Lions lose lead in 4th to have season close in sectionals
Lead Summary
By
The Highland County Press-
For the Fairfield Lions, the final quarter of their Division IV SE District Sectional Semifinal game was where everything went wrong for them, causing their season to come to a sudden halt.
The Lions (7-14) began the fourth frame with a 10-point lead but had three starters on the bench with four fouls apiece. For any team, including the Lions, not having three of five starters on the court to begin a final quarter in tournament play is tough to overcome.
That's what happened for the Lions, as they were outscored 29-10 in the fourth by their Southern Hills Athletic Conference rival North Adams, sending FHS to a 68-59 loss Tuesday at Northwest High School.
"The kids played with great effort, and we really wanted to get the seniors a tournament win this year," FHS head coach Everett Snyder said. "We wanted this to be their year, so it is disappointing we didn't get that for them."
As for the season as a whole, Snyder spoke about some of the success they had.
"I was pleased to see us finish second in the league after losing five starters from last year," he said. "This was an accomplishment by the kids, and that's a positive we all can look back on from this season."
This was the third meeting between the two teams, so they were not strangers to each other, as FHS defeated NA on Jan. 23 by a 72-46 score, and on Dec. 16, the Green Devils defeated the Lions, 69-59.
On Tuesday at NWHS in McDermott, No. 8 seeded Fairfield led the first frame by a 14-9 score and followed that up by outscoring the No. 9 seeded Green Devils, 21-17 for a halftime advantage of 35-26.
After halftime, the Lions continued to keep ahold of the lead, outscoring NA, 14-13, but the aforementioned fourth saw FHS outscored by 19 points.
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One key was free-throw shooting, with North Adams shooting 94 percent from the charity stripe at 17-of-18, while the Lions were 13-of-22 (59 percent).
Ethan Putnam led all scorers, as he finished with a game-high 20 points. Putnam made two 3-pointers, and he was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Putnam also made four two-point baskets.
Wyatt Evans followed with 11 points, and teammate Brant Huff totaled seven points. Also adding to the scoreboard for FHS were Matthew Leach and Wyatt Harris with four points each, and Klay Walker finished with three points.
Evans led FHS with eight rebounds in the game, while Dustin Willey had a team-high three steals against the Green Devils.
Leading the Green Devils in scoring was Mikey Sheeley with 12 points.
For the Lions, they had five seniors play their final game. Those seniors included: Paul Dean, Leach, Huff, Willey and Alec Irvin.
"This is a great group of seniors," Snyder said. "I'm going to miss them, and the program is going to miss them."
The Lions (7-14) began the fourth frame with a 10-point lead but had three starters on the bench with four fouls apiece. For any team, including the Lions, not having three of five starters on the court to begin a final quarter in tournament play is tough to overcome.
That's what happened for the Lions, as they were outscored 29-10 in the fourth by their Southern Hills Athletic Conference rival North Adams, sending FHS to a 68-59 loss Tuesday at Northwest High School.
"The kids played with great effort, and we really wanted to get the seniors a tournament win this year," FHS head coach Everett Snyder said. "We wanted this to be their year, so it is disappointing we didn't get that for them."
As for the season as a whole, Snyder spoke about some of the success they had.
"I was pleased to see us finish second in the league after losing five starters from last year," he said. "This was an accomplishment by the kids, and that's a positive we all can look back on from this season."
This was the third meeting between the two teams, so they were not strangers to each other, as FHS defeated NA on Jan. 23 by a 72-46 score, and on Dec. 16, the Green Devils defeated the Lions, 69-59.
On Tuesday at NWHS in McDermott, No. 8 seeded Fairfield led the first frame by a 14-9 score and followed that up by outscoring the No. 9 seeded Green Devils, 21-17 for a halftime advantage of 35-26.
After halftime, the Lions continued to keep ahold of the lead, outscoring NA, 14-13, but the aforementioned fourth saw FHS outscored by 19 points.
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One key was free-throw shooting, with North Adams shooting 94 percent from the charity stripe at 17-of-18, while the Lions were 13-of-22 (59 percent).
Ethan Putnam led all scorers, as he finished with a game-high 20 points. Putnam made two 3-pointers, and he was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Putnam also made four two-point baskets.
Wyatt Evans followed with 11 points, and teammate Brant Huff totaled seven points. Also adding to the scoreboard for FHS were Matthew Leach and Wyatt Harris with four points each, and Klay Walker finished with three points.
Evans led FHS with eight rebounds in the game, while Dustin Willey had a team-high three steals against the Green Devils.
Leading the Green Devils in scoring was Mikey Sheeley with 12 points.
For the Lions, they had five seniors play their final game. Those seniors included: Paul Dean, Leach, Huff, Willey and Alec Irvin.
"This is a great group of seniors," Snyder said. "I'm going to miss them, and the program is going to miss them."