with the Lions having points in the final frame from Buddelmeyer, Willey, Simmons and Jon Bentley.
Seniors for the Lions were Buddelmeyer and Setty, who both played four years in the Fairfield high school program.
“Both of our seniors are the type of players that will run through a wall for you. There’s no question about it. They’ll do anything we ask every day in practice and not bat an eye,” Howland said. “They have great attitudes, great work ethics. We’re going to miss Sam’s play inside, that’s for sure. Setty's always been a hustler. He gives everything he has every day. We’re going to miss him and his passion, that’s for sure.
“Also, thanks to the fans. I thought the fans were really supportive of us in this whole run this year. We have great fans.”
Fairfield accomplished those goals but were unable to keep pace with the Dawson-Bryant (Coal Grove) Hornets Sunday night, with the Lions never holding the lead, resulting in an 81-46 loss in the Division IV SE District semifinals.
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Coal Grove finished the game with 14 3-pointers (including eight in the first half), leading to the Lions trailing early on and playing catch-up the entire game as head coach Josh Howland spoke about his Fairfield squad and their play in the district semifinals.
“I think (Coal Grove) ended up with 14 threes, and early in the first quarter, especially, we struggled to find them quick enough,” he said. “We knew they could shoot. We knew (Cory Borders) could shoot, and he made four threes in the first half with one of them with a second to go. We came out a little bit in shock. I thought the third quarter we came on strong and made a little run at them, but then we got fatigued there in the fourth, and you could tell we were pretty much out of energy.”
The Lions finish the season at 12-11 overall, with a 7-6 record in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, enough for them to share the Division II SHAC title with the Peebles Indians this season. They also won a sectional championship when they defeated St. Joseph Central to qualify to play at the Convo.
In the district semifinal game, the Lions were led by junior Wyatt Willey with 14 points, followed by senior Sam Buddelmeyer with 12 points and sophomore Bryson Simmons with 10 points, giving the Lions three players in double figures.
Other scoring for the Lions included five points from Ethan Saunders, two points each from Connor Priest and Jon Bentley and one point from senior Austin Setty.
“It’s always good to get to come to the Convocation Center and play and win a sectional championship and win a share of the conference title,” Howland said of Fairfield’s season. “We’ve got some things to build on. Sam Buddelmeyer and Austin Setty are going to be missed, though. They’ve been a staple of this program for a long time. It’s going to be different looking out there and not seeing them.
“I thought Austin Setty probably played the best game of his career, really, tonight. (Borders) had a bunch of points, but we were mixing up between zones there early on thinking hopefully they wouldn’t be hitting them and we could go spread out our zone, but once we put Austin on (Borders), he did a pretty good job there on him. Wyatt started getting comfortable as the game went on. All of them played with a bunch of heart.”
Borders led the Hornets with 20 points, followed by Aaron Music with 13 points and Evan Holmes with 12 points.
The first frame didn’t get the Lions off to a strong start because after eight minutes, they trailed by 13 points by a 25-12 score after the Hornets stung them early on for a 5-0 lead to start the game off a steal and layup from Jaylen McKenzie and a 3-pointer by Evan Gannon one minute into the opening quarter.
Fairfield came back with a put-back basket by Buddelmeyer, but the Hornets came right back with a basket by Nate Harmon. As the first continued, Ethan Saunders scored a layup for the Lions, but that was answered with a trifecta by Gannon for a 10-4 lead by Coal Grove.
The quarter continued, and following a timeout where the Hornets took a 14-6 advantage, Fairfield came back with a bucket around the 3:00 mark with two points scored by Buddelmeyer.
From there, the first still went in favor of the Hornets as they scored the next five points, and that short streak of scoring was stopped off a bucket by Willey with 1:44 left in the quarter, cutting the Hornets’ lead down to 10 points.
Again, the Hornets answered with five straight points of scoring, but the Lions were last to score in the first with a basket from Buddelmeyer for the 25-12 deficit after one frame.
The Lions scored 13 points in the second, but they allowed 19 points to trail by 19 points as well when the first half came to a close by a 44-25 score.
Fairfield scored first in the second frame with a basket by Priest, only to see the next four points scored by the Hornets for a 29-14 deficit. The Lions came back with a four-point surge of their own off free throw baskets by Simmons and a jumper from Saunders, leaving the score 29-18 with 4:40 left in the quarter.
Later in the second, a jumper by Willey and points in the paint by Simmons put the Lions back to within 12 points of the Hornets, but again the Hornets came back quickly with a 3-pointer from Cory Borders and two made free throws by Harmon for a 39-22 score. Willey sank a 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the second for Fairfield’s final points of the second frame, but the Hornets weren’t finished with a layup by Harmon and 3-pointer near the half-court line by Borders at the buzzer that left the Lions down 19 points.
The closest quarter played by the Lions was the third frame as they were only outscored by a single point at 10-9, but at the end of the frame they still trailed by 20 points at 54-34. The Lions had points in the third from Setty, Willey, Saunders and Simmons with Willey sinking a 3-pointer with 2:07 left in the third for a 46-34 deficit.
Fairfield saw the fourth frame get away from them, resulting in them being outscored, 27-12 in the final eight minutes with the Lions having points in the final frame from Buddelmeyer, Willey, Simmons and Jon Bentley.
Seniors for the Lions were Buddelmeyer and Setty, who both played four years in the Fairfield high school program.
“Both of our seniors are the type of players that will run through a wall for you. There’s no question about it. They’ll do anything we ask every day in practice and not bat an eye,” Howland said. “They have great attitudes, great work ethics. We’re going to miss Sam’s play inside, that’s for sure. Setty's always been a hustler. He gives everything he has every day. We’re going to miss him and his passion, that’s for sure.
“Also, thanks to the fans. I thought the fans were really supportive of us in this whole run this year. We have great fans.”