Fairfield unable to stop Rocket launch in 2nd half

LEESBURG — Everything went the way of the Fairfield Lions in the first half Friday night against the Fayetteville Rockets, as the Lions played outstanding defense in front of their home crowd and were hot from beyond the arc, holding a 15-point lead at halftime.

The second half saw the Rockets come out of the locker room even stronger than the Lions were in the first half, chipping away at Fairfield’s lead. With around 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Rocket launch commenced as the Rockets of Fayetteville took the lead for the first time in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game, and kept the lead for good, defeating the Lions 51-47 at Grandle Gymnasium.

“I felt like the first half, we came out like we wanted to prove a point, and we really wanted to be the aggressor and take it out on them,” Fairfield head coach Quentin Williams said. “I could kind of feel it on the sideline — I don't know how many times I said it — but we came out of the locker room, and I just had a bad feeling that we were going to rely on that lead, because we're a young team.

“We're immature at times. I just think second half, Fayetteville wanted it way more than us. I mean, they got up, they start pressuring us. We stopped being the aggressor. We didn't take it at them like we were taking it at them in the first half.”

Fayetteville (4-1, 4-3) was outscored 27-12 in the first half and didn’t score their first points of the game until there was 8.9 left in the first frame, as they trailed by 11 points before that basket. Then, in the second half, the Rockets outscored the Lions 39-20 in the final two quarters, with Fayetteville scoring 14 points in the third and 25 points in the fourth quarter, all while holding the Lions to nine points in the third and 11 in the fourth.

“These kids have been a second-half team,” Fayetteville head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “We’ve got good kids. Bottom line, our coaching staff believed in them. Even down 15, we believed that we had a good half in us. Our kids’ pride was hurt. Leesburg really got after us in the first half and really set us back. It was grit, it was determination, and our guys, obviously, executed much better in the second half.”

The Lions (4-1, 4-1) could do no wrong in the first quarter, scoring the first 11 points of the game, including three consecutive 3-pointers from Brody Smith, Griffin Friend and Logan McIntosh, and before those treys, it was Smith scoring the first basket of the game with a spin move to the hoop. Smith finished the game with 17 points, making three 3-pointers, while McIntosh totaled 10 points for the game and Friend finished with 13 points.

With the Lions leading 11-0, Fayetteville’s first points of the game were scored by Charlie Coffman, making it an 11-2 score, which stood until the first quarter came to a close.

The Lions increased their lead to 15 points to start the second quarter with two more 3-pointers off shots by Smith and Chase Newman, leaving 6:02 left in the second frame.

The Rockets scored their second basket of the game with 5:36 left in the second, only to see those points answered with a jumper from Friend and a drive to the hoop for two points by McIntosh.

After Fayetteville scored the next four points, McIntosh responded with another 3-pointer at the 2:22 mark for a 16-point Fairfield lead. The Rockets came back with four straight points, but Fairfield was the strongest team in the first half with one last 3-pointer, as this time it was Smith draining the trifecta with .58 left in the second quarter — the final points scored in the quarter — putting the Lions ahead by 15 points at 27-12 once halftime arrived.

Fairfield was outscored 14-9 in the third quarter as the shots didn’t fall as easily for the Lions in the second half, but for the Rockets, it was their time to shine, igniting their offensive prowess with the first points of the quarter off a basket by Brody Feldhaus.

The Lions kept their lead as high as 15 points in the third frame, and it got to as low as 10 points once the quarter came to a close. Fayetteville scored eight of the final 11 points of the third frame in the final 4:32 of the third, including two 3-pointers, and two free throws for the final points of the quarter, leaving the score 36-26, cutting the Lions’ lead from 15 points to 10 points.

The Rockets gradually drew closer to the lead of the Lions, going from trailing by 10 points, to hovering around a seven- to nine-point deficit, to eventually being down between one to four points in the final frame.

“We talk about it all the time, if you don't play to win instead of play not to lose, then that's kind of what it is,” Williams said. “I don't feel like, collectively, a lot of us really wanted it tonight. As a team, we especially didn't want it. We were just going through the motions the whole second half. You can't do that, you'll lose, and we did.”

In the final 1:09 the Rockets started taking over with a 3-pointer by Jack South, then maybe the “play of the game” when Coffman gained possession of the ball off a steal and Lions turnover, taking the ball to the hoop with 49.6 on the clock for a 48-47 Fayetteville lead, the first time they held the lead in the game. South finished the game with 16 points, and Coffman had 12 points.

“In our view, it was about time,” Stewart said of that sequence. “Our pressure had been there, been there, been there, and to [Fairfield’s] credit, they had never broke it, and then suddenly we get one opportunity, and there it was. And now suddenly it was a very, very different game. Beyond that, once we got that, then our guys, our leaders, stepped up and made two big free throws.

“It was a great high school game. I'm so proud of these guys. I really am. Moving forward, this also provided us a lesson. It was who we can't be and expect to be successful and then to catch our breath at the half. We played our best half of the year out here in this one to beat a good team on their home floor. Hopefully, we believe it's going to be instructive as well as satisfying.”

The Lions had an opportunity to regain the lead, but a shot bounced off the rim, and was rebounded by Alex Bradshaw of the Rockets. He was fouled and went to the free-throw line, making both attempts for a 50-47 Fayetteville lead. Bradshaw finished with 13 points.

The Lions missed another shot with 9.1 left in the game, and after the Rockets regained possession of the ball, they were fouled again. South sealed the win with one made free throw for a four-point lead and win by the visiting Rockets.

“Fayetteville’s a good team. We knew it was going to be like this,” Williams said. “I feel like we've skated away here these first few games, other than the Peebles game, doing things with the wrong habits, only showing up for two quarters at a time, and that's kind of what we did tonight.

“We showed up for the first half and second half, I just don't feel like we were here. You can't do that and expect to beat any good team, and we’ve got a lot of good teams in our schedule this year. We're going to have to learn, one, to have more attention to detail in the moment, and two to have that fire and just want to play basketball. It’s supposed to be fun. We’ll try to get it out of them, and hopefully we'll learn from this situation.”

At the free-throw line for the game, the Lions had zero attempts, and the Rockets finished 10-of-11. Fairfield finished with nine 3-pointers for the game, including seven in the first half, while the Rockets had five for the game.

The Lions will play again Saturday, Dec. 21 at home against the Paint Valley Bearcats with a varsity start of around 5:30 p.m.

Fayetteville will next play on Friday, Dec. 27 on the road against Georgetown at Western Brown in the Brown County Holiday Tournament at 3:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE
FAY    02 10 14 25 — 51
FHS    11 16 09 11 — 47

FAYETTEVILLE (51) — K.Craycraft 0 (2) 0-0 6, J.South 3 (2) 4-5 16, C.Coffman 4 (0) 4-4 12, A.Bradshaw 4 (1) 2-2 13, B.Feldhaus 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 13 (5) 10-11 51.

FAIRFIELD (47) — G.Friend 2 (3) 0-0 13, C.Barrera 2 (0) 0-0 4, B.Smith 4 (3) 0-0 17, L.McIntosh 2 (2) 0-0 10, C.Newman 0 (1) 0-0 3. TOTALS: 10 (9) 0-0 47.

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