Lions fall to visiting Rockets

LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lions held pace with the Fayetteville Rockets, nearly basket-for-basket, but they were unable to keep that pace for the entire game on Friday night, falling to the visiting Fayetteville squad, 86-77.

The Lions trailed by just a single point after the first quarter and held a two-point lead at halftime. Even at the conclusion of the third quarter, the Lions were within six points of the Rockets.

Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder spoke about how the game started to slip away in the third, as the last time the Lions held the lead came with 4:20 left in the quarter.

“It started to get away in the third,” Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. “We have to dig down and play some solid defense. Until we decide to play defense every possession, we are not going to win those close games.”

The first eight minutes of the game were full of high-intensity basketball, as both teams combined for 53 points, with the Rockets leading 27-26 at the conclusion of the quarter.

The Lions led early on following a 3-pointer by Ethan Putnam, who finished the game with a team-high 23 points, as he scored 11 of his 23 points in the first frame. In the first quarter alone, Putnam had two 3-pointers.

Also scoring for the Lions in the opening frame was Randy Lamme with a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left on the clock for a 26-24 advantage, but the Rockets managed to get points from Max Iles at the buzzer for their one-point advantage after eight minutes. Iles ended the game with 27 points.

The first quarter also saw Putnam have a rare four-point play, sinking a 3-pointer while being fouled, then taking advantage of a free throw at the line with 32 seconds left in the quarter.

In the second, the Lions added 21 more points to their side of the scoreboard, with six players reaching the scoring column in the quarter. Lamme tied the score at 32 with a put-back bucket with 6:05 left on the clock, and later in the quarter, Klay Walker sank a 3-pointer for the Lions with 2:35 left in the quarter for a 43-37 advantage.

As the second quarter drew to a close, the Rockets scored five points in the final minute of play, including a 3-pointer from Max Lanham with seconds left on the clock to cut the Fairfield advantage to just two points when the break arrived. Lanham finished with 22 points, including four 3-pointers.

The Lions added to their lead at the start of the third with points from Putnam, but four straight points by the Rockets made it a tied score at 49-49 with 6:25 left in the third.

The teams then exchanged points, with the Lions taking what was their final lead of the game with 4:20 left in the quarter following a three-point play from Putnam to make it a 56-54 Lions lead.

Fairfield lost the lead for good when the Rockets went on an 8-0 run, including 3-pointers from Lanham for a 62-56 advantage, as the Rockets outscored the Lions, 23-15 in the third and 18-15 in the final eight minutes.

In the Rockets win, also in double figures were Cole Schaefer with 15 points and Caleb Dowers with 14 points. Fayetteville went 19-of-30 from the free-throw line.

In the loss for the Lions, Wyatt Evans totaled 15 points, Jensen Daulton totaled 13 points and Wyatt Harris scored 12 points to give the hosts four players in double figures. From the free-throw line, the Lions were 12-of-17, and as a team, they made seven 3-pointers.

FHS will play again on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at Manchester.