Fairfeld runs out of steam down the stretch

The sheer numbers of eight departed seniors from last year?s Fairfield basketball team has taken its toll.

With a thin Trojan bench, a deep Oskaloosa squad slowly took its toll on Fairfield leading up to the fourth quarter where they seized the game. Taking a two-point lead into the final period, the Indians outscored Fairfield 14-2 the last eight minutes to ease in for a 59-45 victory in Monday?s season-opener.

?We got a little worn down but actually played pretty well for three quarters,? said Fairfield head coach Jeff Ebling. ?We were right there, especially cutting the lead down to two at the end of the third quarter ? we had them right where we wanted them, but we just have to finish the game.?

Derek Byrnes? range from behind the arc helped Fairfield to a 38-34 third-quarter lead and his third three-pointer of the period drew Fairfield to within two points and within striking distance entering the fourth. But the Oskaloosa defense buckled down. After not holding a lead larger than six points the entire contest, Oskaloosa eclipsed that mark less than half-way into the final period. Starting on the defensive end, the Indians didn?t allow a single Fairfield point until less than a minute remained, and by then, Oskaloosa had pushed the pace to open up the double-digit deficit.

?I think it might be a trademark of ours, and hopefully we can start wearing teams down a little bit playing so many guys and playing the up tempo kind of basketball we want to,? said Indian head coach Bryan White. ?I really think in the fourth quarter we started to wear on them a bit.?

Malaki Wills led the Indians with 16 points.

After shooting just 35 percent from the field a season ago, Trojan shots continued to hit just about every part of the hoop except for the net as they fell below the 30 percent (14-50) mark from the field Monday.

?We had some good looks that we didn?t convert on and you just can?t do that against a 4A school,? Ebling said. ?We got what we wanted, and you have to think the shots will start falling sooner or later. We?re just hoping it?ll be sooner.?

Grant Curran led Fairfield with 13 points including eight in a first half that saw the Trojans open up an early 8-1 lead. Fairfield hit 12-14 free throws in the closely contested first half, but made just one trip to the foul stripe in the second.

?That comes with being a little tired and not attacking as much. We?re going to have to attack, and we have to get to the foul line,? said Ebling. ?We?re not going to outshoot teams night in and night out so we have to find people going to the basket.?

Josh Hyde scored seven and Willie Ghent and Max Johnson each finished with six points for Fairfield.

The loss drops Fairfield to 0-1 on the year with a home game coming up Friday against the 2009 conference champ Mount Pleasant.