Fairfield Lions take home 4-point win against SHAC rival Lynchburg-Clay

DODSONVILLE — In a game where there was a 12-point differential on the scoreboard around the 4:00 mark of the third quarter, the conference rivalry game between the host Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs and the Fairfield Lions came down to the final minutes to determine a winner. 

Lynchburg-Clay battled back from their 12-point deficit against their Southern Hills Athletic Conference counterpart to where they trailed by just two points with 3:30 left in regulation. From there, turnovers, missed free throws and working to find a perfect route to the hoop dominated the remainder of the game until the final buzzer sounded, with the Lions holding on to a 46-42 victory at Lynchburg-Clay High School Tuesday night. 

In three of their past five games, the Mustangs have had losses of four or fewer points. 

“I feel like we are stacking those up,” LCHS head coach Kyle Pertuset said. “Anytime you can come back and be resilient, hang in there and find yourself in an opportunity to win the game, which is kind of what we did there at the end, you are proud of your kids. 

“It isn’t the result that snybody wants, not the result we are striving for, not what our standard is, but we can take pride in that they really gave a valiant effort. If we can continue to do that, and bring the right mental and physical approach to practice … I truly believe we can get a game like that in the win column.”

LCHS sophomore Tanner Roberts totaled a new career-high 26 points to lead the Mustangs, finishing with 11 two-point baskets and he went 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Roberts added nine rebounds (five offensive), and he also had four blocked shots. 

“Tanner is capable of playing like that, and when he decides that he’s going to use his body, play with leverage and just attack the rim, that’s what he can do,” Pertuset said. “I’m hoping this is an eye-opening experience for him, because if he has a presence like that it is only going to help everybody else. 

“If we can count on that, we can build off that and we can start looking at some things. Like, OK, if we have that now let's see. I would challenge Tanner for that is his new standard, and we told him that in the locker room.”

Brody Smith led the Lions with 19 points, making five two-point baskets and three 3-pointers. Teammate Griffin Friend finished with 17 points as he made six two-point baskets and went 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. 

Fairfield head coach Quentin Williams spoke about the game and what he wants to see from his team.

“We were kind of in control of the game from the beginning and had sparks, but we had lack of energy and made them call a timeout,” Williams said. “We were up 12, and we could really come out and put it on them, pick up our energy and have more focus on what we’re trying to do, and we just actively chose not to do that. 

“If you want to be a good team, you have to do things consistently no matter how bad you fail. You have to control what you can control, and a lot of times tonight we did not control what we can control, and a lot of us didn't play with confidence, and that’s the biggest thing we’ve got to get better at moving forward.”

The first quarter of the game saw the Lions lead by as many as seven points on two occasions, the first following a 3-pointer by Caleb Rice, as the Lions held an 8-1 lead with 6:22 left in the opening quarter. That run of scoring by the Lions started with a layup by Griffin Friend, then came a 3-pointer from Smith. Following a free throw by Roberts for LCHS, it was the aforementioned trey from Rice. 

By the time the first quarter ended, the Lions’ lead was down to three points as LCHS scored eight of the final 12 points in the quarter by Roberts and Quin Wells for a 12-9 score at the conclusion of the first quarter. 

The Lions built their lead to seven points once halftime arrived, as the two teams nearly exchanged basket for basket for the entire quarter with the FHS lead getting to as low as one point on three occasions, and as high as nine points with 1:30 on the clock with a 3-pointer by Smith. 

By the time halftime arrived, the Lions led the Mustangs 26-19. 

The largest lead of the game came in the third frame with FHS starting the quarter with a jumper and a 3-pointer by Smith for a 31-19 advantage with 4:16 left in the quarter. 

LC rallied back with a layup by Roberts, and following a jumper from Smith of FHS, it was Roberts making the next two baskets in the paint, followed by a bucket by Denver Clinton of the Mustangs. 

Roberts added another two points for a 33-29 score, bringing the Mustangs to within four points of tying the score, but Fairfield had a basket from Quentin McIntosh with 41.5 seconds left in the quarter for a 35-29 score after three frames were complete. 

The Mustangs were first to strike in the fourth quarter when Wells sank a jumper, and from there it was a sequence of scoring where the Lions’ lead fluctuated from six to seven to four points for basically the remainder of the game, until Trevor Niehaus of LCHS made it a two-point deficit with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter. 

A timeout was called by the Lions, and then it was a Fairfield turnover to make things intertesting. FHS then missed four consecutive free throws, but following a missed basket and turnover by the Mustangs, Fairfield’s Friend made two shots from the free-throw line with 15.0 left in the game, which ended up being the final 46-42 score.

Other final totals for the Mustangs were Clinton (four points, nine rebounds, one assist, one block), Elam Faust (four points, two rebounds, five assists, one steal), Wells (six points, three rebounds), Linkin Barnett (one rebound) and Niehaus (two points, five rebounds, six assists, two steals). 

Team totals for the Mustangs included 18 two-point baskets, 29 rebounds (13 offensive), 14 assists, four steals and five blocks. 

The Lions' final scoring totals were: Rice (6) and McIntosh (4). FHS teams totals included 13 two-point baskets, five 3-pointers, and they were 5-of-11 from the free-throw line. 

Fairfield (4-3, 7-4) is scheduled to play next on Friday, Jan. 16 on the road at Whiteoak High School against the Whiteoak Wildcats (2-5, 5-6).

Lynchburg-Clay (2-5, 4-8) will next play on Friday, Jan. 16 on the road against the Ripley Blue Jays (0-7, 1-11) in SHAC action. 

“We are still positive in this team, and we believe we have the guys in the locker room to get it done,” Pertuset said. “We believe wholeheartedly, and we have another opportunity this Friday against Ripley and we are on the road this Saturday against Westfall, and we have the opportunity to go on the road and get two wins. We just have to take care of business in practice, and that’s what’s going to determine that or not.”

BOX SCORE
FHS      14 12 09 11 — 46
LCHS    09 10 13 10 — 42

FAIRFIELD (46) — B.Smith 5 (3) 0-0 19, C.Rice 0 (2) 0-0 6, G.Friend 6 (0) 5-5 17, L.Burgess 0 (0) 0-2 0, Z.Aharuk 0 (0) 0-2 0, Q.McIntosh 2 (0) 0-2 4. TOTALS: 13 (5) 5-11 46. 

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (42) — D.Clinton 2 (0) 0-0 4, E.Faust 1 (0) 2-2 4, T.Roberts 11 (0) 4-6 26, Q.Wells 3 (0) 0-0 6, T.Niehaus 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18 (0) 6-8 42.