Lions run out of energy against Fayetteville
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
For everything that went right for the Fairfield Lions in the third quarter, the opposite occurred for them in the other three frames, as the host Lion squad fell to the very quick Fayetteville Rockets, 78-65 Tuesday at Grandle Gymnasium.
The Lions (1-1, 2-3) had won the previous 10 meetings with the Rockets. Fayetteville had five players score in double figures as this is the second loss in a row for the Lions.
Early foul trouble struck again in the first half for the Lions as their two starting guards in Blake Hildebrant and Quentin Williams sat the bench around the final three minutes of the first quarter and all of the second quarter, where the Lions went from being down two points (13-11) to trailing 41-28 at the break.
Williams led all scorers with 26 points (nine rebounds), as this was the third time this season Williams had to sit for a majority of the first half because of early foul trouble. All three times, the Lions have ended the game with a loss.
Gage Montgomery was next for the Lions with 14 points and 14 rebounds to earn a double-double. The rest of the Lions combined for a total of 25 points.
"Basically, when I sat them before in games with two fouls, I would put them back, and it seemed they would get their third foul before the half was over, and I didn't want that to happen again," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "We didn't want to have to change our strategy in the second half to protect them from fouls."
Once the tandem returned in the third, the entire complexion of the game changed for the Lions as they completely dominated the quarter with the return of Williams. In the third, the Lions left with a 52-49 advantage by outscoring the visiting Rockets, 24-8.
"We challenged the kids at halftime to play defense aggressively, instead of on our heels, and they responded in the third quarter," Snyder said. "Seemed like when we got the lead, we folded after they made the back-to-back three-pointers.
"In saying we folded, we expanded a lot of energy coming back, and then we lost our composure."
Then the other shoe dropped for the Lions as they built their lead to 55-49 with 6:35 left in the fourth, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Fayetteville's Toby Lykins and Max Iles, tying the score at 55 with 5:26 on the clock.
Lykins totaled 20 points for a team-high in scoring, followed by D.J. Iles, Max Iles and James Decatur all with 12 points each. Nick Durham scored 10 points.
Williams, again, put the Lions back in front with two free throws, but the Lions wore down, and the Rockets took advantage with their transition game as they scored 12 consecutive points from the 5:00 mark to the 3:03 mark for a lead of 65-57 with points from Decatur, Iles, Lykins and capped off with a layup from D.J. Iles.
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The Lions didn't have another comeback in them as they were outscored in the final 3:00 at 13-8. FHS scored just two field goals in the fourth with nine of their 13 points in the fourth coming from the free-throw line.
FHS committed 17 turnovers, while Fayetteville totaled 11 in the SHAC game.
As for the first frame, the start was all Fairfield as they scored their first five points from Williams and Gage Montgomery, but the score quickly went deadlocked as Nick Durham and Lykins combined for the Fayetteville five points.
From there, the lead exchanged hands a couple times, then D.J Iles converted a three-point play for the Rockets, and Lykins followed with a jumper for a 13-9 advantage.
With 1:17 left in the first, Cole Schaefer sank a 3-pointer and Lykins made a jumper with 4.0 left in the opening frame for a five-point lead.
The second frame wasn't the best defensively for the Lions as they totaled 15 points with two-thirds of their starting lineup not playing in the quarter at all, while the Rockets totaled 23.
A big moment for the Lions in the quarter was a 3-pointer from Cody Bennett, bringing the Lions to within four points of tying the score. The big scorer for FHS in the second was Brad Clay as he scored six points in the frame before leaving the quarter with a leg injury but returning in the second half.
Fayetteville started to break away in the second with a 3-pointer by Lykins with 1:41 left in the quarter, followed by him scoring the next four points by the Rockets. His final two points in the quarter, followed by a layup by Decatur, were scored off Lion turnovers in a span of just a few seconds.
In the FHS third frame, the comeback began with consecutive 3-pointers from Williams and later back-to-back layups by Montgomery. Ryan Bates contributed with points in the paint, and free throws by Hildebrant and Williams tied the score at 43 with 3:22 on the clock.
The Lions then took the lead with a layup from Williams and two free throws by Hildebrant for a score of 47-43 with 3:02 on the scoreboard. Hildebrant gave FHS a three-point lead at the conclusion of the third with a free throw.
Fayetteville finished 12-of-16 from the free-throw line, while the Lions were 18-of-29. FHS out-rebounded Fayetteville 28-17.
In JV play, the Lions won over the Rockets 60-48. Leading the Lions were Dustin Willey with 17, Wyatt Crothers with 15 and Mathew Leach with 12. Leading the Rockets was Trevor Koch with nine.
