EAGLES HIGH SCORER …Tanner Wagner connects on one of his two first quarter triples for the Eagles. Wagner paced Fayette with 10 points on the night. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
DEFIANCE, OHIO-After surviving a scare in the Division IV sectional final against No.12 seed Stryker on Friday, it was a safe bet that the top seeded Antwerp Archers would be laser focused for No.6 Fayette on Tuesday night.
That was the case as the Archers used an 18-0 scoring run in the first half to take control in a 58-28 victory over Fayette at Defiance High School.
The Archers started the game with a 7-0 run as Austin Lichty hit a three before 6’7” Jagger Landers had a basket and then a steal and dunk with 5:05 left in the quarter.
The Eagles would find some success on offense as Tanner Wagner dropped back-to-back three pointers to make it a 7-6 ball game.
Landers would hit a trey and Fayette’s leading scorer Elijah Lerma (12.5ppg) knocked down his first shot of the night to trim the lead to 10-8.
That’s when Antwerp started their onslaught by scoring the last six points of the first quarter to take a 16-8 advantage.
Lichty hit consecutive three-pointers for Antwerp to open the second, Owen Sheedy had back-to-back field goals before Lichty added a two-pointer as the Antwerp lead grew to 28-8.
Lerma stopped the Antwerp run with a conventional three-point play, but Landers would score six more points as the Archers took a 36-14 lead at halftime.
The first points of third quarter didn’t come until just under the 5:00 mark when Phillip Whiteside would drill a triple for Fayette to make it 36-17.
Antwerp closed the quarter though with a 10-2 run helped by three-pointers from Sheedy and Landon Brewer to push the lead to 46-19 after three quarters.
The Archers executed offensively at a high level all night by going 25/46 (54%) shooting with seven treys and turned the ball over just four times.
Antwerp had three in double figures led by Landers with 23 while Lichty and Brewer tallied 11 points each. The Archers also outrebounded the much smaller Eagles 27-14.
Fayette (10-13) was paced by Wagner with 10 points as they were 11/33 for 33% from the field overall and 4/16 (25%) from long range.
Antwerp (22-1) advances to face No.2 Toledo Christian (19-4) in the district finals on Friday night back at Defiance High School.
Toledo Christian needed overtime to get by Hicksville (11-11) 47-46 in the second semifinal of the night as Trevor Wensink buried a triple at the buzzer to give the Eagles the win.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Fayette 8 6 5 9 28
Antwerp 16 20 10 12 58
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com