Lions send Cedarville to first loss of season

LEESBURG — On Saturday night, the Fairfield Lions showed they are still a team to be reckoned with inside and out of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as they handed the Cedarville Indians their first loss of the season, with Fairfield defending Grandle Gymnasium by a 65-54 score. 

The weekend win for the Lions — who are now 6-0 overall — saw them hold the lead at the conclusion of every quarter, and they began that with a competitive first frame where FHS finished the quarter leading 14-11. 

“It's a big win for us,” Fairfield head coach Quentin Williams said. “Cedarville is a really good ball club. It  definitely was a good test for us to see where we’re at. I’m proud of the kids.

“We've been talking a lot about trying to figure out ways to get us started quicker. I think we did that today. We had a lot of energy from everybody. Everybody played their role and finished, as a coach, as a player one through 13, and did a great job starting off. We have to be more consistent throughout the quarters and not let anything, whether we're turning the ball over or we're missing shots, affect our energy.”

The Lions trailed just once in the quarter, but started the first off with a 5-0 run as senior Cade Miller scored all five of those points with a three-point play to start the game, followed by a layup on a fast break by the Lions with 6:58 on the clock. 

Miller finished with 13 points, plus he added two rebounds and two assists. 

Cedarville later responded with a 3-pointer at the 5:32 mark, but the Lions answered with a 3-pointer of their own as Miller, once again, was there in the scoring column, sinking the trey around the 5:00 mark of the same frame. 

The Indians equaled the feat with another made 3-pointer, only to see the Lions come back with two points from Trey House, but Cedarville had a comeback of their own, scoring the next four points to take a one-point lead at 11-10.

Cedarville’s lead lasted 20 seconds of game play as Chase Newman put the Lions ahead at 12-11, and then at the buzzer, Gabe Fouch sank a put-back basket for a 14-11 Lions lead. 

Fairfield wasted little time to add to their lead in the second frame when Logan McIntosh connected from downtown with a 3-pointer for a 17-11 Fairfield advantage. As the two teams continued to battle, Cedarville and Fairfield eventually tied at 19-19 with 5:13 left in the first half, as CHS went on a 7-2 run. 

FHS regained the lead with 4:58 on the clock with a basket by House, and FHS kept the lead for the rest of the quarter, seeing two baskets and three free throws made by Larkin Friend, and two 3-pointers from Janre Lerio — including his second 3-pointer with 1:27 left in the frame for a nine-point lead — to see the Lions ahead by 11 points at halftime at 34-23. 

“[Lerio] played really good defense the whole game, and then he came in and made some big-time shots, especially in the first half, so he did really good,” Williams said. 

The Lions kept the lead in the third frame, extending their lead to as many as 18 points with 3:47 left in the quarter off a basket by Miller. Right before that basket, at the 3:59 mark of the frame, the Lions had two made free throws by Friend following a technical foul called on the Indians, which was also followed by a fan being ejected from the game. 

Friend led the Lions with 16 points, plus he added six blocks, five assists and one block to his totals. 

The quarter continued with the Indians cutting the Lions’ lead to 10 points with 43 seconds left in the third, but FHS finished the third-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer by House with 22 seconds remaining, sinking the basket from the corner of the court for a 49-36 advantage. 

House ended the game with 13 points, two rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. 

Starting the fourth quarter with a 13 point lead, the Lions saw their lead cut down to as low as four points with 4:36 left in the fourth as Cedarville went on an 11-4 run, making the Lions’ lead 53-49. 

Fairfield fended off the Indians with three straight points to build their lead back to seven points, and after two points scored by CHS, the Lions had a basket scored on a fast break by House with 1:32 left in the game for a 58-52 lead. 

The Lions added to their lead in the latter stages of the fourth with two free throws by Friend, then another free throw made by the senior Friend for a 9-point lead at 61-52. From there, Miller made two more free throws for the Lions, and Fouch finished the Lions’ scoring with a basket with 19 seconds left in the games. The Indians scored one last basket, but the Lions won by 11 points. 

Other final scoring for the Lions included: McIntosh (9), Fouch (6), Lerio (6) and Newman (2). 

McIntosh led the Lions with seven rebounds, and Fouch followed with five boards. In all, the Lions totaled 25 rebounds, 15 assists, three steals and two blocks. FHS committed just eight turnovers. 

From the free-throw line, FHS was 14-of-17, while Cedarville was 15-of-22. 

The Indians were led in scoring by Tyler Cross with 19 points and Mason Johnson with 15 points. 

Fairfield improves to 6-0 overall, and they are 4-0 in SHAC games. 

“We've gotten a lot better since the beginning of season,” Williams said. “This was really, like I said, our first big test, I feel like. [Cedarville] is a very, very good team.

“I’m definitely proud of the way the kids played, but we’ve still got a long ways to go, and we’ve got to sure up some things. I’m pretty happy for the most part."

Next for the Lions is a home game on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at home against the Peebles Indians in SHAC action. The Peebles Indians are 2-1 in the SHAC and 4-1 overall. 

BOX SCORE
CHS    11 12 13 18 — 54
FHS    14 20 15 16 — 65

FAIRFIELD (65) — L.Friend 2 (1) 9-11 16, T.House 5 (1) 0-0 13, L.McIntosh 3 (1) 0-0 9, G.Fouch 3 (0) 0-1 6, J.Lerio 0 (2) 0-0 6, C.Miller 1 (2) 5-5 13, C.Newman 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 (7) 14-17 65.

CEDARVILLE (54) — B.Criswill 2 (1) 2-2 9, W.Mossing 0 (1) 1-1 4, R.Reed 1 (1) 0-0 5, K.Orchard 0 (0) 2-4 2, M.Johnson 5 (0) 5-9 15, T.Cross 1 (4) 5-6 19. TOTALS: 9 (7) 15-22 54.