Lions drop game to Unioto; return to court to defeat rival Whiteoak Friday night 

The Fairfield Lions played two games last week where they narrowly fell to the visiting Unioto Shermans 50-46 on Tuesday, followed by a win on Friday night against the visiting Whiteoak Wildcats where the Lions won the conference game 59-41. 

Friday’s game started with Fairfield winning the opening frame at 11-4 over Whiteoak as the 11 points from Fairfield included four points by Brody Smith, five points from Caleb Rice and five points scored by Griffin Friend. 

Whiteoak’s first quarter had one basket each from Lucas Pollard and Sawyer Blair for their four points. 

WHS came back with 15 points in the second quarter as Blair made a two-point bucket, Jason Gaskins scored five points, Brady Brandenburg added three points off free throws, and Carson Hart scored five points in the quarter. 

The Lions’ second quarter saw them score 17 points with Smith scoring five of those points, while Rice also had six points in the frame off two 3-pointers, and also with two 3-pointers for six points was Landyn Hoskins. 

Fairfield led 31-19 at halftime. 

Whiteoak scored 11 points in the third quarter with five points from Brandenburg, a 3-pointer by Evan Richmond, two points off a basket made by Christopher Wessner and a free throw from Blair. 

In the same third frame, Fairfield scored 19 points with six points from Zach Ahsaruk, five points by Griffin Friend, two points from Rice and six points from Smith. 

The fourth frame included nine points by the Lions as Smith made a free throw, Friend made two free throws and Quentin McIntosh scored six points off three two-point baskets. 

The Wildcats scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as Pollard had three points, Blair made two baskets for four points and Brandenburg sank four free throws for four points. 

WHS was led in the scoring column for the game by Brandenburg with 12 points, as he was 8-of-11 from the free-throw line and he also made two two-point baskets. 

Blair totaled nine points with four two-pointers, and he was 1-of-2 in his free throw attempts. Pollard finished with five points as he made two two-point baskets and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. Hart finished with five points as well, making one basket and he was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

Richmond totaled three points with a 3-pointer, and scoring two points in the game for the Wildcats was Wessner. WHS totaled 11 two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and they were 13-of-19 from the free-throw line. 

Fairfield was led in scoring by Smith with 16 points, ending the game with four two-point buckets, one 3-pointer and he was 5-of-8 from the free-throw line. 

Rice ended the game with 13 points as he totaled three 3-pointers and two two-point baskets.

Friend scored 12 points in the win with three two-point baskets, one 3-pointer, and he went 3-of-3 in his free throw attempts. 

Scoring six points each were Ahsaruk (one two-pointer, 3-of-4 FT-line), Hoskins (two three-pointers), and McIntosh (three two-pointers). 

As a team, the Lions had eight 3-pointers, 12 two-point baskets, and they were 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. 

The win moves Fairfield to 8-3 in the SHAC Div. II standings and 11-6 overall. Whiteoak is now 6-12 overall and 2-9 in the SHAC Div. II standings. 

BOX SCORE
WHS    04 15 11 11 — 41
FHS    14 17 19 09 — 59

On Tuesday, Feb. 10, the Fairfield Lions lost to Unioto 50-46 in a non-conference home game. 

The two teams were tied at 14 after the first quarter and 24-24 at halftime, as each team scored 10 points in the second frame. 

The third quarter saw UHS win the frame at 14-7 for a seven-point lead at 38-31. In the fourth frame, Fairfield scored 15 points and Unioto scored 12 points. 

The Lions were led by Griffin Friend with 21 points as he made two 3-pointers, four two-point baskets and he went 7-of-9 from the free throw line. 

Brody Smith finished with 13 points off two 3-pointers, two two-pointers and he was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

FHS also had six points from Quentin McIntosh (eight rebounds) and three points each from Caleb Rice and Landyn Hoskins. 

FHS team totals were eight two-point baskets, six 3-pointers (Friend 2, Smith 2, Rice 1, Hoskins 1), and they were 12-of-16 from the free-throw line. 

BOX SCORE
UHS    14 10 14 12 — 50
FHS    14 10 07 15 — 46