Washington wins battle of Lions against Fairfield
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — In the second game of the SCOL-SHL Challenge, it was a third-quarter rush by the Washington Blue Lions that changed the tone of the game, eventually leading them to a 58-45 non-league win over the Fairfield Lions.
What was a four-point game at halftime turned into a 41-29 Blue Lion advantage after the third frame ended. Fairfield did cut the Blue Lion lead to five points in the fourth with 3:12 remaining, but a 11-3 run to end the game by Washington broke any hopes of a Fairfield comeback.
"That third quarter was real big," Fairfield head coach Matt Carson said. "We had three or four turnovers in a row, took some bad shots and got down too much … it's a momentum changer and really didn't help our cause."
FHS (4-4) trailed by four points at 14-10 after the first quarter but did open the game with a 4-0 run with points from Brad Clay and Austin Hildebrant. Clay led the FHS Lions with 18 points.
Washington answered with six straight points, but the game was tied at eight, then tied at 10 before the Blue Lions scored four points (actually a 6-0 run) to end the quarter.
Clay and Willey opened the second quarter for the Lions with four consecutive points, tying the game at 14, and after a layup by Washington's Zack Blevins, Quentin Williams put FHS up by one (17-16) with a 3-pointer with 4:26 left in the quarter. Williams wrapped up the game with 14 points.
The Blue Lions answered with nine straight points, including a 3-pointer from Derek Shaw for a lead of 25-17. Shaw finished with 18 points, including two 3-pointers. He was followed in scoring by teammates Laike Wallace and Michael Penwell with 11 points each. Wallace was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line as the Blue Lions finished 10-of-13 overall from the line.
The FHS Lions wrapped up the first half with four straight points from Hildebrant and Clay.
In the third frame, everything went the way of the Blue Lions, outscoring the FHS Lions 16-8 for a 41-29 lead after time expired off the clock.
"We didn't execute offensively, didn't handle pressure well, and we didn't make the game into a track meet like we talked about. We wanted to get this into a transition ball game, but we couldn't get the stops.
"We are going to have to find a way to defend better and to do things better. We need to keep working to get better in the quarter-court."
FHS didn't make a field goal in the third until the 4:46 mark but did make three free throws before the field goal conversion by Clay. After the field goal, the Blue Lions went on a 9-0 run for a 41-26 lead. Clay put three more points on the FHS side to end the third.
Washington extended their lead to 45-29 with four points to start the fourth, but the FHS Lions woke up with 10 straight points, including five points from Williams (including a three-point play) and a three-point play by Clay. Blake Hildebrant contributed two points in the run.
Trailing 47-39, the FHS Lions gave it one last shot, with Austin May draining a 3-pointer at the 3:12 mark.
But that was all the FHS Lions had left in them.
After cutting the Washington lead to 47-42, the Blue Lions broke the game away with eight straight points, with three points coming from the free-throw line.
Clay scored the final FHS points with a 3-pointer.
"I told the kids I'm not faulting their effort … the effort is always great. They give me everything they got, but we need to do a better job executing for 32 minutes," Carson said. "It's not because they aren't trying to do what I tell them, but we just get flustered and look to just get rid of the basketball or take a quick shot. We just need to work on continuing to do things the right way."
The loss sends the FHS Lions to a 4-4 overall mark. The Washington Blue Lions improve to 2-4 overall.
FHS will play again on Tuesday, Dec. 27 when they host the McClain Tigers. Before the varsity game, the 2011 Regional Runner-Up Fairfield Softball team will be honored.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WCH 14 11 16 17 — 58
FHS 10 11 08 16 — 45
INDIVIDUAL STATS
WCH (58)
L.Wallace 3 (0) 5-5 11
T.Bain 3 (0) 0-1 6
C.Eckles 0 (0) 2-3 2
T.Slone 1 (0) 0-0 2
D.Shaw 6 (2) 0-0 18
M.Penwell 4 (0) 3-4 11
N.Blevins 2 (0) 0-0 4
TOTALS: 21 (2) 10-13 58
FHS (45)
Q.Williams 4 (1) 3-3 14
A.May 0 (1) 0-0 3
B.Hildebrant 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Clay 6 (1) 3-5 18
A.Hildebrant 2 (0) 0-0 4
W.Willey 1 (0) 0-0 2
C.Putnam 1 (0) 0-1 2
TOTALS: 15 (3) 6-9 45[[In-content Ad]]
What was a four-point game at halftime turned into a 41-29 Blue Lion advantage after the third frame ended. Fairfield did cut the Blue Lion lead to five points in the fourth with 3:12 remaining, but a 11-3 run to end the game by Washington broke any hopes of a Fairfield comeback.
