Lions post win over Wildcats
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Post play was the key to the Fairfield Lions' win over rival Whiteoak Tuesday evening as the Lions powered their way to a 52-44 score at Grandle Gymnasium.
FHS never trailed during the game as they led 11-7 following the first frame, followed by a halftime lead of 24-16.
From there, the Lions (2-2, 3-4) outscored WHS 25-5 in the third and held the lead, even though WHS won the final eight minutes at 15-11.
Leading the Lions were the post-playing duo of Joey Wilson and Ryan Bates each scoring 14 points. Quentin Williams followed with nine, and Blake Hildebrant totaled eight.
Also adding points for FHS in the win were Keith Lamb with one, Elijah Carmean with two and Cody Bennett with four, including a 3-pointer in the second quarter.
For the Wildcats (2-1, 2-3), just three players scored as they were led by Luke Taggert with a game-high 18 points, followed by Doc Seip with 17 and Gage Carraher with nine. For Seip, 15 of his 17 points were scored in the second half, and for Taggert, 13 of his 18 points came in the first half.
But what stood out in this game was the Lions' ability to control the post, forcing the Wildcats to take longer shots than they would have liked and keeping them out of their comfort zone.
"We've been working on our inside defense. We want to make contact, bump and sometimes (Tuesday) it cost us fouls, but we need to make sure we box out and gain possession on rebounds."
Whiteoak coach Tom Wessner also spoke about the Lions' play against his offense.
"Everything was stagnant," Wessner said. "They (FHS) did a good job of pressuring the ball and pushing us out more than we like to be. After that, things just got discombobulated.
"Fairfield kept us out of the paint, and we took quick 17-foot jumpers, which isn't what we needed to do."
In the first frame, Wilson scored the first points with a layup at the 5:12 mark. That was followed by a steal and layup by Bates for a 4-0 advantage. Later in the frame, Bates scored back-to-back buckets, which were answered with consecutive baskets by Taggert for an 8-7 Lion advantage with 2:52 on the first-frame clock.
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From there, FHS scored the next three points to close out the quarter with a free throw from Williams and layup from Wilson for their four-point lead.
In the second, the Lions connected three times from beyond the arc with Williams, Hildebrant and Bennett all sinking three balls. The other four points in the FHS second came from Sims and Bates for an eight-point halftime lead.
In the WHS second, their nine points were scored by Taggert with six, Seip with one and Carraher with a free-throw conversion.
Then came the most productive quarter for the host team as FHS tallied 17 points, extending their lead to 11 points with Wilson scoring 10 points in the eight-minute quarter.
Also in the third, Hildebrant sank his second 3-pointer, while Bates added four points. In the WHS third, Seip had seven of the 13 Wildcat points as WHS got as close as six points to tying the score with 4:22 on the third-frame clock following a three-point play by Seip.
In the final frame, Seip had eight points with four coming from the free-throw line as he was a perfect 5-of-5 on the night. The Lions had five points in the fourth from Williams.
For the game, FHS was 6-of-14 from the free-throw line, while WHS was 14-of-15 (93 percent).
In the freshman game, FHS won 42-34, and the Lions also won in JV play at 44-32.
Next for the Lions is a Friday night game vs. Zane Trace, followed by a Saturday game at Hillsboro High School in the SCOL vs. SHAC Challenge as they will face Washington at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats will next play on Saturday, Dec. 22 as they face Hillsboro at HHS also in the SCOL vs. SHAC Challenge at 8 p.m.
FHS never trailed during the game as they led 11-7 following the first frame, followed by a halftime lead of 24-16.
From there, the Lions (2-2, 3-4) outscored WHS 25-5 in the third and held the lead, even though WHS won the final eight minutes at 15-11.
Leading the Lions were the post-playing duo of Joey Wilson and Ryan Bates each scoring 14 points. Quentin Williams followed with nine, and Blake Hildebrant totaled eight.
Also adding points for FHS in the win were Keith Lamb with one, Elijah Carmean with two and Cody Bennett with four, including a 3-pointer in the second quarter.
For the Wildcats (2-1, 2-3), just three players scored as they were led by Luke Taggert with a game-high 18 points, followed by Doc Seip with 17 and Gage Carraher with nine. For Seip, 15 of his 17 points were scored in the second half, and for Taggert, 13 of his 18 points came in the first half.
But what stood out in this game was the Lions' ability to control the post, forcing the Wildcats to take longer shots than they would have liked and keeping them out of their comfort zone.
"We've been working on our inside defense. We want to make contact, bump and sometimes (Tuesday) it cost us fouls, but we need to make sure we box out and gain possession on rebounds."
Whiteoak coach Tom Wessner also spoke about the Lions' play against his offense.
"Everything was stagnant," Wessner said. "They (FHS) did a good job of pressuring the ball and pushing us out more than we like to be. After that, things just got discombobulated.
"Fairfield kept us out of the paint, and we took quick 17-foot jumpers, which isn't what we needed to do."
In the first frame, Wilson scored the first points with a layup at the 5:12 mark. That was followed by a steal and layup by Bates for a 4-0 advantage. Later in the frame, Bates scored back-to-back buckets, which were answered with consecutive baskets by Taggert for an 8-7 Lion advantage with 2:52 on the first-frame clock.
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From there, FHS scored the next three points to close out the quarter with a free throw from Williams and layup from Wilson for their four-point lead.
In the second, the Lions connected three times from beyond the arc with Williams, Hildebrant and Bennett all sinking three balls. The other four points in the FHS second came from Sims and Bates for an eight-point halftime lead.
In the WHS second, their nine points were scored by Taggert with six, Seip with one and Carraher with a free-throw conversion.
Then came the most productive quarter for the host team as FHS tallied 17 points, extending their lead to 11 points with Wilson scoring 10 points in the eight-minute quarter.
Also in the third, Hildebrant sank his second 3-pointer, while Bates added four points. In the WHS third, Seip had seven of the 13 Wildcat points as WHS got as close as six points to tying the score with 4:22 on the third-frame clock following a three-point play by Seip.
In the final frame, Seip had eight points with four coming from the free-throw line as he was a perfect 5-of-5 on the night. The Lions had five points in the fourth from Williams.
For the game, FHS was 6-of-14 from the free-throw line, while WHS was 14-of-15 (93 percent).
In the freshman game, FHS won 42-34, and the Lions also won in JV play at 44-32.
Next for the Lions is a Friday night game vs. Zane Trace, followed by a Saturday game at Hillsboro High School in the SCOL vs. SHAC Challenge as they will face Washington at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats will next play on Saturday, Dec. 22 as they face Hillsboro at HHS also in the SCOL vs. SHAC Challenge at 8 p.m.