Lions win season series against Whiteoak
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — On a night where most games were postponed to a later date, the Fairfield Lions and Whiteoak Wildcats did battle at Grandle Gymnasium. The night turned out to be one for the Lions as they took the regular season series against the Wildcats with a 57-46 win Friday night.
This time around, the Lions won by a nine-point margin, but earlier in the season, the Lions won at WHS 60-49.
Fairfield's win is their third straight against the Wildcats dating back to last season. In their past 14 meetings (2006-07), the Lions have won eight times.
The difference in this game came in the final quarter where the Lions (5-2, 7-6) took advantage of turnovers at critical times by the Wildcats (3-4, 5-8). WHS cut the Lions' lead to five points with 3:09 left in the frame but could not get any closer as their ability to make crisp passes and control the paint was their downfall in the end.
"We had turnovers in key in key situations," Whiteoak head coach Tom Wessner said. "We're down five, and we turn it over … we get down by seven, it's a three-possession game. We had two or three straight turnovers in the fourth quarter when we were down five to seven points, and we can't do that.
"We know they run the zone wide, and they'll be aggressive in it, but we just have to run the offense a little wider or make some cuts. It was something we talked about, but something we didn't execute."
Another difference was the Lions controlled the paint by not allowing the Wildcats second chance opportunities or easy layup baskets.
"Fairfield did a very good job of gaining position as the ball was going up," Wessner said. "We can get the athletic rebounds. When we have to just jump straight up into the air we do a good job, but Fairfield did a really good job of positioning us when we jumped, we were under the backboard.
"Instead of us grabbing the ball, we were tipping it out of bounds or running into each other. We just have to do a better job of attacking the rebounders to push them out into the blocks, so we can get some space to get those rebounds."
Fairfield head coach Matt Carson spoke about the Lions' ability to gain rebounds on Friday.
"We feel like we are a good team when it comes to crashing the boards," he said. "A couple times we would box out, but we didn't make good enough contact on our push backs. If we can push back and gain position on a consistent basis, we can get foul calls on our opponents.
"We've just been practicing boxing out and have stressed rebounding."
The Lions began the final quarter with a five-point lead, increased it to seven, saw it cut to five again and again pushed the lead back to seven points at 49-42 with 3:27 left on the clock.
The back-and-forth wasn't finished as Doc Seip brought the Wildcats back to a five-point deficit at the 3:09 mark, but that was as close as WHS could get, with the Lions scoring four straight points, taking a nine-point lead off a layup by Brad Clay and free throws by Quentin Williams with 1:27 remaining.
Williams wrapped up the game with 11 points, and Clay tallied nine.
Whiteoak's Luke Taggert brought the score a little closer with two free throws, but the Lions ended the game by sinking four of their last six free throws.
Taggert had the best night individually in terms of scoring, leading all scorers with a game-high 28 points. Taggert scored 15 points in the first half, along with nine points in the third, including a 3-pointer at the 7:29 mark of the quarter. In the fourth, he added four free throws to his totals as he was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line in the game.
The rest of the Wildcats were held to 18 points.
"Luke has had a very good week with 51 points in two games (23 points against Ripley on Tuesday)," Wessner said. "He showed a lot of heart … a lot of leadership (Friday)."
As for the victorious Lions, they were led by Gage Montgomery with 17 points, including a second half of 11 points. Montgomery, who made his first start of the season, was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line and had one 3-pointer, which came in the third frame with 4:40 left on the clock.
"The play of Gage (Montgomery), I'm really impressed with him," Carson said "We brought him along slow all year, and he took full advantage of his first start (Friday). He's a great kid to be around, and Gage would be the first one to tell you his development has been a lot due to his senior teammates.
"They have taken him under their wing, and they have helped everybody improve."
[[In-content Ad]]As for the first three quarters … they were all played very closely with the Lions leading 14-11 after the first eight-minute period followed by a halftime lead of 27-22. The Lions led by five after 24 minutes.
Taggert got things going early with the game's first four points, but Cole Putnam got the Lions on the board with inside points. He was followed with a free throw by Seip, which was answered with a free throw by Williams, making it a 7-5 score in favor of WHS with 4:18 left in the first.
The two SHL and Highland County rivals continued to equal baskets, until the Lions ended the frame with a run of 9-2 for the three-point lead.
