PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Confidence in 'WE' continues to keep Fairfield united entering regionals

Mar. 6—BENTON — Trying to nail down the do-it-all player on Fairfield's boys basketball team this season isn't an easy task.

You could start with senior Carson Smith, who knocked down five 3-pointers in last weekend's sectional final against NorthWood. Then there is Mitchell Miller, a shifty ball-handler that can also knock down the long ball while finding his teammates in open space.

Tyson Frey, Noah Mast, Brooks Custer, Alex Hofer... the names and arguments continue. No one averages more than 11 points a game while assists, rebounds and steals are also spread evenly amongst the group. The longer you look at the list, the more you start to understand Fairfield isn't successful because of a few stellar athletes but because of the whole collection that make up its roster.

Confidence on both sides of the ball is reinforced by the veteran group under third-year head coach Derek Hinen who finds that the balanced roster provides a team who plays best through each other.

"I think the confidence comes from knowing their own individual abilities, knowing their role and then piecing it together how we can both help each other like a puzzle piece," Hinen said. "I think that gives them confidence that they know what they need to do and what they can do and the confidence that their teammates are going to do their job too."

Six seniors make up the roster and Miller knows it well.

"There's leadership everywhere," Miller said. "Everybody is able to talk and communicate with each other and we have faith in each other."

Matching the style of team-basketball are the two gold letters that stand out on the back of the Falcons practice jerseys.

"WE" is what you can expect to see and hear several times a day inside the Fairfield program. It's this year's motto for the group and is easy to recognize in how the Falcons play. Unselfish on offense, communicative on defense, Fairfield can hang its hat on the motto shaping a run to the regional round.

"It's always been about 'WE' but it's been trying to get all twelve guys to buy in to it," Smith said. "We can't do anything with me, we can achieve anything we want as long as we're doing it with 'WE.'"

"Every single day," Smith continued about how much Hinen talks about this year's motto. "It's on the back of our practice jerseys. It's just so important to not just do something for yourself. To have the mindset of doing it by yourself, it's not going to work. We have to have all twelve guys buy in and this year it happened."

Miller also sees the value in this year's motto, describing it as a way to grow closer.

"It's just that mentality of that no matter what happens we still have each other," Miller said. "It's a group of guys that on or off the court we still have each other as friends and as family."

Hinen went further into how they landed on "WE", describing it doesn't just relate to the basketball court, but what is required everyday in the other areas of his players' lives.

"It kind of has the two meanings," Hinen said. "The 'WE' as in obviously the togetherness, doing it together, finding ways for our pieces to come together and then it also means 'Win Everything' whether that's in the classroom, daily life, at home or on the court where you're showing up on time, doing the drill right, you're competitive in everything. Hopefully it's not just something that affects them in basketball but everything else going forward in different parts of their lives."

One area where it looks like Fairfield won every day: the weight room. In the sectional win over NorthWood, the Falcons were aggressive and not intimidated in the slightest on the glass. Denying the Panthers second-chance points made sure to keep the Falcons in front.

"The summer was a grind," Smith said. "We started early in the morning, would shoot, and then go lift weights. The goal was to gain weight. Hinen and the staff really invested in stuff to help us gain weight and to take the weight room serious."

At that point Fairfield was coming off an 8-15 season. With the experience coming back, all eyes pointed to the Falcons making sure to not disappoint during the 2023-24 season.

Still, the cogs needed some oil before they could start showing signs of improvement.

"Honestly, summer wasn't that great either," Hinen said. "We weren't that good in summer too but you could see the progress starting to happen and they continued to do that throughout this year."

Even during the season Fairfield was still putting together its puzzle. The Falcons were 1-3 against its sectional opponents. But when it became win-or-go-home, it was Hinen's group who ran the table and claimed the throne.

Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the Falcons — now 19-6 — are certainly a group playing at its best. The defense, ranked No. 12 in the state giving up just 41 points a game, will have a tougher test awaiting them.

Hammond Bishop Noll (20-7) claims ownership to an aggressive offense that averages nearly 63-points a contest. Caleb Parks (15.5 points per game) joins Jaedin Reyna (11.8ppg) and Amauri Moore (11.6ppg, 6.6 rebounds per game) to highlight the weapons the Warriors will display.

"Noll is a very, very talented team," Hinen said. "They're really well coached, they run their stuff extremely well, they have some great athletes and some great pieces so it's going to be really hard defensively for us. We're going to have to again grind it out and do the little things right."

"It's going to be a challenge," Hinen continued. "They have a big inside that's good, they have an extremely skilled point guard, they got a very athletic wing that can shoot the ball and they have a lot of complementary pieces as well. It's kind of like what we are where it's not just one guy they got to worry about but there's an abundance of them."

With a bigger challenge awaiting, the Falcons confidence in their own strengths continues to shine.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be," Miller said. "We have a great group of coaches preparing us for the upcoming regional game. We're going to go hard in practices and I think we have a great job of winning it."

Fairfield will travel to Triton High School Saturday for a 7 p.m. one-game regional battle against Hammond Bishop Noll. The winner will move on to the IHSAA Class 3A semi-state round.

Reach Matt Lucas at 574-533-2151, ext. 240325, or at matt.lucas@goshennews.com.