FHS will play again Friday, Dec. 14 at Eastern Brown.
The Lions (1-1, 2-3) had won the previous 10 meetings with the Rockets. Fayetteville had five players score in double figures as this is the second loss in a row for the Lions.
Early foul trouble struck again in the first half for the Lions as their two starting guards in Blake Hildebrant and Quentin Williams sat the bench around the final three minutes of the first quarter and all of the second quarter, where the Lions went from being down two points (13-11) to trailing 41-28 at the break.
Williams led all scorers with 26 points (nine rebounds), as this was the third time this season Williams had to sit for a majority of the first half because of early foul trouble. All three times, the Lions have ended the game with a loss.
Gage Montgomery was next for the Lions with 14 points and 14 rebounds to earn a double-double. The rest of the Lions combined for a total of 25 points.
"Basically, when I sat them before in games with two fouls, I would put them back, and it seemed they would get their third foul before the half was over, and I didn't want that to happen again," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "We didn't want to have to change our strategy in the second half to protect them from fouls."
Once the tandem returned in the third, the entire complexion of the game changed for the Lions as they completely dominated the quarter with the return of Williams. In the third, the Lions left with a 52-49 advantage by outscoring the visiting Rockets, 24-8.
"We challenged the kids at halftime to play defense aggressively, instead of on our heels, and they responded in the third quarter," Snyder said. "Seemed like when we got the lead, we folded after they made the back-to-back three-pointers.
"In saying we folded, we expanded a lot of energy coming back, and then we lost our composure."
Then the other shoe dropped for the Lions as they built their lead to 55-49 with 6:35 left in the fourth, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Fayetteville's Toby Lykins and Max Iles, tying the score at 55 with 5:26 on the clock.
Lykins totaled 20 points for a team-high in scoring, followed by D.J. Iles, Max Iles and James Decatur all with 12 points each. Nick Durham scored 10 points.
Williams, again, put the Lions back in front with two free throws, but the Lions wore down, and the Rockets took advantage with their transition game as they scored 12 consecutive points from the 5:00 mark to the 3:03 mark for a lead of 65-57 with points from Decatur, Iles, Lykins and capped off with a layup from D.J. Iles.
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The Lions didn't have another comeback in them as they were outscored in the final 3:00 at 13-8. FHS scored just two field goals in the fourth with nine of their 13 points in the fourth coming from the free-throw line.
FHS committed 17 turnovers, while Fayetteville totaled 11 in the SHAC game.
As for the first frame, the start was all Fairfield as they scored their first five points from Williams and Gage Montgomery, but the score quickly went deadlocked as Nick Durham and Lykins combined for the Fayetteville five points.
From there, the lead exchanged hands a couple times, then D.J Iles converted a three-point play for the Rockets, and Lykins followed with a jumper for a 13-9 advantage.
With 1:17 left in the first, Cole Schaefer sank a 3-pointer and Lykins made a jumper with 4.0 left in the opening frame for a five-point lead.
The second frame wasn't the best defensively for the Lions as they totaled 15 points with two-thirds of their starting lineup not playing in the quarter at all, while the Rockets totaled 23.
A big moment for the Lions in the quarter was a 3-pointer from Cody Bennett, bringing the Lions to within four points of tying the score. The big scorer for FHS in the second was Brad Clay as he scored six points in the frame before leaving the quarter with a leg injury but returning in the second half.
Fayetteville started to break away in the second with a 3-pointer by Lykins with 1:41 left in the quarter, followed by him scoring the next four points by the Rockets. His final two points in the quarter, followed by a layup by Decatur, were scored off Lion turnovers in a span of just a few seconds.
In the FHS third frame, the comeback began with consecutive 3-pointers from Williams and later back-to-back layups by Montgomery. Ryan Bates contributed with points in the paint, and free throws by Hildebrant and Williams tied the score at 43 with 3:22 on the clock.
The Lions then took the lead with a layup from Williams and two free throws by Hildebrant for a score of 47-43 with 3:02 on the scoreboard. Hildebrant gave FHS a three-point lead at the conclusion of the third with a free throw.
Fayetteville finished 12-of-16 from the free-throw line, while the Lions were 18-of-29. FHS out-rebounded Fayetteville 28-17.
In JV play, the Lions won over the Rockets 60-48. Leading the Lions were Dustin Willey with 17, Wyatt Crothers with 15 and Mathew Leach with 12. Leading the Rockets was Trevor Koch with nine.
FHS will play again Friday, Dec. 14 at Eastern Brown.