2024-25 Fairfield Lions Boys Basketball Preview

Coming off two consecutive seasons of being a Southern Hills Athletic Conference champion, the Fairfield Lions have to replace four starters from last season as they prepare to take on all comers for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

Having one returning starter from last season’s district runner-up team, the Lions — who are coached by Quentin Williams (entering his third season) — have a roster of three seniors, two juniors and five sophomores.

The seniors are returning starter Logan McIntosh (guard/forward), Dane Hodson (guard) and Chase Newman (forward).

McIntosh last season averaged 12.5 ppg, along with 5.0 rebounds per game and 1.7 assists per game. McIntosh scored 325 points and totaled 125 rebounds, 43 assists, 17 steals and 12 blocks. Last season also saw McIntosh collect 19 games of 10-plus points scored. His postseason accolades included All-SHAC, Coaches Third-Team All-District and OPSWA Third-Team All-District selections.

Newman finished last season with 60 points, 18 rebounds, 22 assists, four steals and four blocks.  

The junior class consists of Quentin McIntosh (forward) and Zach Ahsaruk (guard), and the sophomores this season are Griffin Friend (guard), Brody Smith (guard), Caleb Barrera (guard), Caleb Rice (guard) and Layne Burgess (guard).

“I am excited for our whole team to come together. If we play the right way, I hope to have everyone on our team stand out at different times this year depending on the game,” Williams said. “Our offseason consisted of a lot of time in the weight room to become more physical, put on some lean muscle mass, become more well-rounded and explosive athletes. We also spent a lot of time in the gym working on our tendencies and developing individually and together.”

In the two seasons with Williams as their head coach, the Lions have a record of 24-2 in the SHAC, with an overall record of 46-4, including a 22-3 overall record last season, with an 11-2 mark in Division II of the SHAC.

The Lions are also coming off a season where they averaged 59.6 points per game and allowed 40.1 ppg in the 25 games they played. There were four starters from that team who have since graduated, including point guard Larkin Friend (14.9 ppg, 10 rpg, 7.4 apg, 2.5 spg, 1.4 bpg), Trey House (11.1 ppg, 4 rpg), Gabe Fouch (8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 apg) and Cade Miller (6 ppg, 3.2 rpg).

Those players’ accolades from last season included: Friend (All-SHAC, Coaches First-Team All-District, OPSWA First-Team All-District, Special Mention Div. IV All-Ohio), House (All-SHAC, Coaches Third-Team All-District, OPSWA Second-Team All-District, Honorable Mention Div. IV All-Ohio) and Fouch (Coaches Honorable Mention All-District).

With those players now graduated, spots in the starting lineup will need to be filled, and this offseason Williams spoke about his team bonding and becoming closer since this past April.

“With a mixture of grades and talent, I have seen a lot of my kids become closer to one another from last April until now,” he said. “I have also seen them begin to embrace having the right mentality and approach every day with a mindset to build good habits that it takes to be a successful team.”

The three-year head coach also talked about the improvement he wants to see his team obtain as the season nears.

“The biggest area I want to see improvement in is our resiliency and mindset when things do not go our way. Learning to come together and lean on each other during those moments is crucial,” Williams said. “My expectations are to take it one day at a time and focus on becoming better versions of ourselves every single day. I expect to compete for a league title in the SHAC and compete to win a district championship as well.”

When asked to describe his team in a few words, Williams said the following … “rapidly improving, hard-working and eager, which will be big as the Lions play in a competitive conference.

“I think our conference will be very competitive this year from top to bottom, even more so than last year,” Williams said.

Then there is the non-conference schedule for Fairfield, and those opponents will see the Lions play vs. Paint Valley, vs. East Clinton, vs. Western (Chad Hodson Classic), vs. Hillsboro, vs. Wilmington (SSCC Hardwood Classic), at Unioto, vs. McClain, at Miami Trace and at Cedarville.

“We always try to challenge ourselves with a difficult non-conference schedule. We are in Division VII this year, and if you look at our non-conference schedule, you will see that a lot of the teams we are playing are three to four divisions bigger than us,” Williams said. “Some of those teams include Unioto, Wilmington, Hillsboro, Miami Trace and McClain. We also play Cedarville and Western Latham, which are always well coached and challenging teams to go against.”

The Lions’ assistant coaches are Raymond Friend, Scott Williams, Bryson Simmons and Klay Walker.

“They all do a great job in excelling in their roles for the betterment of our kids and the program. They do a lot of things that go unnoticed, and I appreciate their willingness to sacrifice their time for our kids,” Williams said.

Fairfield begins the 2024-25 season Tuesday, Dec. 3 at home in a SHAC contest against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs.

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