"That third quarter was real big," Fairfield head coach Matt Carson said. "We had three or four turnovers in a row, took some bad shots and got down too much … it's a momentum changer and really didn't help our cause."
FHS (4-4) trailed by four points at 14-10 after the first quarter but did open the game with a 4-0 run with points from Brad Clay and Austin Hildebrant. Clay led the FHS Lions with 18 points.
Washington answered with six straight points, but the game was tied at eight, then tied at 10 before the Blue Lions scored four points (actually a 6-0 run) to end the quarter.
Clay and Willey opened the second quarter for the Lions with four consecutive points, tying the game at 14, and after a layup by Washington's Zack Blevins, Quentin Williams put FHS up by one (17-16) with a 3-pointer with 4:26 left in the quarter. Williams wrapped up the game with 14 points.
The Blue Lions answered with nine straight points, including a 3-pointer from Derek Shaw for a lead of 25-17. Shaw finished with 18 points, including two 3-pointers. He was followed in scoring by teammates Laike Wallace and Michael Penwell with 11 points each. Wallace was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line as the Blue Lions finished 10-of-13 overall from the line.
The FHS Lions wrapped up the first half with four straight points from Hildebrant and Clay.
In the third frame, everything went the way of the Blue Lions, outscoring the FHS Lions 16-8 for a 41-29 lead after time expired off the clock.
"We didn't execute offensively, didn't handle pressure well, and we didn't make the game into a track meet like we talked about. We wanted to get this into a transition ball game, but we couldn't get the stops.
"We are going to have to find a way to defend better and to do things better. We need to keep working to get better in the quarter-court."
FHS didn't make a field goal in the third until the 4:46 mark but did make three free throws before the field goal conversion by Clay. After the field goal, the Blue Lions went on a 9-0 run for a 41-26 lead. Clay put three more points on the FHS side to end the third.
Washington extended their lead to 45-29 with four points to start the fourth, but the FHS Lions woke up with 10 straight points, including five points from Williams (including a three-point play) and a three-point play by Clay. Blake Hildebrant contributed two points in the run.
Trailing 47-39, the FHS Lions gave it one last shot, with Austin May draining a 3-pointer at the 3:12 mark.
But that was all the FHS Lions had left in them.
After cutting the Washington lead to 47-42, the Blue Lions broke the game away with eight straight points, with three points coming from the free-throw line.
Clay scored the final FHS points with a 3-pointer.
"I told the kids I'm not faulting their effort … the effort is always great. They give me everything they got, but we need to do a better job executing for 32 minutes," Carson said. "It's not because they aren't trying to do what I tell them, but we just get flustered and look to just get rid of the basketball or take a quick shot. We just need to work on continuing to do things the right way."
The loss sends the FHS Lions to a 4-4 overall mark. The Washington Blue Lions improve to 2-4 overall.
FHS will play again on Tuesday, Dec. 27 when they host the McClain Tigers. Before the varsity game, the 2011 Regional Runner-Up Fairfield Softball team will be honored.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WCH 14 11 16 17 — 58
FHS 10 11 08 16 — 45
INDIVIDUAL STATS
WCH (58)
L.Wallace 3 (0) 5-5 11
T.Bain 3 (0) 0-1 6
C.Eckles 0 (0) 2-3 2
T.Slone 1 (0) 0-0 2
D.Shaw 6 (2) 0-0 18
M.Penwell 4 (0) 3-4 11
N.Blevins 2 (0) 0-0 4
TOTALS: 21 (2) 10-13 58
FHS (45)
Q.Williams 4 (1) 3-3 14
A.May 0 (1) 0-0 3
B.Hildebrant 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Clay 6 (1) 3-5 18
A.Hildebrant 2 (0) 0-0 4
W.Willey 1 (0) 0-0 2
C.Putnam 1 (0) 0-1 2
TOTALS: 15 (3) 6-9 45[[In-content Ad]]