Lions finish district runners-up
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
ATHENS — Being able to tie the score at 40 midway through the third quarter didn't morph into a lead, as foul trouble haunted the Fairfield Lions, forcing their season to come to an end Saturday night, as the Lions fell to the South Webster Jeeps, 72-57 in the Division IV SE District Finals.
In the loss at the Convocation Center at Ohio University, Fairfield was the final team eliminated from Highland County and the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as they trailed in the first half but rallied in the third to tie the score at 40-40 with 4:10 left in the third as they outscored SW, 13-4, to start the third.
That run never materialized into a lead as the Jeeps led wire to wire, including outscoring the Lions, 32-17, in the final 11:50 of the game.
FHS ends the year at 13-12 overall, with a sectional championship and as district runners-up, as they ended the postseason at 2-1. This is the fifth time in school history the Lions have been district runners-up, as they were district champions twice in 1996 and '78.
"We had a pretty successful season," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "In the regular season, we played a tough schedule. There were six teams on our schedule who made districts, and a few went to the district finals.
"We played all those teams tough during the regular season, and it helped prepare us for the tournament. The kids in the postseason really stepped up, but (Saturday) we just couldn't get things going our way."
Foul trouble plagued the Lions in the first half as senior Quentin Williams missed nearly six minutes of the second quarter with two fouls and ended the opening half with his third foul. Junior post player Joey Wilson also missed minutes in the first half with two fouls, while junior Ryan Bates was injured for half of the first quarter, putting three FHS starters on the bench at various times in the opening 16 minutes.
"From the get-go, we had foul trouble," Snyder said. "Quentin picking up those two fouls early kind of put us behind the eight ball. Ryan hurting his ankle … he hurt it a couple weeks ago, but we've been taping it, but any time he turned on it the wrong way, it would give him a twinge."
"But, you know, South Webster is a good team. We knew they had some outside shooters. In the game film we had and the time we saw them here (at the Convo), they didn't shoot quite as well."
Though the Lions and Jeeps (17-7) were tied once in the first half (5-5) and just twice in the game, the Lions were able to keep their deficit close in the opening frame as they trailed by eight points at the conclusion of the opening frame at 22-14.
In that first quarter, the Jeeps opened with five straight points, but the Lions (the home team) answered with a five-point run of their own with Bates hitting a free throw, followed by a put-back basket by Gage Montgomery, and the score was tied with a 3-pointer by Cody Bennett at the 5:52 mark of the quarter.
The Jeeps equaled the feat with a 3-pointer by Seth Goddard. Goddard totaled 25 points, including five 3-pointers.
SW built a 13-7 advantage, but the Lions had another run of five straight points with Williams connecting with a jumper and another 3-pointer by Bennett, cutting the SW lead to 13-12 with 3:05 left in the first. Bennett totaled six points.
During the Lions' short run, Bates left the game with an ankle injury. For the remainder of the first, the Jeeps outscored the Lions, 9-2.
For SW, Levi Cook scored seven points in the first. Cook led all scorers with a game-high 26 points with one 3-pointer, along with a 9-of-11 performance from the free-throw line. Cook scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Bates, who ended the game with 18 points, returned with a force to start the second quarter as he put the Lions on his shoulders and scored six straight points with two jumpers and a put-back bucket, bringing the Lions to within two points of tying the score at 22-20, During his tour of scoring, Bates also was a part of forcing a turnover, deflecting the ball, allowing Bennett to intercept the ball in the air, which eventually led to the put-back basket.
After four points by the Jeeps, Bates converted a three-point play with 5:19 left in the second, for a three-point deficit at 26-23.[[In-content Ad]]
The Jeeps (a No. 2 seed) answered with eight consecutive points from Nick Norman and Goddard, with a 3-pointer from each for a lead of 34-23, leaving 3:13 on the clock, while the Jeeps eventually ended the first half with a 36-29 advantage.
"We talked at halftime about putting more pressure on the basketball and fighting through the screens," Snyder said. "We didn't have to get it all back right away."
