Boys D-4 Bkb: End of the Line for Paint Valley & Western

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The Fairfield Lions and Green Bobcats have a date set for Thursday in the Boys D-IV District Final at The Convo for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Both advanced with victories Monday night at Piketon High School.

In the opener, the Western Indians staked an 8-1 lead at the start, but Fairfield wouldn’t stay contained for long. The undefeated Lions closed to within 13-11 after the first period, then outscored the Indians in the second 20-8 for a 31-21 lead at the break.

The boys from Latham wouldn’t go away quietly. Chase Carter scored 9 of his 17 points in the third quarter and Drew Haggy finished off the period with an old fashion three-point play bringing the Indians to within 46-39.

Western scraped and crawled its way back to knot the game at 48-48 and again at 50-all with under three minutes to play. Fairfield narrowly avoided disaster when the Tribe failed to control a loose ball after forcing a Lions turnover at midfloor with 15 seconds left. Gabe Fouch drained a couple of free throws to secure Fairfield’s 24th win on the season. The final, 56-53.

Haggy led all scorers with 19, followed by Carters’ 17. Kam Janes chipped in another 12 and Logan Lightle rounded out the scoring with 5.

For Fairfield, Trey house led with 15 points, TJ Mootz with 14, Wyatt Collins added 11, Larkin Friend had 9 points, Fouch had 5 and Gunner Bennington scored two.

The night cap featured the Green Bobcats and Paint Valley Bearcats. The Bobcats came out of the locker room on fire behind Levi Sampson’s 8 point effort for an 11-4 lead through the first period. Meanwhile, it seemed Paint Valley couldn’t do anything right. They finally got on track behind a three-point play by Dax Estep and a drive by Braylon Robertson to cut the Bobcats lead at halftime to 20-19.

Cole Miller and Estep began hitting baskets and Todd Fairrow drained a trey to give Paint Valley a 23-20 lead with just . Estep tallied a free throw and a drive to the basket to tie the game through 3 at 31-31.

In the fourth, Green’s Jon Knapp took over. The freshman was sizzling from the right side of the basket, scoring 9 of his 22 points in the final frame. Knapp sealed the deal with a long range basket and Sampson, Abe McBee combined with Gabe McBee drained 10 free throws. Willing Franklin Furnace Green to a shot at a district title. 52- 40 the final.

Fairfield scoring: Jon Knapp 22, Levi Sampson 16, Abe McBee a0 and Levi Blevins and Gabe McBee combine for the final 4-points.

Paint Valley scoring: Dax Estep, 14, Cole Miller had 11, Braylon Robertson 10, Todd Fairrow 3 and Cavan Cooper with 2.