Lions race past Greyhounds for 11th win of season
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — A slow start in the first quarter by the Fairfield Lions, coupled with a late rally by the Manchester Greyhounds, wasn't enough to stop the host Lions on Saturday night. Fairfield battled in the paint, made plays when they needed and led the game for the final 8:39, defending their home court for a 59-52 Southern Hills League win.
The visiting Greyhounds rallied to within three points with 41 seconds on the fourth quarter clock, but timely plays by Fairfield, including seniors Austin May and Austin Hildebrant, allowed them to hold onto the victory on Senior Night.
[[In-content Ad]]Speaking of the seniors, Cole Putnam finished with not only seven points (five in the fourth frame), but 11 rebounds. In fact, all four seniors scored points in their final home game as May scored two points, Hildebrant scored two and Wes Willey added four points. Also honored before the game was Stephen "Peanut" Barcus, who passed away before his senior year this past summer due to an auto accident.
"I told the seniors before the game, they've taught me a lot about life," Fairfield head coach Matt Carson said. "They are four class individuals. I told them this is a small portion of their life they are going to remember forever … this basketball season and all of their time playing basketball.
"I thought all four of them contributed. I'm happy for them."
Leading the Lions (7-5, 11-8) in scoring were their youth, with sophomores Gage Montgomery and Blake Hildebrant each finishing with 14 points. Hildebrant was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, along with five assists.
Junior Brad Clay added 13 points (seven rebounds), and Quentin Williams scored three points.
"Manchester is a quality ball team, they are well coached, and I knew when they got down, they would have one last swing to throw at us … and they did," Carson said. "We were able to answer … I credit my kids' resiliency."
All wasn't as good for the Lions early, trailing by seven points in the first and by as many as nine points in the third.
But from the 1:14 mark of the third until the final buzzer sounded, the Lions either led the game or trailed by one point.
Getting to that point for the Lions was a battle, as they trailed 12-7 after the first frame and by as many as 11 points on two different occasions in the second quarter with 5:36 and 4:48 left on the clock in the first half.
Following being down by the aforementioned 11 points, the game started to click for the Lions as they began to chip away at the lead of the Greyhounds with Clay sinking two free throws, followed by a layup off a fast break by Montgomery. Clay came back with a jumper to cut the Manchester lead to five points with 3:09 left in the opening half.
Following a jumper by Manchester's Dalton West, the Lions ended the opening half with a jumper by Blake Hildebrant and a 3-pointer from the corner by Williams, bringing the Lions within two points of the MHS lead at 24-22.
"We have to start finding something early on," Carson said. "I don't know why, we've struggled with that all year."
All the work the Lions did late in the second was erased at the start of the third by the Greyhounds (7-5, 11-7) with West and Travis Combs combining for seven points to open the quarter, increasing the MHS lead to 31-22.
"I can't say enough about Travis Combs," Carson said. "I've seen him play since I coached a 7th grade team, and from then to now … he has just turned into one of the best ball players in southern Ohio. He's a great quality individual."
Combs led all scorers with a game-high 18 points. West followed with 14 for MHS, and Braxton Griffin added 10 points.
Again, the Lions had another comeback in them, with Blake Hildebrant hitting a jumper, followed with a steal by Montgomery, who passed it to Hildebrant for two points, with 4:30 left in the third.
Clay added points with a layup, with the assist credited to Montgomery, bringing the Lions within three points of tying the game with 4:02 left in the third.
After exchanging buckets either from the free-throw line or from the floor, the Lions found themselves in the lead for the first time in the game with 1:14 left in the third when Montgomery scored a three-point play.
Following the Greyhounds regaining the lead with points by West, the Lions took the lead (39-38) for what would be for good with 23 seconds left in the third when Montgomery scored on a layup, with the assist by Blake Hildebrant. The Lions went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter, as Clay and Willey scored points in the paint, putting FHS ahead by five points.
In the fourth, the Lions led by as many as 12 points with 3:35 remaining in the game with a combination of points by Clay, Blake Hildebrant and Putnam.
Manchester tried to rally one more time as they did get within three points of tying the score in the final quarter, but two clutch free throws by Austin Hildebrant, along with a put-back bucket by May, were enough for the Lions to keep their lead for good. May also forced a jump ball, going the way of the Lions with 16 seconds remaining in the fourth, taking away an opportunity for the Greyhounds to score.
"I want to say something about Austin May … I took him out, I kind of got on him a couple times about his backside rebounding. He's struggled with rebounding at times this season, but guess who was there to get a backside rebound when we really needed it late in the game … Austin May," Carson said. "He's just a great kid, does what I ask of him, and that rebound with 50 seconds to go was a big moment in the game."
The Lions have one regular-season game remaining, an SHL game at West Union. The draw for the tournament will be on Sunday, Feb. 12 in Jackson. Last season, the Lions reached the district finals.
Fairfield's 11 wins surpasses their regular-season win mark of a season ago.
"I'm just proud of the kids … to clinch a winning regular season, after people pigeonholed us to not do anything before the season even started … that just says a lot about their character, and I'm proud of them," Carson said.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MHS 12 12 14 14 — 52
FHS 07 15 21 16 — 59
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (59)
Q.Williams 0 (1) 0-2 3
A.May 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Hildebrant 4 (0) 6-6 14
G.Montgomery 6 (0) 2-3 14
B.Clay 5 (0) 3-5 13
A.Hildebrant 0 (0) 2-2 2
W.Willey 2 (0) 0-0 4
R.Bates 2 (0) 3-4 7
TOTALS: 20 (1) 16-22 59
MHS (52)
A.Walters 0 (0) 0-1 0
T.Combs 4 (1) 7-9 18
D.Ricketts 2 (0) 0-0 4
K.Adams 3 (0) 0-0 6
D.West 4 (1) 3-3 14
B.Griffin 4 (0) 2-4 10
TOTALS: 17 (2) 12-17 52
The visiting Greyhounds rallied to within three points with 41 seconds on the fourth quarter clock, but timely plays by Fairfield, including seniors Austin May and Austin Hildebrant, allowed them to hold onto the victory on Senior Night.
