The Fayette Boys basketball team suffered one of the worst scoring droughts that anyone could ever remember going from late in the first quarter to more than halfway through the third quarter, a span of almost 14 minutes, as they lost to Holgate 33-24 in a DIV Sectional Final at Swanton High School on Friday night. To make matters even worse, they had only scored two points, courtesy of a Drake Bowditch layup, when Cole Stuckey doubled their point total with a bank off the glass.
To be fair, however, the Tigers were not exactly shooting the lights out either. And, judging by the 10-2 halftime score, you have to wonder if the lights were even on in the first two quarters. But it was more than just an off-shooting night by both teams. The Eagles and the Tigers played very tight defense and both employed a slowed-down ball control offense that ate up a lot of the clock. Fayette trailed 7-2 at the end of one and were only outscored 3-0 in the second.
Both offenses began to find the mark in the second half with each dropping in four baskets. Holgate increased their lead by one in the third quarter, 19-10, by virtue of having a three-pointer as one of their makes.
Fayette fell further behind early in the fourth, 25-13, but rallied to pull within seven at 29-22. Clayton Pheils scored eight of his team-high 10 points in the quarter but it would prove to be not enough. Both squads scored 14 points in the frame, however, half of Holgate’s total came on free throws as the Eagles were forced to foul to regain possession of the ball. Fayette closes their season with a 7-16 record while Holgate will move on to the District tournament with a record of 19-4.
Bill O’Connell may be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
