NON-LEAGUE MATCHUP … Fayette’s Phillip Whiteside looks to drive against Edgerton’s Gannon Ripke in the second half. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
FAYETTE, OHIO-The two teams combined to shoot 26 free throws in the fourth quarter as Fayette was able to stop the Bulldogs on their last possession to pull out a 49-47 win on Senior Night.
The Eagles were able to take a 7-2 lead out of the gate with buckets from Elijah Lerma and Kaden Fenn and a three ball by Tanner Wagner, who hit four triples on the night.
Edgerton responded with a field goal by Corey Everetts and a conventional three-point play by Craig Blue as the first quarter would end tied at 11.
An Everetts field goal gave the Bulldogs a brief 13-11 lead before Fayette put together a 9-0 run that included another trey by Wagner and buckets from Lerma, Fenn, and Eli Eberly to give Fayette a 20-13 lead.
Everetts and Cole Meyer ended the Fayette run with back to back field goals and Blue connected on a triple to trim the Fayette lead to 23-20 at halftime.
The third quarter started with a Blue field goal to cut the lead down to one at 23-22.
The teams would exchange field goals for the remainder of the quarter to make it 35-32 in favor of the Eagles starting the final stanza. Wagner scored six of the 12 points by Fayette in the third.
The parade to the foul line started quickly in the fourth quarter as Lerma and Skylar Lester were both 2/2 to extend the Eagles lead to 39-32.
Ripke and Lerma then traded baskets followed by Blue and Ripke both going 2/2 at the foul line before Wagner drained another three-pointer to give Fayette a 44-38 advantage with 5:00 left.
After a series of free throws, it was Meyer hitting a triple and then Meyer had a three-point play after a steal and layup to cut the Fayette lead to 46-45 at the 2:09 mark.
The two clubs continued to trade ½ trips to the charity stripe setting the stage for Bulldogs to have the ball under their own basket with 2.3 seconds remaining.
On the inbound, Fayette was able to deflect the pass and as it went out of bounds time expired.
Edgerton argued that there should be some time put back on the clock, but the officials after conferring with each other decided time did expire before the ball went out of bounds.
Fayette finished the quarter 9/14 at the foul line and 13/18 (72%) on the night while the Bulldogs were 8/12 in the quarter and 12/22 (54%) for the game.
The Eagles were 16/32 from the floor for 50% and Edgerton was able to put up nine more shots than Fayette thanks to 13 offensive rebounds and finished 16/41 for 39%.
Lerma and Wagner led the scoring for Fayette (8-7) with 17 points each. Blue topped Edgerton (7-7) with 16 points, 12 in the first half.
SCORES BY QUARTER
Edgerton 11 9 12 15 47
Fayette 11 12 12 14 49
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
