Fairfield ends season in substate semifinal

NEWTON — The Fairfield boys basketball team did all it could on Thursday night against No. 6 Newton.

The Trojans came as close as one early in the 3A Region 6 substate semifinal, but the Cardinals never gave it up as they picked up the 72-52 victory.

Fairfield never led in the contest.

Through four minutes of action, both teams were neck and neck.

Newton jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but Fairfield answered back with back-to-back threes from senior JJ Lane to make it 9-8.

From then on out, Newton took over.

The Cardinals closed out the quarter with a 14-4 run, which included four balls from deep, making it a 23-12 ballgame heading into the second.

After Newton buried another three to start the second period, Fairfield scored a deuce, but the Cardinals followed with 12 unanswered to push their lead to 38-14.

Fairfield responded with a 12-2 spurt of its own as senior guard Tate Allen led the charge with back-to-back threes to make it 40-26 at half.

The Trojans just could never make up the difference.

Newton went on to outscore Fairfield 18-14 in the third quarter to make it 58-40 after three. The Cardinals sealed the game with 14-12 final period.

Lane finished with a game-high 27 points in his final game for the Trojans. Allen followed with nine. Riley Perkins tallied five. Seniors Max Weaton and Ryan Higgins both finished with three. Weaton also pulled 11 boards in his final bout. Sam Weaton ended with two and senior Myles McEntee had one.

Fairfield ends its season at 12-10.