Fairfield Lions finish season as district runners-up; fall to Trimble
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Fairfield Lions reached the Division IV District Finals Saturday, March 6 in a game played at Waverly's downtown arena. The Lions played strong against the Trimble Tomcats, but once the final buzzer sounded it was the end of the season for the Lions, falling by a 59-48 score.
Fairfield (10-12) won three games in their tournament run and held the lead against Trimble at the end of the first quarter as they scored 17 points, while the Tomcats scored 14 points. Even when halftime arrived, the Lions trailed by just three points at 30-27.
“We stepped up offensively again and played well offensively,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said. “Trimble rebounded very well offensively, and they were able to get second and third chances.
“I’m super proud of our seniors. What they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished — the juniors too, but the seniors showed them how to establish themselves as a team and create an identity. We didn’t gel at the beginning of the season, and we knew that. We had a lot of youth, but finally after a season of work and practices, we started gelling in the tournament.”
In the opening frame, the Lions’ first points of the game were off a four-point play by Reese Teeters, as he sank a 3-pointer while he was being fouled. Teeters followed with the made free throw to give the Lions a 4-2 lead 1:30 into the opening frame.
After Trimble tied the score, the Lions had two points from Koben Zink, but the Tomcats tied the score again. From there, the Lions scored the next six points with baskets by Jon Bentley, Zink and Teeters for a 12-6 lead with 3:01 left in the opening frame.
After a timeout and 3-pointer from Trimble, the Lions and Tomcats exchanged baskets for the remaining portion of the first frame with Teeters scoring two points in the paint,and Connor Priest sinking a 3-pointer with 6.0 seconds left in the first quarter, pushing the Lions ahead, 17-14.
Trimble outscored the Lions 16-10 in the second frame for a Trimble lead of 30-27. In the second quarter for the Lions, they had four points from Zink, four points by Teeters and two points by Bentley.
Trimble led the Lions after three frames as well, with Fairfield trailing 40-36 after the Lions scored nine points in the third quarter, while Trimble scored 10 points. For Fairfield in the third, it was a 3-pointer by Brayden Zimmerman and six points from Teeters (including a 3-pointer) that consisted of their nine-point third-quarter scoring total.
The big aspect of the third frame was the Lions were unofficially out-rebounded by the Tomcats, 9-2.
In the final frame, the Lions scored 12 points, but the Tomcats added 19 points to their final total. For the Lions in the fourth quarter, they had two points by Wyatt Collins, three points (free throws) by Zimmerman and seven points from Teeters, including a 3-pointer.
In the fourth frame, the rebounding of the Tomcats was again a difference maker as they had seven in the eight-minute frame (mostly on the offensive board), while the Lions had five.
For the game, Teeters led the Lions with 25 points, followed by Zink with eight points. Also for Fairfield, final scoring totals included: Zimmerman (six), Bentley (four), Priest (three) and Collins (two). The Lions finished 7-of-10 from the free-throw line.
Blake Guffey led the Tomcats with 22 points. As a team, Trimble went 15-of-20 from the free-throw line.
Howland spoke about what turned around for the Lions this season following a slow start to the year.
“Once they started to buy into the team concept of ‘any of us can do it on a given night,’ you could tell in practices it finally started to register ‘hey, this is how you win, it takes all of us,’” Howland said. “Everybody stepped up.
“It is the same thing all year, we kept playing solid defense, and once the offense started to kick, it makes it easy to transition into the team we became.”
Seniors for the Lions are Caleb Payne, Zane Taylor, Tucker Watson and Connor Priest.
“Caleb came into practice every game and worked his tail off. He didn’t get a bunch of minutes, but he contributed greatly to our team every day and is a great kid,” Howland said. “The same thing with Tucker Watson. He came into practice and worked his tail off. He contributed too and started some games, and Tucker kept working. Zane’s a good kid, and we enjoyed having him with the program.
