Fairfield Lions fall to Fayetteville in first meeting of season

LEESBURG — Two of the top teams in Division II of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference battled in their conference opener Friday night, and for the Fairfield Lions — in what was also their season opener — they fought tough, but in the end it was the visiting Rockets gaining the upper hand in their first meeting, defeating the host Lions 45-41 at Grandle Gymnasium. 

Fayetteville’s senior Brody Feldhaus stood out the most Friday night, and not only because of his 6-8 stature, but because of his dominance in the paint and at the perimeter. The Rocket senior launched for 20 points, making four two-point buckets, three 3-pointers and he was a perfect 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. 

Fayetteville (1-1) teammate Charlie Coffman totaled 14 points for the Rockets, six two-point baskets and he also made both of his free-throw attempts, going 2-of-2.

Rockets head coach Joe B. Stewart talked about his concerns before the game and about the game itself. 

“What was concerning was the fact that here we came into their place, and what was concerning was that our coaches in our league voted them (Fairfield) as the team most likely to win our division, so those two things — home court and talent — and they are well coached. This was a game where we were going to have to do a lot of things right, and this was one where our effort overcame the execution problems we both had. Our effort defensively won it for us.

“Brody is 6-8 in the post and is also our best perimeter shooter, and it is a nice combination. He’s good in both areas, and the defensive boards he did a whale of a job,” Stewart said. “Charlie off the wing is a tough cover. Everybody’s best defender goes there, and we didn’t get the balance like I feel we really have only because we are still really young. We’ll get there, and we like our team.”

Fairfield (0-1) was led by junior Griffin Friend with 19 points, as he totaled four two-point buckets, two 3-pointers, and he was 5-of-8 from the free-throw line. Junior Brody Smith ended the game with 11 points for Fairfield, making two two-point baskets, one 3-pointer and he had a perfect 4-of-4 performance from the free-throw line.  

Lions head coach Quentin Williams spoke about the game and about Fayetteville’s Feldhaus. 

“He just did exactly what I told them what he was going to do,” Williams said. “He likes to catch and shoot, and likes to play over that left shoulder, and we just didn’t do a good enough job of paying attention to detail to the scouting report to be honest, but he’s a good player.”

In more of a defensive battle on the court as neither team scored over 45 points, the Lions and Rockets combined for 13 points in the opening eight-minute frame where it was Fayetteville leading 7-6 after one quarter. 

The first points of the SHAC Division II throwdown came nearly three minutes into the contest with Fayetteville scoring a basket at the 5:02 mark off a shot from Coffman. Fairfield scored the next four points with baskets by senior Quentin McIntosh and senior Zach Ahsaruk, but the Rockets took the lead by making the score 7-4 with 2:39 on the clock off a three-point play by Coffman.

The Lions had a drive to the hoop by Friend at the 2:19 mark of the first quarter as those were the final two points scored in the opening frame, leaving the Rockets still leading at 7-6. 

Fayetteville took a three-point lead into the locker room at halftime following a 14-12 second quarter where the Rockets outscored the host Lions. Fairfield trailed by as many as seven points in the second quarter following a 3-pointer from Feldhaus at the 5:06 mark for a 17-10 score. 

After a timeout by the Lions, Friend scored the next six points of the game with a 3-pointer, free throw and two-point basket (he also had a 3-pointer earlier in the second frame) for a 17-16 Lions lead at the 1:26 mark of the second. 

Feldhaus came back with a layup, starting a 6-0 run by the Rockets, but the Lions had two points with a basket from Smith, who received the basketball off a steal and assist by junior Caleb Rice. The Rockets ended the first half with two points from Jake Rosselot for a 21-18 lead. 

Fayetteville’s lead lost one point once the third quarter ended as they held a two-point lead after three frames at 36-34, with the Lions winning the third-quarter scoring at 16-15. 

The two teams exchanged baskets early in the third, and that pretty much continued throughout the quarter with the score being tied at 26-26 off a 3-pointer from the corner of the court by Rice, who followed that with a steal and layup with 3:57 left in the third for a 28-26 Lions lead. 

