Lions suffer 1st loss of season to Fayetteville
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lions didn’t play at their best, and the Fayetteville Rockets made things tough on the hosts with their zone play in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference showdown Friday night at Grandle Gymnasium.
The play of the Lions saw them struggle to make shots no matter where they were on the court, and the Rockets took full advantage of the Lions with their post play, taking FHS out of their game. All of that mixed together for the Lions’ first loss of the season, falling by a 51-41 score.
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Also on Friday, the Peebles Indians defeated the Whiteoak Wildcats, resulting in the SHAC Division II being tied at 3-1 with the Lions and Indians in the top spots. The win by the Rockets puts them one game behind those two teams at 2-2 in the conference.
“We knew they were big, and they are fundamentally sound on their zone and stay home when they have to, and even on their closeouts they did well,” FHS head coach Josh Howland said. “They beat us down the floor on transitions and didn’t give any layups to us. Hats off to them, they played a well-organized game, and you could tell they were ready for us.
“Other than the second part of the first quarter, we were flat. We can’t come into the game flat. We have to come out ready to go. We are going to get everyone’s best shot, and that is something we are going to have to get better at.”
The SHAC showdown for the Lions started off flat for the home team, allowing the Rockets to build a 10-0 run less than four minutes into the contest. The Lions answered with a 16-2 run of their own in the first frame with points from Tucker Ayres, Cody Gragg, Sam Buddelmeyer and Bryson Simmons for a 16-12 lead with 1:46 left in the first frame.
That run began with Ayres scoring two points on a layup at the 4:02 mark of the first, followed with two points on a fast break from Gragg. After the Rockets tallied two points, the Lions roared back with a two-point basket from Buddelmeyer and a layup off a turnover by Gragg.
The run continued with a steal and layup from Simmons, and he followed that with a 3-pointer at the 1:46 mark for the aforementioned one-point lead over the Fayetteville. Following a time by the visitors, Fairfield added three more points to end the opening frame with a jumper from James Bentley and a free throw from Gragg for the 16-12 advantage.
For the game, the Lions were led by Simmons and Ayres with 11 points each, and Gragg was also in double figures with 10 points with the trio scoring 32 of the 41 FHS points in the game.
The momentum wore off for the Lions once the first frame came to a close, as they were outscored 12-5 in the second frame and 8-2 in the third, for a total of just seven points in the second and third frames combined. The lack of scoring put the Lions behind 24-21 at halftime and 32-23 after three frames.
FHS’ points in the second came off a 3-pointer from Wyatt Willey around the 3:00 mark of the frame and two points by Ayres. The lone two points for FHS in the third were from Simmons.
In the fourth, the Lions were outscored 19-18 by the Rockets with FHS having points from Gragg, Buddelmeyer, Simmons and Ayres.
The Rockets in their 12-point second frame saw Luke Wiederhold take over with eight of their points, while Bowen Doane and Christopher Murphy each scored two points in the quarter.
The third frame for Fayetteville had six points by Murphy and two points from Wiederhold.
Then in the fourth quarter, Fayetteville had their highest-scoring frame of the game with Wiederhold controlling the points, making five two-point baskets in the frame, plus two free throws for 12 points in the quarter. Also for the Rockets in the fourth, Murphy and Zak Smyth contributed to the scoring.
Fayetteville was led in scoring by Wiederhold with a game-high 24 points, as he totaled 11 two-point baskets and was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. Next in scoring was Murphy with 11 points. Rounding out the scoring for Fayetteville were Colin Connor with seven points, Smyth with six points and Doane with three.
“Wiederhold is strong and athletic,” Howland said. “I’ve never seen him play quite like that, but I guess he did against Batavia, so he’s going to be something to see this season.”
For the game, the Lions were 4-of-14 (29 percent) from the free-throw line, and the Rockets were 9-of-17 (53 percent).
“Their size intimated our boys, to be honest with you,” Howland said. “It showed … we couldn’t finish in the paint. Their size and confidence and taking advantage of their size hurt us. Fayetteville is definitely a good squad.”
In JV play, the Lions fell by a 38-28 score.