In the second, the Wildcats trailed by as much as nine points with 1:31 left in the quarter, but a run of 5-1 to end the quarter cut the Lions' lead to five points. Fairfield had a three-point play in the middle stages of the quarter from Elijah Carmean, which put the Lions up by seven.
Each team was even in the third as they each added 18 points to their total. For the Lions in the third, Williams, Blake Hildebrant, Montgomery, Austin Hildebrant and Putnam all contributed.
For the Wildcats, Taggert, Zach Docter, Steven Meyers and Gage Carraher all scored points in the third. Carraher's points in the third came from a 3-pointer.
Carson said 13 games into the season, his team isn't young anymore as they split games this week against Peebles (on Tuesday) and WHS, as the team has seen an increased role from the underclassmen.
"I tell them they aren't sophomores anymore, but they are varsity basketball players," he said. "Some years there might be animosity when that happens, but not this team.
"I've said this before about some of our games this year, but this was a team win, maybe more than other wins. Everybody contributed, and a lot of the little things that don't show up on the stat sheets like deflections and box outs, the kids did a good job of that."
The Lions will play again on Tuesday, Jan. 24 when they host the Ripley Blue Jays, who are ahead of the Lions in the SHL standings. WHS will travel to face Fayetteville on Tuesday.
In JV play, Fairfield defeated Whiteoak 50-33. Fairfield was led by Cody Bennett with 11 points. Whiteoak was led by Jason Jones with 17 points.
In freshman play, Fairfield defeated Whiteoak, 35-25. Leading Fairfield was Mathew Leach with 12 points. Leading Grant German with 11 points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WHS 11 11 18 06 — 46
FHS 14 13 18 12 — 57
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (57)
Q.Williams 4 (0) 3-6 11
B.Hildebrant 3 (0) 3-6 9
G.Montgomery 5 (1) 4-5 17
E.Carmean 0 (1) 0-0 3
B.Clay 4 (0) 1-2 9
A.Hildebrant 2 (0) 1-2 5
C.Putnam 1 (0) 1-2 3
TOTALS: 19 (2) 13-23 57
WHS (46)
W.Stratton 1 (0) 0-0 2
Z.Docter 1 (0) 0-2 2
S.Meyers 1 (0) 0-2 2
D.Seip 3 (0) 1-2 7
L.Taggert 10 (1) 5-5 28
G.Carraher 0 (1) 2-2 5
TOTALS: 16 (2) 8-13 46
This time around, the Lions won by a nine-point margin, but earlier in the season, the Lions won at WHS 60-49.
Fairfield's win is their third straight against the Wildcats dating back to last season. In their past 14 meetings (2006-07), the Lions have won eight times.
The difference in this game came in the final quarter where the Lions (5-2, 7-6) took advantage of turnovers at critical times by the Wildcats (3-4, 5-8). WHS cut the Lions' lead to five points with 3:09 left in the frame but could not get any closer as their ability to make crisp passes and control the paint was their downfall in the end.
"We had turnovers in key in key situations," Whiteoak head coach Tom Wessner said. "We're down five, and we turn it over … we get down by seven, it's a three-possession game. We had two or three straight turnovers in the fourth quarter when we were down five to seven points, and we can't do that.
"We know they run the zone wide, and they'll be aggressive in it, but we just have to run the offense a little wider or make some cuts. It was something we talked about, but something we didn't execute."
Another difference was the Lions controlled the paint by not allowing the Wildcats second chance opportunities or easy layup baskets.
"Fairfield did a very good job of gaining position as the ball was going up," Wessner said. "We can get the athletic rebounds. When we have to just jump straight up into the air we do a good job, but Fairfield did a really good job of positioning us when we jumped, we were under the backboard.
"Instead of us grabbing the ball, we were tipping it out of bounds or running into each other. We just have to do a better job of attacking the rebounders to push them out into the blocks, so we can get some space to get those rebounds."
Fairfield head coach Matt Carson spoke about the Lions' ability to gain rebounds on Friday.
"We feel like we are a good team when it comes to crashing the boards," he said. "A couple times we would box out, but we didn't make good enough contact on our push backs. If we can push back and gain position on a consistent basis, we can get foul calls on our opponents.
"We've just been practicing boxing out and have stressed rebounding."
The Lions began the final quarter with a five-point lead, increased it to seven, saw it cut to five again and again pushed the lead back to seven points at 49-42 with 3:27 left on the clock.