After a three-point play from Coffman, the Lions had two made free throws by Friend, and later Smith also sank two free throws with 2:00 on the clock for a 32-29 Lions lead. The Rockets regained the lead with consecutive baskets made by sophomore Keaton Strong, but FHS had another steal and basket by Rice. 

With Fairfield taking over the lead with 23 seconds left in the third, the Rockets didn’t trail for very much longer as Feldhaus drained another 3-pointer with just three seconds left in the third for a 36-34 Fayetteville lead. 

Again, the defense was stout in the fourth frame with the Rockets winning the frame at 9-7 to gain what was a four-point win. 

Fairfield tied the fourth quarter with the first basket of the quarter off a steal and layup by Smith, but Feldhaus came back with a put-back basket following a rebound. Friend made a jumper for Fairfield, tying the score at 38, but Feldhaus made another basket, this one a 3-pointer with 2:58 left in regulation for a 41-38 lead. 

The Rockets didn’t trail for the rest of the game, with the aforementioned 3-pointers being the start of six straight points for Fayettevile as Strong added a free throw make, and Keegan Craycraft made two free throws with 44.3 left in the final quarter. 

The Lions made one final basket, a steal and layup under the hoop by Smith. Feldhaus scored the final two points of the game off two made free throws with 1.0 on the clock. 

“We held them to 45 points, so despite anything, if you hold a team to 45 points you should probably win a majority of your ball games, not all of them, but you should win a majority of them,” Williams said. “Even with (Feldhaus) scoring 20 and Coffman with 14 … they scored a majority of their points, but again, it was just lack of attention to the scouting report. 

“Several of us weren’t aggressive enough offensively, and when you have people on the floor who aren’t aggressive, that makes it a lot easier on the defense because they can key in on the people who are trying to be aggressive. That’s the biggest thing we are trying to get better at, but we have to go and find some people deeper in the rotation that want to play, and that’s the thing we’ve been struggling with lately, and that’s trying to find the people on the bench who can be that spark and bring the energy. 

“That’s the biggest thing,” Williams continued.  said. “Everybody has to come in with the mentality that I’m going to be aggressive and I’m going to control what I can control on the defensive end, and offensively I’m going to get to my spots. I’d rather have a mistake while you are being aggressive than doing the same thing over and over and not having something good happen from it.”

Other final scoring totals for the Rockers were: Craycraft (two), Rosselot (two) and Strong (seven). 

“This is a big league win for us, it really is,” Stewart said. “This is one where everybody has to come in here, and we are the only ones who have come in here and won at this point, so it is a great start for us, and it really energizes us. We played a good East Clinton team, and we haven’t said that in a while. They have ingredients now with all the East Clinton kids staying at East Clinton, and that was a tough cover for us.

“We knew this game was going to take a gritty effort, and 45-41 is kind of indicative of that.”

Fairfield also had final scoring totals from Rice (seven), Ahsaruk (two) and McIntosh (two). 

Final totals for the Lions were 10 two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and they were 9-of-14 from the free-throw line. 

The Lions next play Tuesday, Dec. 9 in another SHAC contest, traveling to Sardinia to take on the Eastern Warriors. 

Fayetteville plays next Tuesday, Dec. 9 at home in a SHAC game against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs. 

BOX SCORE 
FYHS    07 14 15 09 — 45
FHS      06 12 16 07 — 41

FAYETTEVILLE (45) — K.Craycraft 0 (0) 2-2 2, J.Rosselot 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Strong 3 (0) 1-1 7, C.Coffman 6 (0) 2-2 14, B.Feldhaus 4 (3) 3-3 20. TOTALS: 14 (3) 8-8 45. 

FAIRFIELD (41) — B.Smith 2 (1) 4-4 11, C.Rice 2 (1) 0-0 7, G.Friend 4 (2) 5-8 19, Z.Ahsaruk 1 (0) 0-0 2, Q.McIntosh 1 (0) 0-2 2. TOTALS: 10 (4) 9-14 41.