Drew Campbell, left, of Triad drives to the basket while Wyatte Miller, right, of Fairbanks gets his hands to the ball to stop Campbell’s drive. The Panthers played stout defense and fast offense Tuesday night to beat the Cardinals, 85-56.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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Fairbanks’ boys basketball team went onto Triad’s court on a mission Tuesday.
Within the first two minutes of the game the Cardinals found themselves in a deep hole after the Panthers converted steal after steal to take a 16-2 lead.
The early lead set the tone of the game for the Panthers as they rolled to an 85-56 victory.
Triad head coach Jason Malone said his young team is still trying to figure out how to play together while competing.
“They (Fairbanks) created turnovers and whenever they did they capitalized on them,” he said. “Next thing you know, we are down 16-2.
“It is a matter of a young team trying to figure out how to play and compete,” said Malone. “We have started the season off against four really good teams and it has shown.”
The Panthers continued its reign of terror on Triad behind the efforts of Cross Hackathorne.
He worked the floor inside and out, amassing 12 points in the opening stanza to help FHS take a 20-8 lead.
Fairbanks head coach Justin George said it was all a part of the Panthers’ plan.
“We wanted to run today more than we have and we outsized them, so that worked to our advantage,” he said. “Our goal was to get to 20 points in the first quarter.
“We got there so that is always a good start.”
The Cardinals (0-4 overall and 0-2 in the Ohio Heritage Conference) were able to finally start to run their offense inside. However, they had trouble finding the bottom of the net with pressure in their face from the Panthers’ tight man-to-man defense.
“We couldn’t even run offense,” said Malone. “They (Fairbanks) were running through everything that we did.”
At the other end of the floor, the Panthers (2-1 overall and 2-0 in the OHC) unleashed their shooters. They tallied 15 points from beyond the arc to take a 47-20 lead into the locker room.
The Cards came out after the break with some gusto as they tried to play the Panthers’ quickly-paced game.
Malone said his squad had to try something to get past the visitors’ stout defense.
“I told the guys this kind of measures what kind of resilience you have,” he said. “I told them at halftime, l’et’s push the tempo,’ because we were walking the ball up and they were getting their defense set and coming after us.”
The uptick in tempo gave Triad some solid offense.
FHS, though, also got the same in the form of Braylon Green.
The sophomore got into some early foul trouble, which put him on the bench early in the first half.
With his return, the Panthers picked up 13 points down low to push their lead to 74-31.
“Green came back in the third quarter and got 13, so it was a big step for him,” George said. “These last two games have been tough on him.”
With the game nearly out of reach for the Cardinals, Malone told his players to just win the final quarter.
They were able to outscore the Panthers 25-11 during the last set, but the damage was too great.
“I told them to win the quarter and I believe we did that,” Malone said. “We have a young team that can be very fragile mentally, so we are trying to stay positive, show up and work and hope for the best.”
The Panthers will return to the court on Friday as they host West Liberty. The Cardinals will return to action on that day at Mechanicsburg.
Fairbanks
Hackathorne 6-2-15, Green 6-1-13, Smith 4-2-11, Murray 2-6-11, Nicol 4-0-9, Beem 2-2-7, Miller 1-3-6, Calder 2-0-5, Brackenridge 1-0-3, Standley 1-0-3, Good 1-0-2. Totals 29-16-85.
Three-point goals: Hackathorne 1, Smith 1, Murray 1, Nicol 1, Beem 1, Miller 1, Calder 1, Brackenridge 1, Standley 1
Triad
Bundy 4-0-11, Campbell 3-2-9, O’Neal 3-1-7 Nott 1-3-6, Lease 2-2-6, Thompson 2-1-6, Oyer 2-0-4, Bails 1-0-3, Simonelli 1-1-3, Wall 0-1-1. Totals 19-11-56.
Three-point goals: Bundy 3, Campbell 1, Nott 1, Thompson 1, Bails 1