PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Fairfield's relentless attack brings home first sectional title since 2017

Mar. 2—LAGRANGE — For the first time in seven years, Fairfield has won a boys basketball sectional title.

With their effort never ceasing on both ends, the Falcons (19-6) repeatedly drained daggers and forced contested shots throughout Saturday night. As a reward for the 50-39 3A Sectional 20 win over the reigning 3A state champion NorthWood Panthers (15-9), Fairfield gets some hardware and another game added to a memorable season.

"Our motto is win everything; just try to win everyday, every practice and then you do the little things right like we have been and especially those guys that buy-in, you're going to get moments like this," Fairfield head coach Derek Hinen said, in the midst of just his third year as leader of the Falcons."

Fairfield, a squad that boasts a roster of six seniors and nine upperclassmen, looked comfortable and not the least bit intimidated by the Panthers who had won four consecutive sectional titles. NorthWood had also beaten the Falcons 36-21 in December. Saturday night at Lakeland High School, it was all about Fairfield's destiny.

Senior Carson Smith canned five 3-pointers in a variety of ways. His fourth of the night sunk through the nylon right before the end of the third quarter. What was a 10-point Fairfield lead, increased to 13 and sent NorthWood to the bench looking for answers down 46-33 with one quarter to play.

"He let it come to him," Hinen said of Smith. "Every look he took was a good look. It's a credit to his teammates. We know he's the best shooter on the floor, we found ways to get it in the high-post, find and kick it out. He shot it with confidence and played with a lot of confidence — which you should with the amount of work he does."

Those answers led to NorthWood's highest scoring quarter. For Fairfield, they responded each time and pumped the brakes on the Panthers comeback bid.

"It's a lot easier to play from a lead," Hinen said. "You keep shooting shots with confidence when you're ahead."

Senior Mitchell Miller scored 13 points to follow Smith's 16. The rest of the Falcons scoring was followed by Noah Mast (9 points), Brooks Custer (6), Tyson Frey (5) and Alex Hofer (1). Fairfield shot 16-of-36 from the floor and finished with an 8-of-16 mark from behind the arc. Additionally, Fairfield was 10-of-16 at the line.

Hinen, whose team was 5-18 last season, has turned the page and it's led the third-year coach to his first sectional title.

"I'm just excited right now; I'm happy," Hinen said. "It's more about those guys and I'm just really lucky to be able to coach them. You want some of those guys to have the same opportunities as you had as a player so I'm glad they were able to experience this moment."

"Experience wins a lot," Hinen added. "Obviously, we made a jump from last year to this year with guys coming back. We kind of flipped the script on our record a little bit but I think that's just from experience, learning from mistakes and growing to win in these types of situations."

Fairfield controlled much of Saturday's action it seemed. In the first quarter, Miller took two visits to the foul stripe — both on 3-point shooting fouls. He made 5-of-6 to help mark a 12-7 lead after the first eight minutes.

NorthWood, which turned the ball over seven times in the first half, took a little while to settle in offensively. The Falcons defense made it more than difficult to get the ball inside to towering 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Tyler Raash. Raasch would only get one shot attempt in the first 16 minutes.

Settling for triples, the Panthers were just 2-of-12 in the first half. When NorthWood missed from the outside, Fairfield didn't when it was their turn. Taking the 23-12 halftime lead, Fairfield was shooting just under 40% on the night from the floor and from 3-point range.

"I thought they took control at the beginning of the game and I thought we ended up having to chase and extend our defense," NorthWood head coach Aaron Wolfe said.

As NorthWood inched closer and got the deficit within single digits, Fairfield would respond by quickly building the advantage up to 13 again. Trading buckets followed the rest of the contest until the Falcons were sectional champs.

"It felt like once we got behind, we were either trading baskets or trading stops but never really got to a situation where we in control of the game," Wolfe said.

NorthWood shot 14-of-35 from the floor but were 4-of-19 from behind the arc. Senior guard Owen Roeder led the team with 14 points, followed by Ethan Wolfe (8), Raasch (8), Keegin Stats (6) and Grant Miller (3).

After winning a state championship last season and finishing just short of another sectional title, NorthWood will say goodbye to eight seniors.

"It's very difficult to win your last game," Wolfe said. "Anytime that you have to say goodbye to a group that you care about... there's not any groups that I've coached that I've cared about more than this one."

For Fairfield, the Falcons' season continues with a regional matchup against Bishop Noll (20-7). The Warriors won the Calumet Sectional over Hanover Central Saturday night 44-42. Fairfield will play Noll at 7 p.m. following Westview's 2A clash with Wabash at 4 p.m. Both games are being held at Triton High School in Bourbon.

PREP BOYS BASKETBALL

IHSAA 3A Lakeland Sectional 20

Fairfield — 12; 11; 13; 14 — 50

NorthWood — 7; 5; 11; 16 — 39

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