Lions fall to Manchester on senior night

LEESBURG — For the Fairfield Lions, they were able to honor their seniors in a pregame celebration, but the game itself didn't go the host Lions' way, as they were unable to defend Grandle Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Fairfield lost to the Manchester Greyhounds, 53-47, falling to third in the division, two games back in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Division II standings behind Fayetteville and one game behind Manchester.

"We tried to settle too much on the perimeter shot, and everyone thinks we are a three-point shooter," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "Until we can start scoring in the paint, we aren't going to get open looks on the perimeter.

"It has to start with scoring baskets in the paint, and then we can look at open opportunities on the perimeter."

The Lions (5-6, 8-12) played closely against the visiting Greyhounds for a majority of the game, trailing by one point after the first frame, two points at the half and by no more than 11 points throughout the contest, with that deficit coming in the fourth frame.

As for the one-point difference in the first, there were three ties in the quarter, with the first coming at 2-2 after two points by senior Alec Irvin. The Lions took their first lead of the game with a bucket from Matthew Leach with 5:34 left in the quarter with the assist on the fast break by Paul Dean.

After the Greyhounds (6-5, 10-10) tied the score at 4-4, Dustin Willey knocked down an impressive 3-pointer, only to see the score tied again at 7-7 off a Greyhound basket from Sean Frost.

The Greyhounds followed with three more points, only to see the Lions answer with a layup by Putnam for the 10-9 first-quarter score.

MHS was led in scoring by Frost with 14 points and Phillip Thomas with 10. Three Greyhound players each scored seven points.

"We had a game where we could apply some pressure, but the key to this game was they are about the same size as us, and one of our goals in the game was to out-rebound them, and we didn't do that," Snyder said.

Frost had a double-double, unofficially tallying 14 rebounds.

In the second, Wyatt Evans, who led the Lions with 13 points, made the score a one-point differential at 12-11 following points with 5:03 left in the first half. Later in the quarter, Evans added four more points after the Greyhounds added points to their effort, to make it a 16-15 deficit for the Lions with 2:38 left in the first.

As the quarter progressed, FHS tied the score at 18 with a 3-pointer by Brant Huff. With 1:01 left, the Lions once again tied the score, this time at 20 after a layup by Leach. The Greyhounds scored two more points to end the first half with a 22-20 advantage.

The Lions wasted no time after halftime, with Putnam (who finished with 10 points) tying the score at 22, but an 8-0 run by the Greyhounds moved the visitors ahead 30-22 with 4:40 left in the quarter.

FHS answered with four straight points by Evans, but by the time there was 1:02 left in the quarter, the Lions were looking at a 10-point deficit at 37-27.

Huff brought the Lions a little closer with a 3-pointer, though the Lions ended up trailing 40-30 at the conclusion of the third frame.

FHS got to within four points of the Greyhounds with seconds remaining and trailed by 11 points early in the quarter, never regaining the lead. FHS did win the fourth, 17-13.

The Lions play again on Friday night, on the road, at Whiteoak in a SHAC matchup.