Andy Higinbotham of Fairbanks (5) comes up with a loose ball, but also gets a foot to the head Friday evening. The Panthers rolled to an easy victory over Southeastern. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Fairbanks boys basketball coach Justin George knew what Southeastern was going to do on the defensive end of the floor Friday evening.
“They’re a young team – playing some freshmen – and they don’t have a lot of depth,” said the Panther bench boss after his team’s 63-27 victory. “They also knew they wouldn’t have an answer inside for Braylon Green if they played man-to-man.”
The Trojans (1-11) used several different zone looks to keep the 6-5 Green from successfully roaming the paint.
The strategy somewhat worked as Green tallied just seven points through the first three quarters.
What Southeastern couldn’t do much about was FHS’ deadly shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
Wyatt Miller knocked down a pair of trifectas during the opening minutes as the Panthers climbed to a 10-0 lead.
“We got off to a very good start and that’s important for us,” said George.
The Panthers (who will travel to Benjamin Logan tonight) were then shut down for the next several minutes.
They made some errant passes against the zone and couldn’t get good looks at the basket to drop.
Carter Schultz, though, buried a three-ball that later gave Fairbanks a 13-4 advantage.
Green was then able to drive the lane for a basket that sent FHS into the second quarter with a 15-6 lead.
Buckets by Dylan Tobe, Miller and Grant Rausch staked the Panthers to a 21-6 spread.
The Trojans took nearly four minutes to get back on the scoreboard with a basket by Ayden Robinson.
The teams swapped possessions over the next couple of minutes.
Shots from Miller and Kyler Wilson upped Fairbanks’ advantage to 25-8 with slightly less than two minutes left to play in the half.
Zack McKee hit both ends of the one-and-one as Southeastern finally reached double digit (10) scoring.
FHS turned the ball over with 6.7 ticks on the clock.
The Trojans, however, couldn’t convert on a three-point attempt at the buzzer.
As such, Fairbanks took a 25-10 lead into the turn.
Any thoughts of a Southeastern comeback were quickly squashed to open the third period.
Trey Good and Schultz torched the net for trifectas.
Wilson scored another basket as FHS advanced to a 35-10 lead.
Green, who scored 11 of his 15 points during the second half, buried a long three-ball for a 38-10 spread.
Tobe scored after picking up a loose ball. Another bucket from Rausch helped push Fairbanks into the fourth quarter with a 44-17 lead.
Southeastern gave up the ghost on its zone defense and went to a man set.
Green saw that to his liking and added eight points as the Panthers easily upped their overall record to 5-4 and their Ohio Heritage Conference mark at 4-3.
Fairbanks
Miller 6-0-15, Green 7-0-15, Schultz 3-0-8, Good 3-1-8, Wilson 3-0-6, Tobe 2-0-4, Rausch 2-0-4, Higinbotham 0-2-2, Ufferman 0-1-1, Ziegler 0-0-0, Feller 0-0-0. Totals 26-3-63.
Three-point goals: Miller 3, Schultz 2, Green 1, Good 1.
Southeastern
Ke. Keehner 4-1-9, Robinson 3-0-7, Eriksen 1-2-5, Flax 1-0-2, Cordial 0-2-2, McKee 0-2-2, Ko. Keehner 0-0-0, Yoder 0-0-0, Finney 0-0-0. Totals 9-7-27.
Three-point goals: Robinson 1, Ericksen 1.
The Panther jayvees won the preliminary game, 40-20.
Dylan Weidman led the Jr. Panthers with 10 points.