Lions close out regular season as SHAC DII champions; defeat Ripley
The 2023-24 regular season came to a close for the Fairfield Lions on Tuesday night (Feb. 20), as they played a makeup game at Ripley High School and returned home to Highland County with a 72-38 win.
The win finished the Southern Hills Athletic Conference schedule as well for the Lions, as they finalized their SHAC Division II championship season with a conference record of 11-2, and the win also puts them at 19-3 overall.
Fairfield led 15-8 at the end of the first frame, and after a 14-9 second quarter, their lead expanded to 29-17 at halftime.
The second half included a third frame where the Lions won the quarter at 13-11 for a 42-28 lead, and in the fourth the Lions went into overdrive by outscoring the Blue Jays, 30-10 for the 34-point win.
For the Lions, they were led by Logan McIntosh with 24 points, as he made 10 two-point baskets and he was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Larkin Friend joined the 20-point scoring club for FHS Tuesday as he totaled 20 points with two 3-pointers, six two-point baskets and he went 2-of-3 in his free-throw attempts.
Gabe Fouch followed with 10 points by making two 3-pointers, one two-point basket, and he finished 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Also scoring points for the Lions were Trey House (eight), Janre Lerio (four), Quentin McIntosh (four) and Cade Miller (two).
The team totals for the Lions were 23 two-point baskets, five 3-pointers, and they went 11-of-15 from the free-throw line.
Ripley was led by Jayden Bartley with 13 points and Blake Fyffe with 12 points.
The Blue Jays finished with 11 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers, and they were 7-of-10 from the free-throw line.
RHS finishes the regular season with a 2-20 overall record and SHAC Division II record of 0-13.
Next for the Lions is a Division IV SE District Sectional Final game on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Miami Trace High School against the Whiteoak Wildcats at 6:15 p.m. FHS defeated Whiteoak twice during the regular season.
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