Next for the Lions is another SHAC game on Tuesday, Dec. 19 as they host the North Adams Green Devils.
The play of the Lions saw them struggle to make shots no matter where they were on the court, and the Rockets took full advantage of the Lions with their post play, taking FHS out of their game. All of that mixed together for the Lions’ first loss of the season, falling by a 51-41 score.
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Also on Friday, the Peebles Indians defeated the Whiteoak Wildcats, resulting in the SHAC Division II being tied at 3-1 with the Lions and Indians in the top spots. The win by the Rockets puts them one game behind those two teams at 2-2 in the conference.
“We knew they were big, and they are fundamentally sound on their zone and stay home when they have to, and even on their closeouts they did well,” FHS head coach Josh Howland said. “They beat us down the floor on transitions and didn’t give any layups to us. Hats off to them, they played a well-organized game, and you could tell they were ready for us.
“Other than the second part of the first quarter, we were flat. We can’t come into the game flat. We have to come out ready to go. We are going to get everyone’s best shot, and that is something we are going to have to get better at.”
The SHAC showdown for the Lions started off flat for the home team, allowing the Rockets to build a 10-0 run less than four minutes into the contest. The Lions answered with a 16-2 run of their own in the first frame with points from Tucker Ayres, Cody Gragg, Sam Buddelmeyer and Bryson Simmons for a 16-12 lead with 1:46 left in the first frame.
That run began with Ayres scoring two points on a layup at the 4:02 mark of the first, followed with two points on a fast break from Gragg. After the Rockets tallied two points, the Lions roared back with a two-point basket from Buddelmeyer and a layup off a turnover by Gragg.
The run continued with a steal and layup from Simmons, and he followed that with a 3-pointer at the 1:46 mark for the aforementioned one-point lead over the Fayetteville. Following a time by the visitors, Fairfield added three more points to end the opening frame with a jumper from James Bentley and a free throw from Gragg for the 16-12 advantage.
For the game, the Lions were led by Simmons and Ayres with 11 points each, and Gragg was also in double figures with 10 points with the trio scoring 32 of the 41 FHS points in the game.
The momentum wore off for the Lions once the first frame came to a close, as they were outscored 12-5 in the second frame and 8-2 in the third, for a total of just seven points in the second and third frames combined. The lack of scoring put the Lions behind 24-21 at halftime and 32-23 after three frames.
FHS’ points in the second came off a 3-pointer from Wyatt Willey around the 3:00 mark of the frame and two points by Ayres. The lone two points for FHS in the third were from Simmons.
In the fourth, the Lions were outscored 19-18 by the Rockets with FHS having points from Gragg, Buddelmeyer, Simmons and Ayres.
The Rockets in their 12-point second frame saw Luke Wiederhold take over with eight of their points, while Bowen Doane and Christopher Murphy each scored two points in the quarter.
The third frame for Fayetteville had six points by Murphy and two points from Wiederhold.
Then in the fourth quarter, Fayetteville had their highest-scoring frame of the game with Wiederhold controlling the points, making five two-point baskets in the frame, plus two free throws for 12 points in the quarter. Also for the Rockets in the fourth, Murphy and Zak Smyth contributed to the scoring.
Fayetteville was led in scoring by Wiederhold with a game-high 24 points, as he totaled 11 two-point baskets and was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. Next in scoring was Murphy with 11 points. Rounding out the scoring for Fayetteville were Colin Connor with seven points, Smyth with six points and Doane with three.
“Wiederhold is strong and athletic,” Howland said. “I’ve never seen him play quite like that, but I guess he did against Batavia, so he’s going to be something to see this season.”
For the game, the Lions were 4-of-14 (29 percent) from the free-throw line, and the Rockets were 9-of-17 (53 percent).
“Their size intimated our boys, to be honest with you,” Howland said. “It showed … we couldn’t finish in the paint. Their size and confidence and taking advantage of their size hurt us. Fayetteville is definitely a good squad.”
In JV play, the Lions fell by a 38-28 score.
Next for the Lions is another SHAC game on Tuesday, Dec. 19 as they host the North Adams Green Devils.