Fairfield 2021-22 Boys Basketball Preview: Lions have big goals for 2021-22 season
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Fairfield Lions have a goal to win the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, and to do so they have a tough schedule within the conference to overcome, plus this season they are joining Division I of the SHAC, changing spots with the Ripley Blue Jays, who move to Division II.
Fifth-year head coach Josh Howland knows achieving their yearly goal of winning the league has gotten a little tougher as they will now face the Eastern Warriors, Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs, West Union Dragons and North Adams Green Devils twice this season. FHS will also be taking on Fayetteville, Manchester, Peebles, Ripley and Whiteoak once in conference play.
Last season, the Lions finished fourth in Division II of the SHAC, with a conference mark of 5-7, while finishing with an overall record of 10-12.
“The SHAC will be tough this year,” Howland said. “It will be tough especially with us moving to the big division. To achieve our goals, we expect our defense to continue to keep us in games and our offense to improve each day. We need to improve on the offensive end. We lost our defensive leader, which was Connor Priest.”
For the Lions to achieve that success, they will have four seniors, four juniors and two sophomores on the varsity roster. The seniors are Jon Bentley, Reese Teeters, Brayden Zimmerman and Koben Zink.
Juniors for the Lions are Gunner Bennington, Tytis Cannon, Wyatt Crothers and TJ Mootz. The two sophomores are Trey House and Cade Miller.
“We had a pretty good offseason,” Howland said of his team. “We did have three juniors injured most of the summer, but our other guys were able to get a lot of reps in.
“We have high expectations for our four seniors and four juniors. Our four seniors really stepped up in tournaments last season and have carried that on. Our juniors are also competing at a high level every day.”
For the Lions last season Teeters, an All-District selection, averaged 10.4 points per game with 188 points scored.
Another All-District honoree, Cannon played in 10 games last year due to injury, but in his time on the court he scored 120 points, averaging 12 ppg. Bentley last season averaged 7.3 ppg. (124 points), and Zink scored 6.4 ppg. as he scored 113 points.
Another aspect of the Lions’ season in preparation of not only their goal of winning a conference championship, but also to be prepared for the postseason tournament.
The non-conference schedule for Fairfield includes games against Fairland (at Hoosier Gym), Lucasville Valley, Paint Valley, Cedarville, Wellston, McClain, Washington, Hillsboro and Adena.
“Our non-conference schedule is as difficult as I can remember,” Howland said. “We are excited about our team this year. We have a tough regular-season schedule, but we should be well prepped by the end of the season and tournaments. Our kids practice hard every day and understand we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The Lions open the 2021-22 season at Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Ind. against the Fairland Dragons on Saturday, Nov. 26.
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Fifth-year head coach Josh Howland knows achieving their yearly goal of winning the league has gotten a little tougher as they will now face the Eastern Warriors, Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs, West Union Dragons and North Adams Green Devils twice this season. FHS will also be taking on Fayetteville, Manchester, Peebles, Ripley and Whiteoak once in conference play.
Last season, the Lions finished fourth in Division II of the SHAC, with a conference mark of 5-7, while finishing with an overall record of 10-12.
“The SHAC will be tough this year,” Howland said. “It will be tough especially with us moving to the big division. To achieve our goals, we expect our defense to continue to keep us in games and our offense to improve each day. We need to improve on the offensive end. We lost our defensive leader, which was Connor Priest.”
For the Lions to achieve that success, they will have four seniors, four juniors and two sophomores on the varsity roster. The seniors are Jon Bentley, Reese Teeters, Brayden Zimmerman and Koben Zink.
Juniors for the Lions are Gunner Bennington, Tytis Cannon, Wyatt Crothers and TJ Mootz. The two sophomores are Trey House and Cade Miller.
“We had a pretty good offseason,” Howland said of his team. “We did have three juniors injured most of the summer, but our other guys were able to get a lot of reps in.
“We have high expectations for our four seniors and four juniors. Our four seniors really stepped up in tournaments last season and have carried that on. Our juniors are also competing at a high level every day.”
For the Lions last season Teeters, an All-District selection, averaged 10.4 points per game with 188 points scored.
Another All-District honoree, Cannon played in 10 games last year due to injury, but in his time on the court he scored 120 points, averaging 12 ppg. Bentley last season averaged 7.3 ppg. (124 points), and Zink scored 6.4 ppg. as he scored 113 points.
Another aspect of the Lions’ season in preparation of not only their goal of winning a conference championship, but also to be prepared for the postseason tournament.
The non-conference schedule for Fairfield includes games against Fairland (at Hoosier Gym), Lucasville Valley, Paint Valley, Cedarville, Wellston, McClain, Washington, Hillsboro and Adena.
“Our non-conference schedule is as difficult as I can remember,” Howland said. “We are excited about our team this year. We have a tough regular-season schedule, but we should be well prepped by the end of the season and tournaments. Our kids practice hard every day and understand we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The Lions open the 2021-22 season at Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Ind. against the Fairland Dragons on Saturday, Nov. 26.
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