Fairfield opened Tuesday night’s boys basketball game against Lakeland on an 18-4 run, withstood a pair of Lakeland rallies, and claimed a 55-40 win. Carson Smith and Mitchell Miller combined to hit six three-pointers and tally a combined 33 points to pace the Falcons. Fairfield held Lakeland star Nate Keil to just four points in the second half after he helped Lakeland rally with 14 points in the first half.
In the JV contest, Fairfield held Lakeland at arm’s length in a 48-34 win. Drew Beachy was the hot hand with 15 points, hitting a trio of threes in the effort.
Fairfield held the defending Class 3-A state champion NorthWood Panthers to just 36 points Saturday night. However, the Panthers held their backyard rivals to just 21 points in a sluggish 36-21 result at The Pit.
Tyson Frey had 11 points to lead the Falcon offense.
The JV contest went to the Panthers as well, a 44-42 nailbiter in the night’s opener. Cole Knight led Fairfield with 12 points, Matthew Holsopple had 10 points and Beachy chipped in a trio of threes.
Full stats and scores were not immediately provided, but Fairfield’s seventh and eighth grade boys basketball teams won their Fairfield Classics on Saturday. Both teams beat Argos and Wawasee in claiming the titles.
It’s becoming a common theme for Fairfield wrestling, but dual matches are going to have a similar narrative. Fairfield wrestled well in the matches it had able bodies, but 30 forfeit points in five vacant weight classes left the Falcons on the short end of a 52-20 loss at West Noble Thursday night.
The Falcons picked up a forfeit win of their own from Caden Merry, a decision from Aldahir Ortiz, tech fall from Matthew Senn and a 40-second pin from Breckan Maran.
JV action saw Micah Barton and Kayla Hochstetler both get pins in their work.
Fairfield had nine wrestlers working at Saturday's Jim Nicholson Invite hosted by Elkhart High School.
Four of the Falcons were either unbeaten or had just one loss, led by Caden Merry's 5-0 existence in the 106 bracket. Matthew Senn at 138, Ryan Noel at 175 and Breckan Maran at 190 all were 4-1. None of the losses were flukes as Senn lost to undefeated Cam Dews of Elkhart, Noel to a one-loss Declan Gard of Rochester, and Maran to Penn's Vincent Freeman, who was a semi-stater from a year ago.
Brockton Miller, Aldahir Ortiz, Ethan Hochstetler and David Almiray were all 3-2 and Dirk Rumfelt won a pair of matches to round out the Falcon output.
Also Saturday at the Goshen JV Invite, Landon Beasy finished second in the 175 ‘D’ bracket, going 1-1 for the day. In the championship match, Beasy fell to Caleb Evans in a 6-2 decision. Ramon Gonzalez was also 1-1 in taking third at 157 ‘B’, beating Penn’s Rylan Dexter by pin in his final match. Barton suffered pins in all three of his contests in the 190 ‘A’ table.
Just one game for the girls basketball program last week, and it was a NECC win. A 20-0 first quarter allowed Fairfield to coast to a 54-31 win at Lakeland Friday night. Eva Herbert continued to have the hot hand for Fairfield, leading all scorers with 19 points to go with six rebounds, three steals and three assists. Kaylee Dillon added nine points and Jayslynn Hall got back on the court after missing time with an injury, finishing with six points and four rebounds.