Fairfield leaves Whiteoak with 18th win of season

MOWRYSTOWN — The Fairfield Lions got back on track on Friday night. Following a four-game span where they lost three of four, the Lions went back on the road — staying in Highland County — and returned to Leesburg with their 18th win of the season, defeating the Whiteoak Wildcats, 58-28.

In their Southern Hills Athletic Conference win, the Lions made things tough on their Highland County rival with a 16-2 first quarter, setting the tone for the remainder of the game. 

“It's always good to beat a rival, a Highland County rival and a SHAC rival,” Fairfield head coach Quentin Williams said. “We showed up with really good energy, and we had a really good practice yesterday, and I could sense we were in kind of a roll. 

“They really paid attention to detail on the scouting report. I was really proud of them, and the way they came out and just the energy that they had was very contagious.” 

The Lions (10-2, 18-3) began the game by scoring the first five points, as Cade Miller knocked down a 3-pointer and Logan McIntosh chipped in with his first basket of the game for the 5-0 lead at the 6:23 mark of the first frame.

McIntosh led all scorers with 23 points in the win, collecting eight two-point buckets, two 3-pointers and he was 1-of-3 from the free-throw line.  

Whiteoak’s first points were off a layup by Brady Brandenburg with 5:03 left in the quarter, and that was all they scored for the rest of the first quarter. 

From there, the Lions — starting at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter — went on an 11-0 run to end the frame for a 16-2 lead. 

The scoring drive started with a jumper by Larkin Friend, followed by a layup by Gabe Fouch with the assist (and steal) by Friend for a 9-2 lead. Fouch ended the game with 13 points as he made five two-point baskets and one 3-pointer. 

After a WHS timeout following Fouch’s layup, the Lions continued from where they left off with a jumper by McIntosh (with the assist by Friend), and later Fouch sank a 3-pointer with 2:26 on the clock, putting the Lions ahead 14-2. The Lions’ final points of the first were off a jumper by Fouch as time expired. 

The second quarter was more of the Lions controlling the pace against the Wildcats — as WHS was also without one of their top players, Weston Blair — with FHS winning the frame at 18-9 and taking a halftime lead of 34-11. 

McIntosh made the second quarter his with 14 points in the quarter, scoring two 3-pointers and four two-point baskets. Chase Newman and Larkin Friend also contributed to the FHS scoring in the second frame.

Whiteoak added nine points to their total in the second quarter with Sawyer Blair scoring four points, Aiden Crowe collecting three points and Zander Roades adding two points in the frame. 

As for the second half, the Lions controlled the tempo as well, starting with a third quarter of 15-10, and in the fourth quarter, the Lions won the frame at 9-7.

Fairfield in the third had six points by Friend (he totaled 10 points for the game), Fouch scored four points, Miller made a 3-pointer and Trey House sank a two-point basket. WHS in the third had four points each by Brandenburg and Blair, plus two points by Roades. 

Whiteoak’s seven-point fourth quarter saw Roades, Blair and Brandenburg each score six points, and one point was scored by Jackson Tedford. The Lions in the fourth had five points by McIntosh, along with Fouch and House with two points apiece. 

Other final scoring for the Lions included Miller (six), House (four) and Newman (two). 

Final scoring totals for the Wildcats included Blair (10), Brandenburg (eight), Roades (six), Crowe (three) and Tedford (one). 

For the game, the Wildcats totaled nine two-point baskets and were 10-of-14 from the free-throw line. 

Fairfield for the game made 20 two-point baskets, five 3-pointers, and they were 3-of-5 from the free-throw line. 

WHS now stands at 5-16 overall and 5-7 in the SHAC Div. II standings. Fairfield, with the win, now stands at 18-3 overall and 10-2 in the SHAC DIv. II standings (first place). 

Next for the Lions is a regular-season finale SHAC game on Friday, Feb. 16 on the road at Ripley (0-12, 2-17) with a 7:30 p.m. start. 

Whiteoak will next play Friday, Feb. 16 in a regular-season finale SHAC game at home against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs (5-7, 8-12). 

BOX SCORE
FHS    16 18 15 09 — 58
WHS    02 09 10 07 — 28

FAIRFIELD (58) — L.Friend 4 (0) 2-2 10, T.House 2 (0) 0-0 4, L.McIntosh 8 (2) 1-3 23, G.Fouch 5 (1) 0-0 13, C.Miller 0 (2) 0-0 6, C.Newman 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 20 (5) 3-5 58. 

WHITEOAK (28) — Z.Roades 1 (0) 4-6 6, S.Blair 5 (0) 0-0 10, J.Tedford 0 (0) 1-2 1, A.Crowe 1 (0) 1-2 3, B.Bradenburg 2 (0) 4-4 8. TOTALS: 9 (0) 10-14 28.