Fairbanks’ Jacob Nicol (5) goes up for a basket against Greeneview on Friday. The Panthers fell, 39-38.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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It was the type of basketball game that would make a coach reach for the antacids.
The Fairbanks Panthers held a 23-13 halftime lead over Greeneview on Friday.
Things, though, unraveled during the second half as the Rams pulled out a 39-38 victory.
“We did OK in the first quarter, but midway through the second, things went downward,” said FHS coach Justin George.
Neither team set the world on fire during the opening period. As a matter of fact, the Rams were about as ice-cold from the floor as the weather has lately been.
Greeneview had some decent looks at the basket, but a number of shots failed to fall.
The only field goal for the visitors during the first set came when Ian Tamplin’s jumper tied the game at two.
The Panthers had a number of empty possessions themselves and it wasn’t until Mason Smith swished a three-pointer that they got a little separation at 9-3.
Jacob Nicol followed his own miss for a shot that gave FHS (which will host Benjamin Logan this evening) an 11-3 lead by the end of the period.
Cross Hackathorne made a nice spin move in the lane and was followed by shots from Nicol and Gavin Horn as Fairbanks’ lead climbed to 17-6.
The Panther defense did a nice job of shutting down driving lanes to the basket.
That, coupled with consecutive shots from Smith, pushed Fairbanks out to a 23-8 lead.
The Rams perked up a bit and pulled to within 10 at the turn, thanks in part to a traditional three-point play by Cam Treadway.
Hackathorne opened the third period with a trifecta that stretched FHS’ lead to 26-13.
Things began to go awry as Greeneview started to find its shot.
Mason Schneider moved his 6-7 frame out beyond the three-point arc and Gabe Caudill also found the range from downtown.
As such, the Rams narrowed their deficit to 26-21 with 4:19 left in the quarter.
Buckets from Noah Rausch and Nicol gave FHS a little breathing room at 30-23.
Treadway scored on a stickback and then got a shooter’s roll on an offering that pulled the Rams to within 30-29.
He scored on another offensive rebound to send Greeneview into the fourth quarter with its first lead of the game at 31-30.
The early portion of the final stanza was a roller coaster.
Nicol converted a steal into an old-fashioned three-point play as FHS regained a 35-34 edge.
Caudill, however, buried a three-ball that gave the Rams a 37-35 lead.
After several exchanges in possession, Greeneview began milking the clock.
Baylor Green, though, came up with a steal for FHS and fed the ball to Smith.
The shot rimmed in and out as the Rams held onto their slim lead.
Caudill connected on two shots from the charity stripe as Greeneview took a 39-35 margin with 49 seconds to play.
Horn muscled up a shot and added a charity toss to close the gap to 39-38 with 35 ticks on the timer.
The Rams missed the front end of a one-and-one and Tyler Beem grabbed the rebound for FHS.
The Panthers used their final two timeouts to try and set up a game-winning basket.
They missed the attempt, but got the ball back with 1.3 seconds to play when the Rams committed a turnover.
The coaching gamesmanship continued when Greeneview burned its final TO.
Nicol was the triggerman on the inbounds play under the FHS basket.
He got the ball into Hackathorne, whose shot missed the mark at the buzzer.
“We made some mental mistakes tonight and didn’t make very good fundamental passes at times,” said George. “In a game like this, one possession does a lot to turn it around.
“We didn’t do the little things we needed to do in order to accomplish that.”
The Panthers are a team that normally is adept at finding its way to the free throw line.
That was not the case in this contest as Schneider closed down the inside and prevented FHS from drawing fouls.
The Panthers went only four-for-four from the foul line.
“We shot a lot more mid-range jumpers than we normally do because of that,” said George, whose team slipped to 6-4 overall and 6-2 in the Ohio Heritage Conference.
Greeneview
Caudill 4-5-15, Treadway 4-1-9, Schneider 2-0-6, Tamplin 2-0-5, Nix 1-0-2, Wilson 1-0-2, Clevenger 0-0-0. Totals 14-6-39.
Three-point goals: Caudill 2, Schneider 2.
Fairbanks
Nicol 5-1-11, Smith 4-0-9, Hackathorne 4-0-9, Horn 2-3-7, Rausch 1-0-2, Beem 0-0-0, Higinbotham 0-0-0, Green 0-0-0. Totals 16-4-38.
Three-point goals: Smith 1, Hackathorne 1.
The Panthers won the junior varsity and freshmen games.
The jayvees upped their record to 9-1 with a 44-35 triumph.
Nick Murray and Seth Stanley each scored 13 for the Jr. Panthers.
The freshmen improved to 7-1 with their 47-28 victory.
Wyatt Miller and Trey Good each tallied 12 points.