Lions defense holds Wildcats for SHL victory
Lead Summary

By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — Fairfield's Quentin Williams broke out of the gate for a quick run of points, and his Fairfield Lion teammates followed as the visiting Lion squad scored quick points and used their defense to keep the host Whiteoak Wildcats in check for a 60-49 victory Tuesday night.
In their last 13 meetings, the Lions have now won seven times against the Wildcats. In their past six meetings against each other, the teams are now 3-3.
The Lions (3-1, 4-3) never trailed in the Southern Hills League matchup between the two Highland County foes with Williams opening the game with six straight points. The run turned into an 8-0 score with points from Brad Clay.
"Quentin played inspired (Tuesday)," Fairfield head coach Matt Carson said. "I thought not just his scoring, but he got his teammates involved, too.
"He's not a stat guy … his thing is to do whatever he can do to help the ball club win. He brought his 'A' game (Tuesday)."
Whiteoak junior Gage Carraher answered with a three-point play, but Williams and Cole Putnam had other ideas, extending the Lions' lead to 12-3 as Williams, who finished with a game-high 21 points, stole the ball and went full-court on a fast break for two easy points with 5:02 left in the opening frame.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Luke Taggert brought the Wildcats (1-2, 2-3) within three points of the Lions' lead, but it was Williams who continued his fury of scoring in the first, this time with a 3-pointer from way downtown with 3:49 left in the quarter.
The first ended with FHS going on a 6-2 run after the trifecta from Williams for a six-point lead at 19-13.
"We just got off to a slow start and never picked it back up," Whiteoak head coach Tom Wessner said. "In the second half, we never got closer to seven points against them, and if you can't get closer than that, it's hard to win."
Fairfield ended the second with a 33-22 advantage, outscoring the host team 14-9.
Nobody added points in the second until the 5:07 mark of the quarter when Clay sank consecutive free throws, adding to the Lions' lead.
The first field goal of the quarter came with 2:55 left in the opening half when Zach Docter nailed a 3-pointer. He followed that with two free throws, and teammate Doc Seip (who FHS held scoreless in the first frame) came back with a free throw, bringing WHS within two points of tying the game at 21. Docter finished with 12 points, and Seip led WHS with 16 points.
"We were trying to three-quarter front him (Seip) with our weak side guards to take him away because he's such an excellent player," Carson said. "The hard thing is if you front (Seip) full or three-quarter with a shot that goes long, he's in rebounding position … you have to pick and choose your battles."
The free throw woke up the Lions as they went on an 8-0 run with points from Cody Bennett, Ryan Bates, Gage Montgomery and Clay for a 31-19 lead as the Lions went to their bench in that span.
"Taggert hurt us in the first half, hitting a couple wide-open threes on us," Carson said. "Credit Tom (Wessner), we knew they were going to be patient when we went to zone, but I thought our man-to-man was effective; we just had to go out of it because we were reaching too much.
"This was a good defense effort … this was such a team win, everybody contributed. What sparked us was when we got our young kids out there all at once. We played four of them at the same time … that really sparked us, and the kids really got up on that."
Leading by 11 points at the start of the third, the Lions cruised to win the quarter, holding WHS to 12 points while scoring 13 of their own for a 46-34 advantage.
"They (FHS) did a good job changing defense with no real pattern," Wessner said. "We got a little confused early on.
"I need to do a better job of coaching, and we need a little bit more enthusiasm and continue to do the best we can."
The Lions opened the second half with points by Clay and Williams, as Clay tallied 19 points.
Seip came back in the third with consecutive baskets, cutting the WHS lead to 10 points, but points by Clay and Austin Hildebrant put the Lions back up 14 as they continued to protect their lead with 1:55 left in the quarter.
With Fairfield leading by 12 points at the start of the final eight minutes, WHS managed to cut the Lions' lead to nine points on four different occasions in the third, but each time Fairfield responded with points of their own. After a streak of four points by WHS midway though the fourth, Clay answered with points in the paint and Putnam was there with 2:28 left on the clock with points, making the lead increase to 12 points.
A 3-pointer by Carraher made it a nine-point deficit with 2:20 left, but it was too late as the Lions protected their lead to gain the win.
The win moves FHS to 4-3 overall, 3-1 in the SHL. WHS falls to 1-2 in the league and 2-3 overall.
Fairfield will play again on Friday as they travel to Hillsboro to play in the SHL vs. SCOL Challenge. FHS will face Washington at 6 p.m. WHS will play in the same event, facing host Hillsboro at 8 p.m. Both games are non-league.
In JV play on Tuesday, FHS defeated WHS, 55-37. Leading FHS were Gage Montgomery with 15 points and Joey Wilson with 12 points. For WHS, Tyler Williams led with 11 points, and Justin Emery followed with nine points.
In the freshman game, FHS won 37-20 over WHS. Leading FHS were Mathew Leach with 14 points and Brant Huff with 10. For WHS, Zach Vogtli scored six points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
FHS 19 14 13 14 — 60
WHS 13 09 12 15 — 49
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (60)
Q.Williams 8 (1) 2-3 21
A.May 1 (0) 0-0 2
G.Montgomery 1 (0) 0-1 2
C.Bennett 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Clay 6 (0) 7-10 19
A.Hildebrant 2 (0) 0-0 4
C.Putnam 3 (0) 0-1 6
R.Bates 2 (0) 0-0 4
TOTALS: 24 (1) 9-15 60
WHS (49)
B.Trublood 1 (0) 0-1 2
Z.Docter 3 (1) 3-4 12
S.Meyers 2 (0) 2-3 6
D.Seip 7 (0) 2-5 16
L.Taggert 0 (2) 1-2 7
G.Carraher 1 (1) 1-1 6
TOTALS: 14 (4) 9-16 49[[In-content Ad]]
In their last 13 meetings, the Lions have now won seven times against the Wildcats. In their past six meetings against each other, the teams are now 3-3.
