Lions win sectional title
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LUCASVILLE — The king of the jungle Tuesday night was the Fairfield Lions. Fairfield seemed to control the tempo of the game, and for that, they did enough to defeat the Whiteoak Wildcats for the second time this season, winning a Division IV SE District Sectional title with a 55-46 win.
The Tuesday night win at Valley High School puts the Lions back in the district semifinals for the first time since '11 when the Lions reached the district finals.
As for this year's Lion club, they forced the Wildcats to play the Lions' game, along with gaining valuable rebounds and making their second shot attempts, something the Wildcats struggled to do the entire game.
This was the first time either team played for 11 days, as FHS improved to 12-11 overall and WHS ends the season at 12-11, dropping their final four games played.
"That first half, we got a lot of good looks at the basket, but our shots didn't fall, either," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "For the most part, we were cold from the outside in the first half, but at halftime, we talked about getting the ball into the paint and either make them foul us or get a closer shot at the basket."
The plan worked for the Lions, as they turned a one-point deficit at the halftime break (29-28) into a lead of 41-34 after three quarters. From there, the Lions outscored their Southern Hills Athletic Conference and Highland County rival Whiteoak (the SHAC Division II champion this season), 14-12 in the ensuing and final eight minutes.
"I thought we rebounded well, and there were a lot of long balls that Cody Bennett, Blake (Hildebrant) and Quentin (Williams) got, so we got a lot of second chances on those, too," Snyder said. "I thought the kids just did an excellent job rebounding, especially the big guys inside."
In that second half, the Lions began with the first four points of the quarter, all from Williams as he hit a jumper and scored on a fast-break layup off a steal for a 32-29 Fairfield lead with 5:50 left in the quarter. Williams led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, 13 points in the second half.
From there, that was answered with a three-point play by Whiteoak senior Doc Seip (who totaled 22 points), but Hildebrant equaled those points with a 3-pointer from beyond the arc to put WHS back ahead by four points at the 4:07 mark.
After a lot of back and forth, the Lions started to pull away some with the lead, this time with Williams connecting from three-point range, as the senior was left wide open for a seven-point Lion advantage.
Whiteoak's Luke Taggert took a charge and then later scored two points, but the Lions didn't falter, as they were there to answer with two points by Williams to close out the third frame with a seven-point advantage.
The 'Cats and Lions continued to battle at the start of the fourth with free throws, but Ryan Bates was there to score the first two-point bucket of the fourth, a basket that put the Lions out front 45-37 with 5:21 left in regulation. Bates ended the game with 15 points.
WHS got to within five points of tying the score with two free throws from junior Tyler Williams, but the Lions weren't going to be stopped as they outlasted the Wildcats, 6-2 in the final 2:00 of the game, including Bates scoring two points with the assist off a spinning, no-look pass by Quentin Williams to start the final surge of scoring.
"We were just playing their game," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said. "When they wanted us to speed up we were, and when they wanted us to slow down and we did. We wanted to do the opposite … and we just really couldn't do that without taking our time and trying to figure it out.
"We really couldn't do much on the fly."
The first half was a lot of give and take by both rivals, as it was evident in the first quarter neither team saw game action in over a week.
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The Wildcats began strong with the first four points from Seip and Taggert. Bates was first to score for the Lions, and after each team continued to exchange basket-for-basket, the Lions added four straight points from Williams with a reverse layup and two free throws, which saw FHS move to a 10-8 advantage.
Seip quickly tied the game at 10-10, as the rivalry matchup was tied a total of six times, the last at 32-32 in the third frame.
Like they eventually did in the fourth, the Lions closed out the first frame with a burst of points, as on this occasion the Lions ended the first frame of regulation with an 7-0 run, turning a 10-10 tied score with 3:35 left on the scoreboard into a 17-10 advantage.
The Wildcats woke up at the start of the second frame, scoring eight straight points from Seip and Brent Davis for an 18-17 lead with 4:27 left in the first half.
Bates was able to put the Wildcats back ahead with a field goal, then the two teams exchanged two-point baskets and 3-pointers from Gage Carraher and Williams for a 23-23 score at the 2:16 mark of the second.
Seip and Bennett then equaled points for a 25-25 score, but WHS managed to score four straight from Seip and Tyler Williams for an advantage of four points, though Hildebrant had different plans to end the half as he sank a 3-pointer with three seconds on the scoreboard for a 29-28 score at halftime.
"We did a good job, but we had to come out of our zone," Wessner said. "We thought our zone was going to be beneficial. We got lost a little bit and played a little bit of man, then they got a seven-point lead.
"It's hard to go back to the zone in the fourth when down seven because they are just going to stall on you. The game plan was OK, but we just didn't quite execute like we wanted."
WHS says goodbye to seven seniors.
"We had three seniors who played a lot of varsity with Luke, Gage and Doc. Blake (Trueblood) and Brent (Davis) played good minutes for us, and Leonard Becraft and Graham Douglas, not a lot of minutes this year, but if we don't go against them in practice, we don't win anywhere near as many games as we did this year."
The Lions move onto Athens, as they will play at the Convocation Center, located on the campus of Ohio University in the Division IV SE District semifinals on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:15 p.m. FHS will play the winner of No. 1 seeded Eastern Pike and No. 9 seed South Gallia, who play Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. at Meigs High School.
"We talked (Monday) night at the end of practice, and I told the kids there is nothing like coming over that hill and seeing the Convocation Center where you are going there, then walking out on the floor," Snyder said. "Other than Quentin, none of these boys have experienced that yet, so I said it is something you guys will remember for the rest of your life.
"Hopefully they respect that and treasure it."