[[In-content Ad]]Speaking of the seniors, Cole Putnam finished with not only seven points (five in the fourth frame), but 11 rebounds. In fact, all four seniors scored points in their final home game as May scored two points, Hildebrant scored two and Wes Willey added four points. Also honored before the game was Stephen "Peanut" Barcus, who passed away before his senior year this past summer due to an auto accident.
"I told the seniors before the game, they've taught me a lot about life," Fairfield head coach Matt Carson said. "They are four class individuals. I told them this is a small portion of their life they are going to remember forever … this basketball season and all of their time playing basketball.
"I thought all four of them contributed. I'm happy for them."
Leading the Lions (7-5, 11-8) in scoring were their youth, with sophomores Gage Montgomery and Blake Hildebrant each finishing with 14 points. Hildebrant was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, along with five assists.
Junior Brad Clay added 13 points (seven rebounds), and Quentin Williams scored three points.
"Manchester is a quality ball team, they are well coached, and I knew when they got down, they would have one last swing to throw at us … and they did," Carson said. "We were able to answer … I credit my kids' resiliency."
All wasn't as good for the Lions early, trailing by seven points in the first and by as many as nine points in the third.
But from the 1:14 mark of the third until the final buzzer sounded, the Lions either led the game or trailed by one point.
Getting to that point for the Lions was a battle, as they trailed 12-7 after the first frame and by as many as 11 points on two different occasions in the second quarter with 5:36 and 4:48 left on the clock in the first half.
Following being down by the aforementioned 11 points, the game started to click for the Lions as they began to chip away at the lead of the Greyhounds with Clay sinking two free throws, followed by a layup off a fast break by Montgomery. Clay came back with a jumper to cut the Manchester lead to five points with 3:09 left in the opening half.
Following a jumper by Manchester's Dalton West, the Lions ended the opening half with a jumper by Blake Hildebrant and a 3-pointer from the corner by Williams, bringing the Lions within two points of the MHS lead at 24-22.
"We have to start finding something early on," Carson said. "I don't know why, we've struggled with that all year."
All the work the Lions did late in the second was erased at the start of the third by the Greyhounds (7-5, 11-7) with West and Travis Combs combining for seven points to open the quarter, increasing the MHS lead to 31-22.
"I can't say enough about Travis Combs," Carson said. "I've seen him play since I coached a 7th grade team, and from then to now … he has just turned into one of the best ball players in southern Ohio. He's a great quality individual."
Combs led all scorers with a game-high 18 points. West followed with 14 for MHS, and Braxton Griffin added 10 points.
Again, the Lions had another comeback in them, with Blake Hildebrant hitting a jumper, followed with a steal by Montgomery, who passed it to Hildebrant for two points, with 4:30 left in the third.
Clay added points with a layup, with the assist credited to Montgomery, bringing the Lions within three points of tying the game with 4:02 left in the third.
After exchanging buckets either from the free-throw line or from the floor, the Lions found themselves in the lead for the first time in the game with 1:14 left in the third when Montgomery scored a three-point play.
Following the Greyhounds regaining the lead with points by West, the Lions took the lead (39-38) for what would be for good with 23 seconds left in the third when Montgomery scored on a layup, with the assist by Blake Hildebrant. The Lions went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter, as Clay and Willey scored points in the paint, putting FHS ahead by five points.
In the fourth, the Lions led by as many as 12 points with 3:35 remaining in the game with a combination of points by Clay, Blake Hildebrant and Putnam.
Manchester tried to rally one more time as they did get within three points of tying the score in the final quarter, but two clutch free throws by Austin Hildebrant, along with a put-back bucket by May, were enough for the Lions to keep their lead for good. May also forced a jump ball, going the way of the Lions with 16 seconds remaining in the fourth, taking away an opportunity for the Greyhounds to score.
"I want to say something about Austin May … I took him out, I kind of got on him a couple times about his backside rebounding. He's struggled with rebounding at times this season, but guess who was there to get a backside rebound when we really needed it late in the game … Austin May," Carson said. "He's just a great kid, does what I ask of him, and that rebound with 50 seconds to go was a big moment in the game."
The Lions have one regular-season game remaining, an SHL game at West Union. The draw for the tournament will be on Sunday, Feb. 12 in Jackson. Last season, the Lions reached the district finals.
Fairfield's 11 wins surpasses their regular-season win mark of a season ago.
"I'm just proud of the kids … to clinch a winning regular season, after people pigeonholed us to not do anything before the season even started … that just says a lot about their character, and I'm proud of them," Carson said.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MHS 12 12 14 14 — 52
FHS 07 15 21 16 — 59
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (59)
Q.Williams 0 (1) 0-2 3
A.May 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Hildebrant 4 (0) 6-6 14
G.Montgomery 6 (0) 2-3 14
B.Clay 5 (0) 3-5 13
A.Hildebrant 0 (0) 2-2 2
W.Willey 2 (0) 0-0 4
R.Bates 2 (0) 3-4 7
TOTALS: 20 (1) 16-22 59
MHS (52)
A.Walters 0 (0) 0-1 0
T.Combs 4 (1) 7-9 18
D.Ricketts 2 (0) 0-0 4
K.Adams 3 (0) 0-0 6
D.West 4 (1) 3-3 14
B.Griffin 4 (0) 2-4 10
TOTALS: 17 (2) 12-17 52