Williams, who led the Lions with 20 points, played less than 2:00 in the second quarter, returned to full-time action in the third. Following the Jeeps' two points to start the quarter, Williams scored five straight points, followed by two points by Bates for another two-point deficit by the Lions, this time trailing 38-36.
Williams ended his career 9th on the all-time FHS scoring list.
"Quentin didn't play varsity his freshman year, and he's had some injuries throughout the years, so he's had to sit out about seven games over the last three years. He ended up for his career with 891 points.
"Had he been injury-free, he'd probably got to the 1,000-point plateau. Every player strives for that, and I'm sorry he didn't get it, but he's had an excellent career at Fairfield."
Points from Montgomery, Bates and Williams tied the score at 40 with 4:10 left on the third-quarter clock. Montgomery finished with four points.
"We tied it up after a couple minutes, but it seems like momentum went their way again," Snyder said. "It was hard to get back into the groove."
A timeout by the Jeeps eventually led to SW ending the third on a run of 11-2, not allowing the Lions to convert another field goal until the 7:09 mark of the fourth. SW scored the final seven points of the third in a span of 1:37.
In the fourth, the Jeeps raced away with the lead, outscoring the No. 5 seed Lions, 19-15, not allowing the Lions any closer than seven points of tying the score.
Williams scored seven points in the fourth, including five free throws, while Bates and Joey Wilson each scored four points in the final quarter. Wilson ended the game with seven points.
Also scoring points for the Lions in the game was point guard Blake Hildebrant with two points in the second quarter.
For the game, the Jeeps were 11-of-15 from the free-throw line, while the Lions were 12-of-16.
Playing their final game for the Lions were seniors Quentin Williams, Shay Snyder, Keith Lamb, Tyler Sims, Shawn Young and Elijah Carmean.
"The seniors are a great group of kids," Snyder said. "With Shay being my son, I've coached these guys fourth, fifth, sixth grades and had them in eighth grade. I coached them their freshman year, too, so they've been a very successful group coming through.
"Some of them didn't get a lot of playing time this year, but they were at practice every night, making the other guys better. They did what they had to do to contribute to the team."
In the loss at the Convocation Center at Ohio University, Fairfield was the final team eliminated from Highland County and the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as they trailed in the first half but rallied in the third to tie the score at 40-40 with 4:10 left in the third as they outscored SW, 13-4, to start the third.
That run never materialized into a lead as the Jeeps led wire to wire, including outscoring the Lions, 32-17, in the final 11:50 of the game.
FHS ends the year at 13-12 overall, with a sectional championship and as district runners-up, as they ended the postseason at 2-1. This is the fifth time in school history the Lions have been district runners-up, as they were district champions twice in 1996 and '78.
"We had a pretty successful season," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "In the regular season, we played a tough schedule. There were six teams on our schedule who made districts, and a few went to the district finals.
"We played all those teams tough during the regular season, and it helped prepare us for the tournament. The kids in the postseason really stepped up, but (Saturday) we just couldn't get things going our way."
Foul trouble plagued the Lions in the first half as senior Quentin Williams missed nearly six minutes of the second quarter with two fouls and ended the opening half with his third foul. Junior post player Joey Wilson also missed minutes in the first half with two fouls, while junior Ryan Bates was injured for half of the first quarter, putting three FHS starters on the bench at various times in the opening 16 minutes.
"From the get-go, we had foul trouble," Snyder said. "Quentin picking up those two fouls early kind of put us behind the eight ball. Ryan hurting his ankle … he hurt it a couple weeks ago, but we've been taping it, but any time he turned on it the wrong way, it would give him a twinge."
"But, you know, South Webster is a good team. We knew they had some outside shooters. In the game film we had and the time we saw them here (at the Convo), they didn't shoot quite as well."
Though the Lions and Jeeps (17-7) were tied once in the first half (5-5) and just twice in the game, the Lions were able to keep their deficit close in the opening frame as they trailed by eight points at the conclusion of the opening frame at 22-14.