The Lions (3-1, 4-3) never trailed in the Southern Hills League matchup between the two Highland County foes with Williams opening the game with six straight points. The run turned into an 8-0 score with points from Brad Clay.
"Quentin played inspired (Tuesday)," Fairfield head coach Matt Carson said. "I thought not just his scoring, but he got his teammates involved, too.
"He's not a stat guy … his thing is to do whatever he can do to help the ball club win. He brought his 'A' game (Tuesday)."
Whiteoak junior Gage Carraher answered with a three-point play, but Williams and Cole Putnam had other ideas, extending the Lions' lead to 12-3 as Williams, who finished with a game-high 21 points, stole the ball and went full-court on a fast break for two easy points with 5:02 left in the opening frame.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Luke Taggert brought the Wildcats (1-2, 2-3) within three points of the Lions' lead, but it was Williams who continued his fury of scoring in the first, this time with a 3-pointer from way downtown with 3:49 left in the quarter.
The first ended with FHS going on a 6-2 run after the trifecta from Williams for a six-point lead at 19-13.
"We just got off to a slow start and never picked it back up," Whiteoak head coach Tom Wessner said. "In the second half, we never got closer to seven points against them, and if you can't get closer than that, it's hard to win."
Fairfield ended the second with a 33-22 advantage, outscoring the host team 14-9.
Nobody added points in the second until the 5:07 mark of the quarter when Clay sank consecutive free throws, adding to the Lions' lead.
The first field goal of the quarter came with 2:55 left in the opening half when Zach Docter nailed a 3-pointer. He followed that with two free throws, and teammate Doc Seip (who FHS held scoreless in the first frame) came back with a free throw, bringing WHS within two points of tying the game at 21. Docter finished with 12 points, and Seip led WHS with 16 points.
"We were trying to three-quarter front him (Seip) with our weak side guards to take him away because he's such an excellent player," Carson said. "The hard thing is if you front (Seip) full or three-quarter with a shot that goes long, he's in rebounding position … you have to pick and choose your battles."
The free throw woke up the Lions as they went on an 8-0 run with points from Cody Bennett, Ryan Bates, Gage Montgomery and Clay for a 31-19 lead as the Lions went to their bench in that span.
"Taggert hurt us in the first half, hitting a couple wide-open threes on us," Carson said. "Credit Tom (Wessner), we knew they were going to be patient when we went to zone, but I thought our man-to-man was effective; we just had to go out of it because we were reaching too much.
"This was a good defense effort … this was such a team win, everybody contributed. What sparked us was when we got our young kids out there all at once. We played four of them at the same time … that really sparked us, and the kids really got up on that."
Leading by 11 points at the start of the third, the Lions cruised to win the quarter, holding WHS to 12 points while scoring 13 of their own for a 46-34 advantage.
"They (FHS) did a good job changing defense with no real pattern," Wessner said. "We got a little confused early on.
"I need to do a better job of coaching, and we need a little bit more enthusiasm and continue to do the best we can."
The Lions opened the second half with points by Clay and Williams, as Clay tallied 19 points.
Seip came back in the third with consecutive baskets, cutting the WHS lead to 10 points, but points by Clay and Austin Hildebrant put the Lions back up 14 as they continued to protect their lead with 1:55 left in the quarter.
With Fairfield leading by 12 points at the start of the final eight minutes, WHS managed to cut the Lions' lead to nine points on four different occasions in the third, but each time Fairfield responded with points of their own. After a streak of four points by WHS midway though the fourth, Clay answered with points in the paint and Putnam was there with 2:28 left on the clock with points, making the lead increase to 12 points.
A 3-pointer by Carraher made it a nine-point deficit with 2:20 left, but it was too late as the Lions protected their lead to gain the win.
The win moves FHS to 4-3 overall, 3-1 in the SHL. WHS falls to 1-2 in the league and 2-3 overall.
Fairfield will play again on Friday as they travel to Hillsboro to play in the SHL vs. SCOL Challenge. FHS will face Washington at 6 p.m. WHS will play in the same event, facing host Hillsboro at 8 p.m. Both games are non-league.
In JV play on Tuesday, FHS defeated WHS, 55-37. Leading FHS were Gage Montgomery with 15 points and Joey Wilson with 12 points. For WHS, Tyler Williams led with 11 points, and Justin Emery followed with nine points.
In the freshman game, FHS won 37-20 over WHS. Leading FHS were Mathew Leach with 14 points and Brant Huff with 10. For WHS, Zach Vogtli scored six points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
FHS 19 14 13 14 — 60
WHS 13 09 12 15 — 49
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (60)
Q.Williams 8 (1) 2-3 21
A.May 1 (0) 0-0 2
G.Montgomery 1 (0) 0-1 2
C.Bennett 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Clay 6 (0) 7-10 19
A.Hildebrant 2 (0) 0-0 4
C.Putnam 3 (0) 0-1 6
R.Bates 2 (0) 0-0 4
TOTALS: 24 (1) 9-15 60
WHS (49)
B.Trublood 1 (0) 0-1 2
Z.Docter 3 (1) 3-4 12
S.Meyers 2 (0) 2-3 6
D.Seip 7 (0) 2-5 16
L.Taggert 0 (2) 1-2 7
G.Carraher 1 (1) 1-1 6
TOTALS: 14 (4) 9-16 49[[In-content Ad]]