Putnam sinks game-winner to advance Lions to sectional finals

MCDERMOTT — The Fairfield Lions had one final chance to gain a win and move on to the next round of the Division IV SE District sectional tournament, and they took advantage of the shooting of senior Ethan Putnam.

The Lions trailed by two points when they fouled the Manchester Greyhounds with 7.9 seconds left in regulation, where if Manchester made two free throws, the Lions would be down by four points, but the Lions had a little luck on their side when the Greyhounds missed both free-throw opportunities.

Then the excitement really began, as the ball bounced off the rim on the second free-throw attempt, with Wyatt Evans gaining the eventual rebound, passing the ball to Putnam, who released the ball and the hopes of the Lions extending their season with a Greyhound defender in his face. As the ball sailed through the air, what seems like ages in reality took just a blink of an eye, as the ball went through the hoop with 0.9 seconds on the clock to give the Lions a 70-69 victory over their Southern Hills Athletic Conference counterpart.

By the way, what a way for Putnam to cap off his birthday. 

Though the Greyhounds had less than a second, they had one last toss of the basketball, but it was off-target, giving the Lions the victory.

“We fouled them and got them on the line, and they missed both of those shots, giving us a chance to make a three shot,” FHS head coach Everett Snyder said. “Ethan had one other three and hadn’t been hitting (Tuesday), and it was just where we talked about if we got into that situation, if we got the rebound, we had to come up and go for a three. A two would have tied it up, but with the time left I didn’t think we had a chance to get to the basket, but that was a big-time shot.”

The win moves the Lions to 11-12 overall and into the sectional finals next Tuesday, Feb. 23, when they return to Northwest High School to face the No. 1 seeded Sciotoville East.

Gaining the win, the Lions went through a whirlwind of emotions through the 32 minutes of play, as they led by 12 points at halftime, saw the score tied at 45 near the end of the third, lost the lead in the fourth with 1:31 left on the scoreboard and eventually won with the game-winner by Putnam.

The first frame saw the Lions lead by four points after an intense fourth quarter where they never led by more than the four points until the first frame came to a close. Though the Lions began the game with a turnover, they were also first to score points when Wyatt Evans made it a 2-0 lead for FHS just after a minute ticked off the clock, as he finished with a team-high 19 points.

The Greyhounds answered with a 3-pointer by Kaulen Cox, as that was the first of 10 lead changes in the game (not including tied scores), including six in the opening eight minutes.

Cox finished with 30 points for the Greyhounds. In the first two meetings the season, Cox didn’t score a point against the Lions, as they split those two games in the regular season.

As the two teams continued to answer basket after basket, the score was eventually tied at 11 in the first quarter at the 2:06 mark, only to see the Lions score the final four points of the first frame with a layup by Wyatt Harris and a jumper from Jesse Current for the four-point, 15-11 advantage. Harris ended the game with 16 points, scoring no fewer than three points in each quarter.

In the second quarter, the Lions gained a cushion with their lead, building a 12-point lead once the first half came to a close by a 32-20 score. That scoring began with Putnam scoring the first three points of the frame, and following a three-point play by the Greyhounds’ Sean Frost (who totaled nine points), FHS answered with five straight points from a layup by Evans and three points by Harris, including a put-back with 4:22 left in the quarter, forcing the Greyhounds to regroup and call a timeout as they trailed by nine points.

Cox scored points following the timeout, but the Lions countered with a basket by Harris, and after a three-point play from Evans, the Lions held a 10-point lead at 28-18 with 2:53 on the clock.

The second ended with the Lions scoring the final four points, all from Evans, as he totaled the final seven FHS points of the second for the 12-point advantage.

“Wyatt Harris and Wyatt Evans had good first halves,” Snyder said. “Our game plan against Manchester was getting the ball in the paint and scoring in the paint, and we did that in the first half. The second half, Manchester went back to that 1-3-1 and made it tough to get the ball inside, and we were relying too much on threes. The second half, we just didn’t get the looks we wanted, and that gave (Manchester) opportunities to score.”

The second half was more of a challenge for the Lions with the Greyhounds pressuring the Lions, erasing their 12-point deficit when they tied the score at 40-40 off a 3-pointer by Cox, as the Greyhounds gained possession of the ball off a turnover by the Lions with 2:40 left in the third.

Later, the Lions lost the lead, but regained the advantage with a 3-pointer by Putnam at the 1:36 mark of the third, giving the Lions a 45-43 lead. Manchester didn’t trail long by tying the score at 45 with a jumper from Frost, but FHS answered with the final four points of the quarter, including a free throw from Evans and a 3-pointer by Klay Walker for the 49-45 lead. Daulton totaled 15 points in the game.

The fourth was full of drama at the end with the aforementioned game-winner by Putnam, but the Lions at one time built a six-point lead in the quarter off a 3-pointer from Daulton with 6:03 left on the clock, only to see that lead eventually gone later in the frame when Cox sank a 3-pointer and the score tied at 58 when Colton Thornburg scored two points at the hoop, as he finished overall with 13 points.

FHS later took a two-point lead when they had another trey from Daulton, but the Greyhounds had other plan by eventually taking a four-point lead of their own at 68-62 with 32.9 on the clock.

Daulton kept the Lions alive with a 3-pointer at the 25.2 mark, and later Evans scored two points on a put-back in the paint to then make it a two-point game at 69-67 as Manchester previously sank a free throw.

With the Lions down two points, then came the game-winner by Putnam with 0.9 on the clock and the one-point victory.

Also for the Greyhounds, Bryan Young totaled 10 points, all in the second half, and Jamie Combs totaled seven points.

For the Lions, Putnam totaled nine points, Walker scored six and Current finished with five points.

From the line, the Lions were 6-of-13 (46-percent) and made a total of six 3-pointers. The Greyhounds were 10-of-18 (56 percent) from the free-throw line with seven 3-pointers.