Lions take down Tigers in Highland County battle
Lead Summary
By
Jim Jones-
The Fairfield Lions and McClain Tigers continued their annual non-league cross-county rivalry game Tuesday night in Leesburg, and this time it was the Fairfield boys winning 55-37 after three players scored in double figures.
Senior Tucker Ayres led the way with a game-high 16 points, followed by Cody Gragg and Sam Buddelmeyer, who tallied 15 and 13, respectively.
“Tucker (Ayres) is our senior leader out there, and he leads by example. I thought Sam Buddelmeyer also did a nice job of attacking the basket tonight,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said after the game.
The Tigers failed to have anyone reach double digits in the scoring column but did get some solid offensive output from Devin Carter and Dakota Irvin inside. Carter and point guard Dakotah Duncan led McClain in scoring with nine points each, and Irvin was right behind with eight.
“Credit Greenfield’s post players, they were better than we expected, especially in the second half against our 3-2 zone, which forced us to go to a 2-3 look,” Howland said. “Irvin created a lot of space down inside for himself, and when he catches the ball with his back to the basket, he can score, and we weren’t expecting that from him.”
McClain head coach Jesse Mitchell also had praise for his two post players after the game.
“I thought at times tonight we were able to get the ball inside to Devin (Carter) and Dakota (Irvin), and they both did some nice things down low for us,” Mitchell said. “Dakota really went strong to the basket when he had the ball, and that’s what we’ve kind of expected from him all year. He’s starting to play better and turning the corner, which will earn him more minutes on the floor.”
The Lions led slightly at 5-4 at the halfway point of the opening period before going on an 11-3 run to end the frame and take a 16-7 first quarter advantage. Buddelmeyer was the big scorer in the period for Fairfield, netting seven points, while Gragg tallied five.
Both teams played even basketball in the second stanza, scoring 10 points apiece, but the Lions still led 26-17 at the break.
McClain opened the third period with back-to-back buckets inside by Carter to trim the Fairfield lead to five points at 26-21, and both teams traded baskets over the next couple of minutes until Ayres scored seven straight points late in the quarter, extending the lead to 38-28.
The Lion lead grew to 40-28 after Austin Setty scored at the 1:30 mark, but Carter and Irvin answered for McClain with back-to-back buckets inside as the period ended, and Fairfield led 40-32 heading to the fourth.
Gragg scored to start the final quarter, giving him 13 points for the game. Fairfield once again enjoyed a double-digit advantage at 42-32, but an old-fashioned 3-point play by Irvin and bucket off a steal by Garrison Banks pulled the Tigers back to within five points at 42-37 with six minutes remaining. It was all Lions from this point on, as they outscored McClain 13-0 down the stretch to win convincingly 55-37.
“Fairfield really likes to get the ball out and run with it to get the quick shots, and they did that tonight, especially in the fourth quarter,” Mitchell said. “I thought we were able to run our offense most of the game and get some good looks at the basket, but our shots just wouldn’t fall.
“I think we’re getting close, we just need some of those timely shots to start dropping for us. We’ve got two big physical games coming up this weekend with Jackson coming in on Friday night and Dayton Carroll on Saturday, so we need to keep grinding it out and adjusting to the process, but I think we’re getting there.”
Fairfield improves to 9-2 on the season and will host conference foe Manchester on Friday night.
Senior Tucker Ayres led the way with a game-high 16 points, followed by Cody Gragg and Sam Buddelmeyer, who tallied 15 and 13, respectively.
“Tucker (Ayres) is our senior leader out there, and he leads by example. I thought Sam Buddelmeyer also did a nice job of attacking the basket tonight,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said after the game.
The Tigers failed to have anyone reach double digits in the scoring column but did get some solid offensive output from Devin Carter and Dakota Irvin inside. Carter and point guard Dakotah Duncan led McClain in scoring with nine points each, and Irvin was right behind with eight.
“Credit Greenfield’s post players, they were better than we expected, especially in the second half against our 3-2 zone, which forced us to go to a 2-3 look,” Howland said. “Irvin created a lot of space down inside for himself, and when he catches the ball with his back to the basket, he can score, and we weren’t expecting that from him.”
McClain head coach Jesse Mitchell also had praise for his two post players after the game.
“I thought at times tonight we were able to get the ball inside to Devin (Carter) and Dakota (Irvin), and they both did some nice things down low for us,” Mitchell said. “Dakota really went strong to the basket when he had the ball, and that’s what we’ve kind of expected from him all year. He’s starting to play better and turning the corner, which will earn him more minutes on the floor.”
The Lions led slightly at 5-4 at the halfway point of the opening period before going on an 11-3 run to end the frame and take a 16-7 first quarter advantage. Buddelmeyer was the big scorer in the period for Fairfield, netting seven points, while Gragg tallied five.
Both teams played even basketball in the second stanza, scoring 10 points apiece, but the Lions still led 26-17 at the break.
McClain opened the third period with back-to-back buckets inside by Carter to trim the Fairfield lead to five points at 26-21, and both teams traded baskets over the next couple of minutes until Ayres scored seven straight points late in the quarter, extending the lead to 38-28.
The Lion lead grew to 40-28 after Austin Setty scored at the 1:30 mark, but Carter and Irvin answered for McClain with back-to-back buckets inside as the period ended, and Fairfield led 40-32 heading to the fourth.
Gragg scored to start the final quarter, giving him 13 points for the game. Fairfield once again enjoyed a double-digit advantage at 42-32, but an old-fashioned 3-point play by Irvin and bucket off a steal by Garrison Banks pulled the Tigers back to within five points at 42-37 with six minutes remaining. It was all Lions from this point on, as they outscored McClain 13-0 down the stretch to win convincingly 55-37.
“Fairfield really likes to get the ball out and run with it to get the quick shots, and they did that tonight, especially in the fourth quarter,” Mitchell said. “I thought we were able to run our offense most of the game and get some good looks at the basket, but our shots just wouldn’t fall.
“I think we’re getting close, we just need some of those timely shots to start dropping for us. We’ve got two big physical games coming up this weekend with Jackson coming in on Friday night and Dayton Carroll on Saturday, so we need to keep grinding it out and adjusting to the process, but I think we’re getting there.”
Fairfield improves to 9-2 on the season and will host conference foe Manchester on Friday night.