In that first quarter, the Jeeps opened with five straight points, but the Lions (the home team) answered with a five-point run of their own with Bates hitting a free throw, followed by a put-back basket by Gage Montgomery, and the score was tied with a 3-pointer by Cody Bennett at the 5:52 mark of the quarter.
The Jeeps equaled the feat with a 3-pointer by Seth Goddard. Goddard totaled 25 points, including five 3-pointers.
SW built a 13-7 advantage, but the Lions had another run of five straight points with Williams connecting with a jumper and another 3-pointer by Bennett, cutting the SW lead to 13-12 with 3:05 left in the first. Bennett totaled six points.
During the Lions' short run, Bates left the game with an ankle injury. For the remainder of the first, the Jeeps outscored the Lions, 9-2.
For SW, Levi Cook scored seven points in the first. Cook led all scorers with a game-high 26 points with one 3-pointer, along with a 9-of-11 performance from the free-throw line. Cook scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Bates, who ended the game with 18 points, returned with a force to start the second quarter as he put the Lions on his shoulders and scored six straight points with two jumpers and a put-back bucket, bringing the Lions to within two points of tying the score at 22-20, During his tour of scoring, Bates also was a part of forcing a turnover, deflecting the ball, allowing Bennett to intercept the ball in the air, which eventually led to the put-back basket.
After four points by the Jeeps, Bates converted a three-point play with 5:19 left in the second, for a three-point deficit at 26-23.[[In-content Ad]]
The Jeeps (a No. 2 seed) answered with eight consecutive points from Nick Norman and Goddard, with a 3-pointer from each for a lead of 34-23, leaving 3:13 on the clock, while the Jeeps eventually ended the first half with a 36-29 advantage.
"We talked at halftime about putting more pressure on the basketball and fighting through the screens," Snyder said. "We didn't have to get it all back right away."
Williams, who led the Lions with 20 points, played less than 2:00 in the second quarter, returned to full-time action in the third. Following the Jeeps' two points to start the quarter, Williams scored five straight points, followed by two points by Bates for another two-point deficit by the Lions, this time trailing 38-36.
Williams ended his career 9th on the all-time FHS scoring list.
"Quentin didn't play varsity his freshman year, and he's had some injuries throughout the years, so he's had to sit out about seven games over the last three years. He ended up for his career with 891 points.
"Had he been injury-free, he'd probably got to the 1,000-point plateau. Every player strives for that, and I'm sorry he didn't get it, but he's had an excellent career at Fairfield."
Points from Montgomery, Bates and Williams tied the score at 40 with 4:10 left on the third-quarter clock. Montgomery finished with four points.
"We tied it up after a couple minutes, but it seems like momentum went their way again," Snyder said. "It was hard to get back into the groove."
A timeout by the Jeeps eventually led to SW ending the third on a run of 11-2, not allowing the Lions to convert another field goal until the 7:09 mark of the fourth. SW scored the final seven points of the third in a span of 1:37.
In the fourth, the Jeeps raced away with the lead, outscoring the No. 5 seed Lions, 19-15, not allowing the Lions any closer than seven points of tying the score.
Williams scored seven points in the fourth, including five free throws, while Bates and Joey Wilson each scored four points in the final quarter. Wilson ended the game with seven points.
Also scoring points for the Lions in the game was point guard Blake Hildebrant with two points in the second quarter.
For the game, the Jeeps were 11-of-15 from the free-throw line, while the Lions were 12-of-16.
Playing their final game for the Lions were seniors Quentin Williams, Shay Snyder, Keith Lamb, Tyler Sims, Shawn Young and Elijah Carmean.
"The seniors are a great group of kids," Snyder said. "With Shay being my son, I've coached these guys fourth, fifth, sixth grades and had them in eighth grade. I coached them their freshman year, too, so they've been a very successful group coming through.
"Some of them didn't get a lot of playing time this year, but they were at practice every night, making the other guys better. They did what they had to do to contribute to the team."