Lions falter in 4th in loss to Eastern Brown

The fourth quarter was just a bit too much for the Fairfield Lions Tuesday evening, as they lost their first Southern Hills Athletic Conference game of the season, falling to the visiting Eastern Brown Warriors, 69-63 at Grandle Gymnasium.

This was the Lions' fourth game in five days, and all of that play finally caught up to them in the fourth frame as they had some trouble shooting from beyond the arc, and the Eastern defense was on point, making the game uncomfortable for the Lions.

"Usually we can count on more threes, but that wasn't there (Tuesday)," FHS head coach Everett Snyder said of the fourth quarter. "Credit Eastern, they did a good job. We controlled the boards in the first half. They came out in the second half, and it was tough to get a ball back down out of the air.

"This is our fourth game in five days … the kids were saying this morning they were a little tired, but come game time, they have to be up and ready to play."

FHS (9-1, 12-6) can still win the Division II SHAC title on Wednesday outright if they can defeat the Whiteoak Wildcats at WHS in a makeup game.

As for the fourth quarter on Tuesday, the Lions did score points first with Ryan Bates scoring points on a put-back bucket at the 7:43 mark of the final frame.

Bates led the Lions with 17 points and seven rebounds.

The Lions didn't score again until the 5:04 mark of the quarter with points by Cody Bennett.

In between those two baskets, the visiting Warriors (9-1, 16-3) scored six straight points to build a seven-point lead with 5:55 left in regulation.

After the basket by Bennett, Eastern took their largest lead of the game with points by Riley Prine and Nathan Scott for a 64-55 advantage with 3:37 left in the quarter.

Scott led all scorers with 19 points, followed by teammate John Stivers with 17 and Prine with 15.

"The momentum shifted in the fourth," Snyder said. "We didn't do a good job of stopping Riley Prine inside, and in the second half, we shut down Scott and Stivers, who scored most of the points in the first half. Prine came in, and we didn't do a good job of stopping his second effort."

Bates brought the Lions closer with a two-point bucket, but it was answered with a jumper from Marcus Day of Eastern to regain the nine-point advantage with just over 2:00 left on the scoreboard.

Gage Montgomery, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds, responded with a 3-pointer for the Lions, cutting the EB lead to six points, and with 21.4 left in the game, Blake Hildebrant made a 3-pointer for the home team, but it wasn't enough for the win.

Also in double figures for the Lions was Joey Wilson with 16 points, all coming in the first three quarters. Wilson added six rebounds.

As for the first half, the Lions overcame trailing by eight points on seven separate occasions, trailing 23-15 after the first quarter but leading at halftime by a 39-38 advantage by outscoring the Warriors, 24-15.

By the time the third quarter ended, the Warriors regained the lead at 54-51. In the third, the Lions built a five-point lead at 43-38 with 5:32 left in the quarter and led by four points with 1:42 on the clock following a three-point play by Wilson.

EB ended the third by outscoring the Lions, 4-0 in the final 1:10.

In JV play, EB defeated the Lions, 56-52. Leading the Lions were Ethan Putnam with 12 points and Wyatt Evans with 11 points.

In the freshman game, FHS defeated the Warriors, 45-27. Jesse Currant scored 11 points for FHS, followed by Jensen Dalton with 10 points.