Braylon Green of FHS goes up for a basket on Tuesday against Mechanicsburg. Green led FHS with 16 points. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Fairbanks High School boys basketball coach Justin George glanced at the scorebook after Tuesday evening’s game against arch-rival Mechanicsburg.
“We just couldn’t connect on any shots during the third quarter,” he said.
While the Panthers tallied an anemic three points during the quarter that came right after the halftime break, the other 24 minutes went pretty well during a 43-31 Homecoming triumph over the Indians.
The victory puts FHS at 11-5 overall and solidifies its first-place slot in the Ohio Heritage Conference North Division with an 8-4 mark.
George (whose team will play at Northeastern on Friday) credited a solid defensive effort for the victory.
“We held (Kyle) Smith to nine points and he came into the game averaging 20,” said the Panther coach. “We also held Hayden DeLong scoreless… that was huge.”
Both teams actually played solid defense.
The Panthers shut down driving and passing lanes with their stout man-to-man.
Mechanicsburg, on the other hand, mixed things up between a man and various zone looks.
“We didn’t handle their zone very well,” admitted George. “They were longer and more aggressive in their defense than Northeastern was on Saturday.”
The Indians’ different zone looks kept the Panthers from penetrating the lane and had them swinging the ball on the perimeter.
Each defensive look was also designed to make sure FHS ball handlers were double-teamed for much of the night.
Fairbanks, though, got out to a strong start.
The Panthers held a 7-0 lead as Trey Good sandwiched a three-pointer between buckets by Kyler Wilson and Braylon Green.
The Indians notched a trifecta from Brooks Tom to pull to within 7-5 with about three minutes left in the stanza.
Green found a seam in the zone and went strong to the hoop for a basket.
Grant Rausch later fed the ball to Andy Higinbotham as FHS took an 11-6 margin into the second quarter.
Mechanicsburg came up with numerous empty possessions, either on turnovers or errant attempts at the basket.
Green rejected a shot with a block and hauled down many of his 20 rebounds.
Wyatt Miller and Good tickled the twine on consecutive three-pointers that pushed the Panthers out to a 19-8 margin.
Good finished with 10 points and joined Green, who tallied 16, in double figures.
“Trey scoring 10 tonight really helped,” said George.
Mechanicsburg finally reached double figures with 2:44 left in the half.
Blake Sadowski’s jumper narrowed the Indians’ deficit at 21-10.
Green scored on a fade-away jumper over the ‘Burg’s zone and then tipped in an offensive rebound at the buzzer.
His stickback sent FHS into the turn with a 25-12 advantage.
The Indians pulled to within 25-17 with a third-quarter three-ball from Josh Lim and a jumper by Smith.
The Panthers had a difficult time finding the basket as a number of good looks failed to fall.
Fairbanks didn’t notch its first point of the third quarter until Green hit a free throw at the 1:20 mark.
Rausch later came up with a steal and drove hard to the basket.
He put on a nifty spin move and laid the ball off the glass for a 28-18 Panther lead.
The Indians then ended the quarter by missing a long shot attempt.
Smith nailed a three-ball to start the fourth quarter. As such, Fairbanks’ lead slipped to 28-21.
Miller and Good came to the rescue on successive trifectas that padded the Panthers’ lead at 34-21.
In order to stop the clock, Mechanicsburg began putting Fairbanks on the charity stripe with three minutes to play.
Carter Schultz hit the front end of the one-and-one for a 36-25 margin.
The Indians kept up the battle and closed to within 36-29 with approximately 1:25 to play.
Like the football tight end he was during the fall season, Green caught a length-of-the-court pass and slam a dunk.
Armed with a 38-29 lead, the Panthers tallied free throws from Good, Dylan Tobe, Schultz and Green to keep the Indians at bay.
Fairbanks
Green, 7-2-16, Good 3-1-10, Miller 2-0-6, Wilson 1-2-4, Higinbotham 1-0-2, Schultz 0-2-2, Rausch 1-0-2, Tobe 0-1-1, Feller 0-0-0. Totals 15-8-43.
Three-point goals: Good 3, Miller 2.
Mechanicsburg
Smith 3-2-9, Sadowski 4-0-8, Lim 3-0-7, Tom 2-0-5, Hall 1-0-2, DeLong 0-0-0, Eyink 0-0-0, Mascadri 0-0-0. Totals 13-2-31.
Three-point goals: Smith 1, Lim 1, Tom 1.
FHS’s jayvees won the preliminary game, 31-18.
Andrew Crowe tallied seven points for the Jr. Panthers.