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A little help from Friend leads Fairfield Lions past North Adams in comeback win

Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
SEAMAN — With just under one minute left in the third quarter, the Fairfield Lions trailed by 10 points following a 12-0 run by the host North Adams Green Devils on Friday night. With just under four minutes left in regulation, the Lions were down seven points, and things did not look to be in favor of the visitors.

This was where the Lions continued to play their style of no-quit basketball and realized all they needed was “a little help from a friend” — that being Larkin Friend, who ended up being an important part of the rally by the Fairfield Lions in their comeback Southern Hills Athletic Conference win over the Green Devils, 48-43.

“Our big thing is our mentality and how we approach things. We never think we are out of a game. It doesn’t matter if we are down 10 or 12 points in the fourth quarter, we always still believe,” FHS head coach Quentin Williams said. “My kids, they’ve never one time cried or pouted on the bench. They were up cheering each other on, and they never stopped believing.

“A couple of the older kids — Wyatt Collins and Tytis Cannon — came into the huddle and said, ‘C’mon, we still have this.’ They believed, and that’s what it is all about.”

The third frame was just like a ride at an amusement park for Fairfield, as they began the frame with a one-point lead coming out of the locker room at halftime. The Lions opened the quarter with a 3-pointer by Friend at the top of the key for a 25-21 lead, as that shot ended up not even being his biggest shot of the game … but more on that later.

Following the Lions taking a four-point advantage, the Green Devils — on their homecoming night — scored the next 12 points, resulting in a 35-25 lead for North Adams with 51 seconds left in the third frame. Fairfield cut the lead to seven points with three points before the end of the third, for a 35-28 deficit.

Fairfield trailed by seven points twice in the fourth quarter at the 7:00 mark and at the 3:56 mark, with the Lions seeing the scoreboard being 41-34 with NAHS in front.

Things then changed, and the momentum went to the away side as the Lions have shown this season, no matter how much they trail, they aren’t out of the game, and this happened in the battle of the two undefeated teams.

Fairfield came back with a vengeance as Wyatt Collins had an “old-fashioned” three-point play with a layup and made free throw following being fouled while making the aforementioned basket. Next was a one-handed layup by Friend, then Cannon tied the score at 41 with a 2-of-2 performance from the free-throw line with 2:29 left in the game.

After North Adams took a timeout, the Lions responded with another basket in the paint as TJ Mootz made a bucket, propelling the Lions ahead of the Green Devils, 43-41 with 1:28 left in regulation.

The Green Devils answered by tying the score with a one-handed shot from Bransyn Copas, as a timeout was called with 36.3 remaining on the fourth-quarter clock.

Thirteen seconds of game time following the timeout, the help from a friend that was needed came through, as Friend hit the biggest shot of the night, sinking a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in the game for a 46-43 FHS lead.

After the Green Devils missed their opportunity to tie the game, Friend ended up at the free-throw line and made both attempts from the charity stripe, putting the Lions ahead by five points at 48-43, and that score stood until the final buzzer sounded.

“I’m super proud of Larkin Friend, stepping up and getting that shot at the end,” Williams said. “He’s struggled all year with his confidence, especially his shooting from three. We’ve been working and working, and it is more of a mentality than anything. I kind of looked, and it wasn’t necessarily by design, but it was part of the plan to swing the ball, and I loved that (Larkin) stepped right in to shoot that ball.

“As soon as he shot the ball, I knew it was going in because he shot that ball with confidence. I think that is going to be a turning point with him, especially with his confidence.”

In the first half of the game, the Lions trailed 18-14 after the first frame and led 22-21 at halftime, as they outscored NAHS, 8-3 in the second quarter.

In the first quarter for the Lions, Collins scored four points and Cade Miller and Trey House each made 3-pointers, while Gunner Bennington and Cannon each scored two points in the quarter.

Fairfield in the second quarter had three made free throws by Mootz, three points from Cannon and two points from Gabe Fouch.

For the game, Cannon led the Lions with 13 points, followed by Friend with 10. Collins and Mootz each finished with seven points, while Bennington, Miller and House each had three points for the game. Fouch rounded out the Lions’ scoring with two points.

North Adams was led by Copas with 16 points, while teammate Carson Osborne totaled 11 points. Other final scoring for the Green Devils included: Jayce Rothwell (six), Cody Hester (two), Breestin Schweickart (two) and Dillon Regan (six).

As a team, the Green Devils were 4-of-7 from the free-throw line, while FHS was 15-of-18 in the free-throw attempts.

The win improves Fairfield to 5-0 overall with a SHAC record of 3-0. North Adams falls to 3-1 in the SHAC and 5-1 overall.

“We just had to settle down, and credit North Adams, they are a heck of team, and I like how they play. Coach (Nathan) Copas does a heck of a job. They rushed us, forced us into making quick decisions and not letting us go through our progressions, so credit to them,” Williams said.

Next for Fairfield is a home game Tuesday, Dec. 20 at home against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs in a SHAC contest. From there, the Lions are scheduled to face the McClain Tigers Friday, Dec. 23 at home in a non-conference game.

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