Lions fend off rival Whiteoak at Patriot Center
HILLSBORO — Though the Fairfield Lions didn't have the first quarter they wanted, they managed to control the pace and scoring of their Highland County and Southern Hills Athletic Conference matchup against the Whiteoak Wildcats, Tuesday night.
In a game played at Southern State's Patriot Center, the Lions (5-9), who defeated the Wildcats (the away team on the scoreboard), 57-40, had all they could handle against WHS in the opening eight minutes but managed to stay ahead at 13-7.
WHS (0-13) was first to score points with Jacob Burns (seven total points) putting WHS on the board nine seconds into the game, but the Lions came back with a jumper from Klay Walker (eight total points), a layup by Wyatt Evans and a 3-pointer from Ethan Putnam for a 7-2 advantage with 5:14 left in the opening frame. Putnam totaled nine points in the win.
Evans led all scorers with a game-high 17 points, as this was the Lions' and Wildcats' third game in five days. The win also gives the Lions wins in five of their last nine games.
Brandon Ashbaugh, who finished with nine points, broke up the scoring by the Lions with a free throw for the Wildcats, but the Lions continued to share the basketball with Matthew Leach adding to the Lions' total with 2:36 on the first-quarter clock for a 9-3 lead.
Leach finished with 16 points.
The first frame ended with Whiteoak adding two points from Cody McClure (who led WHS with 10 points), and FHS answering with the quarter's final four points from Walker and Leach.
"I told the kids 'don't get impatient because Whiteoak has been in almost every first quarter, and just continue to apply pressure and create turnovers,'" Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "I was pretty pleased we could create turnovers but was disappointed a little bit because we couldn't turn those turnovers into points and had turnovers of our own.
"We have to do a better job of deciding in the speed of the game, if we need to pull it up or make the pass ahead and attack the defense, but that will come with time."
Fairfield in the next eight minutes added to their lead by outscoring their county rival, 17-11 for a 30-18 halftime advantage.
For the Wildcats in the second, it was a combination of four players to get their 11 points in the quarter with Burns sinking a 3-pointer with 2:40 left in the quarter to bring WHS back to within six points of the lead.
In the third, the Lions took complete control of the game, besting the Wildcats, 21-13, and then in the fourth, the Wildcats outscored the Lions, 9-6.
Scoring points for WHS in the second half were Zack Taggett with a 3-pointer in the third, along with points from Stephen Ross, McClure, Chase Carraher (a 3-pointer in the fourth), Burns and Ashbaugh. Carraher totaled seven points in the loss.
The Lions saw Walker, Putnam, Evans, Daulton, Leach and Dustin Willey contribute to their scoring in the final 16 minutes of play as they outscored WHS, 27-22. In the second half, the Lions didn't make a 3-pointer.
"Dustin did a good job defensively on Ashbaugh," Snyder said. "Matthew Leach had a good game as well, and even though he saw limited time due to foul trouble, I thought Wyatt Evans played a good game.
"Our guards handled the pressure very good also. Between Jenson and Klay, they only had two total turnovers, and for point guards, that's taking good care of the basketball."
Also scoring two points each for the Wildcats were Ross and Kyle Adams, with Adams scoring his points in the second quarter.
WHS finished 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, while the Lions were 5-of-11.
In JV play, the Lions defeated the Wildcats, 45-33. Jesse Current led FHS with 13 points, and Randy Lamme followed with nine points. The leading scorers for the Wildcats were Trevor Martin and Trevor Yeager with eight points each.