Fairfield basketball reigns over Notre Dame

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield boys basketball kicked off its season on Monday night in the Achieve Scrimmage against Notre Dame.

After a tightly contested first half, Fairfield found its stride in the second, blasting Notre Dame for a 70-49 victory.

The full exhibition contest does not count toward either team’s overall record.

Throughout the first quarter of the scrimmage, Fairfield struck first and last, but the Nikes kept it close.

Fairfield jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the matchup, but Notre Dame grabbed the lead themselves, 4-3, off a pair of layups, one off a Trojan turnover.

The Trojan’s JJ Lane put them back on top, 5-4.

Over the course of the next two minutes, the Trojans went on a bit of a scoring slump as the Nikes scored four straight to make it 8-5. That would be Notre Dame’s largest lead of the night.

At the 4:10 mark, Fairfield took over.

Max Weaton kicked off what would be a 13-2 run until the end of the first quarter.

Weaton scored four straight followed by four from Tate Allen, a Cooper Polonsky three and a Ryan Higgins two, giving the Trojans a 18-10 advantage heading into the second quarter.

They would never trail again.

Notre Dame scored back-to-back buckets to start the second, cutting the lead to four, 18-14.

Lane got the Trojans going, scoring the first three baskets, outscoring the Nikes 7-4 over the early minutes of the quarter.

The two teams were evenly matched up until the halftime buzzer.

An Allen three put the Trojans up 10, 32-22, with just over a minute to go, but the Nikes connected on back-to-back deep balls to cut it to four, 32-28.

Fairfield took the momentum into the half though as Sam Weaton hit a free throw and Max Weaton hit a floater with 0.9 on the clock, giving Fairfield a 35-28 lead at the half.

In the third quarter and second half as a whole, it was all Fairfield.

The Trojans kicked off the third with an 8-2 run, with the Nikes lone two being the only field goal converted in the quarter.

Fairfield scored seven more the rest of the quarter, while Notre Dame hit five free throws.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Trojan held a 50-35 lead.

Over the first three minutes of the fourth, the Nikes edged the Trojans 8-4, to make the score 56-43, but Fairfield ended strong.

Notre Dame would score but two more baskets up until the final whistle, while Fairfield ended with 14 to seal the win.

Fairfield will open its regular season on the road against Oskaloosa on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7:45 p.m.