The back-and-forth wasn't finished as Doc Seip brought the Wildcats back to a five-point deficit at the 3:09 mark, but that was as close as WHS could get, with the Lions scoring four straight points, taking a nine-point lead off a layup by Brad Clay and free throws by Quentin Williams with 1:27 remaining.
Williams wrapped up the game with 11 points, and Clay tallied nine.
Whiteoak's Luke Taggert brought the score a little closer with two free throws, but the Lions ended the game by sinking four of their last six free throws.
Taggert had the best night individually in terms of scoring, leading all scorers with a game-high 28 points. Taggert scored 15 points in the first half, along with nine points in the third, including a 3-pointer at the 7:29 mark of the quarter. In the fourth, he added four free throws to his totals as he was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line in the game.
The rest of the Wildcats were held to 18 points.
"Luke has had a very good week with 51 points in two games (23 points against Ripley on Tuesday)," Wessner said. "He showed a lot of heart … a lot of leadership (Friday)."
As for the victorious Lions, they were led by Gage Montgomery with 17 points, including a second half of 11 points. Montgomery, who made his first start of the season, was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line and had one 3-pointer, which came in the third frame with 4:40 left on the clock.
"The play of Gage (Montgomery), I'm really impressed with him," Carson said "We brought him along slow all year, and he took full advantage of his first start (Friday). He's a great kid to be around, and Gage would be the first one to tell you his development has been a lot due to his senior teammates.
"They have taken him under their wing, and they have helped everybody improve."
[[In-content Ad]]As for the first three quarters … they were all played very closely with the Lions leading 14-11 after the first eight-minute period followed by a halftime lead of 27-22. The Lions led by five after 24 minutes.
Taggert got things going early with the game's first four points, but Cole Putnam got the Lions on the board with inside points. He was followed with a free throw by Seip, which was answered with a free throw by Williams, making it a 7-5 score in favor of WHS with 4:18 left in the first.
The two SHL and Highland County rivals continued to equal baskets, until the Lions ended the frame with a run of 9-2 for the three-point lead.
In the second, the Wildcats trailed by as much as nine points with 1:31 left in the quarter, but a run of 5-1 to end the quarter cut the Lions' lead to five points. Fairfield had a three-point play in the middle stages of the quarter from Elijah Carmean, which put the Lions up by seven.
Each team was even in the third as they each added 18 points to their total. For the Lions in the third, Williams, Blake Hildebrant, Montgomery, Austin Hildebrant and Putnam all contributed.
For the Wildcats, Taggert, Zach Docter, Steven Meyers and Gage Carraher all scored points in the third. Carraher's points in the third came from a 3-pointer.
Carson said 13 games into the season, his team isn't young anymore as they split games this week against Peebles (on Tuesday) and WHS, as the team has seen an increased role from the underclassmen.
"I tell them they aren't sophomores anymore, but they are varsity basketball players," he said. "Some years there might be animosity when that happens, but not this team.
"I've said this before about some of our games this year, but this was a team win, maybe more than other wins. Everybody contributed, and a lot of the little things that don't show up on the stat sheets like deflections and box outs, the kids did a good job of that."
The Lions will play again on Tuesday, Jan. 24 when they host the Ripley Blue Jays, who are ahead of the Lions in the SHL standings. WHS will travel to face Fayetteville on Tuesday.
In JV play, Fairfield defeated Whiteoak 50-33. Fairfield was led by Cody Bennett with 11 points. Whiteoak was led by Jason Jones with 17 points.
In freshman play, Fairfield defeated Whiteoak, 35-25. Leading Fairfield was Mathew Leach with 12 points. Leading Grant German with 11 points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WHS 11 11 18 06 — 46
FHS 14 13 18 12 — 57
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (57)
Q.Williams 4 (0) 3-6 11
B.Hildebrant 3 (0) 3-6 9
G.Montgomery 5 (1) 4-5 17
E.Carmean 0 (1) 0-0 3
B.Clay 4 (0) 1-2 9
A.Hildebrant 2 (0) 1-2 5
C.Putnam 1 (0) 1-2 3
TOTALS: 19 (2) 13-23 57
WHS (46)
W.Stratton 1 (0) 0-0 2
Z.Docter 1 (0) 0-2 2
S.Meyers 1 (0) 0-2 2
D.Seip 3 (0) 1-2 7
L.Taggert 10 (1) 5-5 28
G.Carraher 0 (1) 2-2 5
TOTALS: 16 (2) 8-13 46