GAME NOTES: In their previous meetings, FHS won Game 1 by a score of 52-44. In their second meeting, WHS won 58-52.
The Tuesday night win at Valley High School puts the Lions back in the district semifinals for the first time since '11 when the Lions reached the district finals.
As for this year's Lion club, they forced the Wildcats to play the Lions' game, along with gaining valuable rebounds and making their second shot attempts, something the Wildcats struggled to do the entire game.
This was the first time either team played for 11 days, as FHS improved to 12-11 overall and WHS ends the season at 12-11, dropping their final four games played.
"That first half, we got a lot of good looks at the basket, but our shots didn't fall, either," Fairfield head coach Everett Snyder said. "For the most part, we were cold from the outside in the first half, but at halftime, we talked about getting the ball into the paint and either make them foul us or get a closer shot at the basket."
The plan worked for the Lions, as they turned a one-point deficit at the halftime break (29-28) into a lead of 41-34 after three quarters. From there, the Lions outscored their Southern Hills Athletic Conference and Highland County rival Whiteoak (the SHAC Division II champion this season), 14-12 in the ensuing and final eight minutes.
"I thought we rebounded well, and there were a lot of long balls that Cody Bennett, Blake (Hildebrant) and Quentin (Williams) got, so we got a lot of second chances on those, too," Snyder said. "I thought the kids just did an excellent job rebounding, especially the big guys inside."
In that second half, the Lions began with the first four points of the quarter, all from Williams as he hit a jumper and scored on a fast-break layup off a steal for a 32-29 Fairfield lead with 5:50 left in the quarter. Williams led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, 13 points in the second half.
From there, that was answered with a three-point play by Whiteoak senior Doc Seip (who totaled 22 points), but Hildebrant equaled those points with a 3-pointer from beyond the arc to put WHS back ahead by four points at the 4:07 mark.
After a lot of back and forth, the Lions started to pull away some with the lead, this time with Williams connecting from three-point range, as the senior was left wide open for a seven-point Lion advantage.
Whiteoak's Luke Taggert took a charge and then later scored two points, but the Lions didn't falter, as they were there to answer with two points by Williams to close out the third frame with a seven-point advantage.
The 'Cats and Lions continued to battle at the start of the fourth with free throws, but Ryan Bates was there to score the first two-point bucket of the fourth, a basket that put the Lions out front 45-37 with 5:21 left in regulation. Bates ended the game with 15 points.
WHS got to within five points of tying the score with two free throws from junior Tyler Williams, but the Lions weren't going to be stopped as they outlasted the Wildcats, 6-2 in the final 2:00 of the game, including Bates scoring two points with the assist off a spinning, no-look pass by Quentin Williams to start the final surge of scoring.
"We were just playing their game," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said. "When they wanted us to speed up we were, and when they wanted us to slow down and we did. We wanted to do the opposite … and we just really couldn't do that without taking our time and trying to figure it out.
"We really couldn't do much on the fly."
The first half was a lot of give and take by both rivals, as it was evident in the first quarter neither team saw game action in over a week.
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The Wildcats began strong with the first four points from Seip and Taggert. Bates was first to score for the Lions, and after each team continued to exchange basket-for-basket, the Lions added four straight points from Williams with a reverse layup and two free throws, which saw FHS move to a 10-8 advantage.
Seip quickly tied the game at 10-10, as the rivalry matchup was tied a total of six times, the last at 32-32 in the third frame.
Like they eventually did in the fourth, the Lions closed out the first frame with a burst of points, as on this occasion the Lions ended the first frame of regulation with an 7-0 run, turning a 10-10 tied score with 3:35 left on the scoreboard into a 17-10 advantage.
The Wildcats woke up at the start of the second frame, scoring eight straight points from Seip and Brent Davis for an 18-17 lead with 4:27 left in the first half.
Bates was able to put the Wildcats back ahead with a field goal, then the two teams exchanged two-point baskets and 3-pointers from Gage Carraher and Williams for a 23-23 score at the 2:16 mark of the second.
Seip and Bennett then equaled points for a 25-25 score, but WHS managed to score four straight from Seip and Tyler Williams for an advantage of four points, though Hildebrant had different plans to end the half as he sank a 3-pointer with three seconds on the scoreboard for a 29-28 score at halftime.
"We did a good job, but we had to come out of our zone," Wessner said. "We thought our zone was going to be beneficial. We got lost a little bit and played a little bit of man, then they got a seven-point lead.
"It's hard to go back to the zone in the fourth when down seven because they are just going to stall on you. The game plan was OK, but we just didn't quite execute like we wanted."
WHS says goodbye to seven seniors.
"We had three seniors who played a lot of varsity with Luke, Gage and Doc. Blake (Trueblood) and Brent (Davis) played good minutes for us, and Leonard Becraft and Graham Douglas, not a lot of minutes this year, but if we don't go against them in practice, we don't win anywhere near as many games as we did this year."
The Lions move onto Athens, as they will play at the Convocation Center, located on the campus of Ohio University in the Division IV SE District semifinals on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:15 p.m. FHS will play the winner of No. 1 seeded Eastern Pike and No. 9 seed South Gallia, who play Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. at Meigs High School.
"We talked (Monday) night at the end of practice, and I told the kids there is nothing like coming over that hill and seeing the Convocation Center where you are going there, then walking out on the floor," Snyder said. "Other than Quentin, none of these boys have experienced that yet, so I said it is something you guys will remember for the rest of your life.
"Hopefully they respect that and treasure it."
GAME NOTES: In their previous meetings, FHS won Game 1 by a score of 52-44. In their second meeting, WHS won 58-52.