“And of course we have Connor Priest, who is a three-year starter and tremendous member to our program. We are proud of what he’s accomplished over the past four years here and the last three years at varsity. He does everything we ask of him.”
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Fairfield (10-12) won three games in their tournament run and held the lead against Trimble at the end of the first quarter as they scored 17 points, while the Tomcats scored 14 points. Even when halftime arrived, the Lions trailed by just three points at 30-27.
“We stepped up offensively again and played well offensively,” Fairfield head coach Josh Howland said. “Trimble rebounded very well offensively, and they were able to get second and third chances.
“I’m super proud of our seniors. What they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished — the juniors too, but the seniors showed them how to establish themselves as a team and create an identity. We didn’t gel at the beginning of the season, and we knew that. We had a lot of youth, but finally after a season of work and practices, we started gelling in the tournament.”
In the opening frame, the Lions’ first points of the game were off a four-point play by Reese Teeters, as he sank a 3-pointer while he was being fouled. Teeters followed with the made free throw to give the Lions a 4-2 lead 1:30 into the opening frame.
After Trimble tied the score, the Lions had two points from Koben Zink, but the Tomcats tied the score again. From there, the Lions scored the next six points with baskets by Jon Bentley, Zink and Teeters for a 12-6 lead with 3:01 left in the opening frame.
After a timeout and 3-pointer from Trimble, the Lions and Tomcats exchanged baskets for the remaining portion of the first frame with Teeters scoring two points in the paint,and Connor Priest sinking a 3-pointer with 6.0 seconds left in the first quarter, pushing the Lions ahead, 17-14.
Trimble outscored the Lions 16-10 in the second frame for a Trimble lead of 30-27. In the second quarter for the Lions, they had four points from Zink, four points by Teeters and two points by Bentley.
Trimble led the Lions after three frames as well, with Fairfield trailing 40-36 after the Lions scored nine points in the third quarter, while Trimble scored 10 points. For Fairfield in the third, it was a 3-pointer by Brayden Zimmerman and six points from Teeters (including a 3-pointer) that consisted of their nine-point third-quarter scoring total.
The big aspect of the third frame was the Lions were unofficially out-rebounded by the Tomcats, 9-2.
In the final frame, the Lions scored 12 points, but the Tomcats added 19 points to their final total. For the Lions in the fourth quarter, they had two points by Wyatt Collins, three points (free throws) by Zimmerman and seven points from Teeters, including a 3-pointer.
In the fourth frame, the rebounding of the Tomcats was again a difference maker as they had seven in the eight-minute frame (mostly on the offensive board), while the Lions had five.
For the game, Teeters led the Lions with 25 points, followed by Zink with eight points. Also for Fairfield, final scoring totals included: Zimmerman (six), Bentley (four), Priest (three) and Collins (two). The Lions finished 7-of-10 from the free-throw line.
Blake Guffey led the Tomcats with 22 points. As a team, Trimble went 15-of-20 from the free-throw line.
Howland spoke about what turned around for the Lions this season following a slow start to the year.
“Once they started to buy into the team concept of ‘any of us can do it on a given night,’ you could tell in practices it finally started to register ‘hey, this is how you win, it takes all of us,’” Howland said. “Everybody stepped up.
“It is the same thing all year, we kept playing solid defense, and once the offense started to kick, it makes it easy to transition into the team we became.”
Seniors for the Lions are Caleb Payne, Zane Taylor, Tucker Watson and Connor Priest.
“Caleb came into practice every game and worked his tail off. He didn’t get a bunch of minutes, but he contributed greatly to our team every day and is a great kid,” Howland said. “The same thing with Tucker Watson. He came into practice and worked his tail off. He contributed too and started some games, and Tucker kept working. Zane’s a good kid, and we enjoyed having him with the program.
“And of course we have Connor Priest, who is a three-year starter and tremendous member to our program. We are proud of what he’s accomplished over the past four years here and the last three years at varsity. He does everything we ask of him.”
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