Fairfield Lions leave no doubt against Glenwood New Boston; move to district finals

ATHENS — The Fairfield Lions bent, but didn’t break, and even though they were a No. 7 seed entering the Division IV SE District Semifinals on Tuesday night, they took down the No. 2 seeded Glenwood New Boston Tigers, 71-55 at the Ohio University Convocation Center.

Fairfield (15-9) used their defense to set the tone, and then their offense came to life as well, with the Lions only committing four turnovers in the first half, plus they handed the Tigers just their second loss on the season.

With the Lions defeating the state-ranked Glenwood squad, the Tigers end their season at 22-2 overall, with their only other loss being to Fairfield’s Southern Hills Athletic Conference rival Peebles, who also advanced to their district final game.

Getting to the win, the Lions had four players score in double figures, with seniors Bryson Simmons and James Bentley each scoring 17 points in the win, as Bentley had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Junior Connor Priest followed with 14 points, and senior Wyatt Willey scored 11 points.

Simmons finished the game with three two-point baskets, three 3-pointers and he was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. Bentley totaled eight two-point buckets and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Priest finished with five two-point baskets and went 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. Willey totaled two two-point baskets and was 7-of-8 in his free-throw attempts.

The remainder of the Fairfield scoring included eight points from freshman Tytis Cannon and four points by sophomore Reese Teeters.

The Lions begin their journey to the district semifinal win by pressuring the Tigers on defense and making the baskets they needed to for a 25-19 advantage at the end of the opening frame.

“We wanted to slow it down on the defensive end and stop their transition, and speed them up on offense, and I thought we did an excellent job of that. There were a few times, especially in the second quarter, where they made some runs, but in the first quarter I thought we did an excellent job of that,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said. “Hats off to Wyatt Willey, Bryson Simmons and James for leading that. Connor and Tytis as well, all five of them did their job.”

Bentley was the first to score with two tough points in the paint to set the tone for the Lions in the first half, followed by a steal and layup by Simmons for a four-point lead.

The Tigers tied the score with back-to-back buckets, but it was Bentley and Priest who lifted the Lions to a 10-4 lead when Bentley scored two points in the paint while being fouled. After missing the ensuing free throw, Bentley grabbed the rebound and put the ball back in the net with 5:30 left in the first frame. Priest followed with a layup of his own with the assist by Bentley to make it the aforementioned 10-6 score.

After five points by the Tigers, the Lions went on a 7-0 run of their own with a layup by Priest, a fast break bucket by Cannon and a 3-pointer by Cannon for a 17-9 advantage with 2:46 left on the first-quarter clock.

Following a timeout by the Tigers, they scored six of the next eight points combined by both teams with the Fairfield having two points by Teeters.

The remaining points by the Lions in the first frame came off a layup by Bentley (with the assist by Simmons) and then a four-point play by Simmons who sank a 3-pointer while being fouled (he was knocked to the ground), then made the ensuing free throw for a 25-14 lead with 25.5 left in the opening frame.

The Lions held the lead in the second frame with an 11-10 scoring differential as the Lions were on point to begin the frame with Bentley starting the quarter with a basket in the paint and following with two more tough points while being fouled. With 5:09 left in the second, the Lions added two more points with the help of Priest for a 32-19 lead, forcing the state-ranked Glenwood Tigers to call a timeout.

After the timeout was finished, it was still Fairfield adding to their lead with two free throws by Priest, taking a 15-point lead at 34-19.

That lead was chipped away by Glenwood with junior Kyle Sexton scoring the next six points, while teammate sophomore Grady Jackson also added two points. Sexton added two more points for what morphed into a 10-point run for a 34-29 score. Sexton led Glenwood with 22 points.

The Lions added two final points at the buzzer as Willey sank a jumper for a 36-29 halftime lead.

Fairfield saw their lead vanish in the third on two occasions, but again, never trailed as New Boston opened the third with six straight points for a 36-36 score. After the Lions re-gained the lead with a bucket by Priest with 6:15 on the clock, Jackson tied the score at 38, but again the Lions came back to retake the advantage at 40-38 with a put-back basket by Simmons.

“We had the ‘bend but don’t break’ mentality. Our boys were super confident, having three seniors — having them since I started as head coach when they were sophomores — who have started every game since I’ve started coaching," Howland said. "We talked a lot about how (Glenwood) was going to make their runs because they have good shooters, and there is a reason why they were ranked in the state and won 22 games. We knew they had some fire in them.

“Sexton for them, he played a great game, and he rebounds well offensively, and we wanted to limit his offensive rebounds. He had one in the first half and five in third quarter … he’s an animal inside. The boys did a good job when they (Glenwood) pressured there. Especially in the fourth quarter, they did a good job of taking care of the ball."

As the third frame continued, the Lions rebuilt their lead back to seven points once it was concluded, starting with a layup from Bentley and a three-point play by Priest with 2:46 on the clock.

Following four points by Glenwood, Cannon made a 3-pointer, and the quarter eventually ended with a trey from Simmons, leaving the Lions ahead 51-44.

The Fairfield lead dropped to two points in the fourth with the Lions being outscored 6-2 early on with the two FHS points coming from Willey. Later in the frame, the Lions went on an 8-0 run that included two points by Bentley, and the next six by Simmons, including a 3-pointer with around 1:40 left on the clock for a 61-51 lead.

Once the lead went to 10 points in favor of the Lions, they had pretty much sealed the win with their lead going to as high as 16 points with Willey being clutch from the free-throw line after being fouled and sent to the line on four occasions.

Next for the Lions is a district final game on Saturday, March 7 at 9 p.m. against Trimble at the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens. 

“It is exciting,” Howland said of advancing to the district finals. “We felt like this is deserving because the boys have worked hard. Some people may be surprised, but I’m not surprised at all. We thought coming into this we were the favorites even though number-wise we weren’t with the seeding. We scrimmaged them, have seen them play, know what they were capable of, and knew what we were capable of too.

“I truly believe our schedule prepares us better than most teams in our district, and it has always been that way. With Hillsboro and McClain on our schedule, and our conference schedule, it makes us better. Also hats off to Peebles for making their district finals. They are an awesome club, their coach is a class act, and their community is a class act just like ours."

Fairfield had been a district semifinalist 24 times. They last won a district championship in 2014, with three previous district championships in program history. FHS has been a district runner-up six times, most recently in 2013.

“Our student section was full, and they were great. We couldn’t get a pep bus down here tonight, and they still found a way to get here. We’ll have one Saturday, though," Howland said. "In order to make a run in the tournament it takes all the role players to practice hard, and understand everybody is a part of this, and they do. They all came in and worked hard for the past week, and it paid off.”