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Washington Evening Journal
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Trojan hoops drops a pair
Ottumwa girls run away from Fairfield, Bulldog boys hang on
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FAIRFIELD — A fierce comeback by the Fairfield boys basketball team was nearly completed when Drew Myers’s potential game-tying 3-pointer rolled off in the final ticks of a Highway-34 battle between the Trojans and visiting Ottumwa on Tuesday night.
Myers pulled up for a deep contested shot with roughly five seconds showing on the game clock. His shot hit backboard, front rim and then the waiting hands of Ottumwa’s Charlie Morgan, who iced the game at the line, giving the Bulldogs a 51-46 victory. The Ottumwa girls beat Fairfield 68-34.
Fairfield had battled back from a double-digit deficit. Ottuwma led 15-9 after one quarter and 29-19 at halftime, but the Trojans cut the lead to just four points by the end of the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, Ottumwa pushed that lead back to seven on a deep 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer. With one quarter to go, it was 41-34 Bulldogs.
“We got it down to four, and I felt like we were where we wanted to be going into the fourth quarter,” said Fairfield head coach Nate Perkins. “He makes that shot, and I still think we’re alright.”
The Trojans had the game down to as little as a two-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but could never knot the game back up.
“They were the more aggressive team in the first half,” Perkins said. “We tried to get back in it, but we’ve got to not get behind so much in the first half.”
Fairfield was led by Myers and Ethan Bisgard, both of whom scored 13 points. Spencer McCready and Eli Zillman finished with six apiece. Nolan Smith had three. Axl Starr, Jeremy Parker and Brock Atwood scored three each.
The up-and-coming stars were too much for the Trojans, as a group of promising Ottumwa freshmen combined for 41 of the team’s 68 points, and spearheaded a 20-1 third quarter run that turned a 36-21 game at halftime into a blowout.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Ottumwa,” said Fairfield head coach Brian Witzenburg. “They move the ball really well and have a lot of team speed, and they really made us uncomfortable.”
Coach Witzenburg said he was encouraged by an improved shooting performance from his squad. Fairfield hit six 3-pointers on the night, and had seven different players score.
Vanessa Kessel finished the night with 10 points to lead Fairfield. Faith Jones had eight. Lauren Martin and Emma Metcalf scored six each. Maddy Martin had two, and both Emma Septer and Elyse Setterstrom tallied one.
The Fairfield boys (1-2, 1-0) and girls (1-4, 0-1) will both host Washington on Friday night. The Demons will come into that 2-1 and 0-1 on the boys’ side, and 2-2 and 0-1 on the girls’.
