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Washington Evening Journal
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Dutch too much for Trojans in 3A-5 first round
Fairfield boys fall to Pella in opening playoff game
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The Fairfield boys basketball season came to an end at the hands of the No. 4 ranked team in Class 3A and the No. 1 seed in the Substate 5 bracket. The No. 8 seed Trojans fell 81-41 at the hands of Pella on Monday.
Down just nine after the first quarter, Fairfield was unable to keep pace in next two stanzas, scoring just 12 points. Pella tallied 20 points in the second quarter and 17 in the third.
Pella, which had won three of its previous four games entering Monday’s first round contest, took care of the ball expertly and had careful shot selection inside the arc despite just a 20% clip from 3-point range. The Dutch shot 54.4% from the field and had 23 assists to just five turnovers.
Jack McGuire led the charge for the Dutch with 18 points. Austin Schulte and Griffin Simpson were also in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Sophomore Rowan Kness led Fairfield with 13 points off the bench. Senior Spencer McCready posted nine points and senior Nolan Smith scored six in their final games as Trojans.
Fellow seniors Xavier Kessel, Axl Starr and Brock Atwood finished with three points each. Senior Andrew Myers and junior Ethan Bisgard each scored two.
Fairfield ends its season at 2-19. The Trojans couldn’t get back into the win column after it took down Centerville 64-50 on Jan. 6. Fairfield’s lone Southeast Conference win was a 47-44 victory over Ft. Madison on Dec. 5.
Seven seniors will depart the Fairfield program after this season. Zillman (8.3 ppg in 15 games) and Myers (6.2 ppg) finished ranked second and third on the team in scoring. Atwood, Starr, McCready, Smith and Kessel also wrapped up their Fairfield basketball careers.
The Trojans can retain their leading scorer, Bisgard. The junior was the lone Fairfield player to average double figures this season at 11.4 points per game. Kness (4.7 ppg) can also return for his senior campaign.
Pella moves on to the 3A-5 semifinals where it will face another SEC side in No. 4 seed Washington on Thursday. The Demons beat No. 5 seed Burlington 53-50 on Monday to book a date with the Dutch.
