Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

Griffins sprint past diamonds

Region showdown gets out of hand as Fairfield rips foul-prone LR

WINNSBORO — It was supposed to be a close game when Lower Richland’s boys visited Fairfield Central for a Region 4-3A matchup — on paper anyway.

Both teams entered the game with three losses, and both were riding a six-game winning streak.

But Lower Richland wanted to run, and that fell right into Fairfield Central’s hands as the Griffins (11-3, 2-0) rode off with a 73-53 victory.

The loss was frustrating for Lower Richland coach Zeke Washington, who saw one post player after another get into foul trouble.

“How many free throws did they shoot tonight?” Washington asked. “They shot a lot. We couldn’t keep any of our kids on the floor.”

Fairfield Central shot 38 free throws and made 25.

“We didn’t want to shoot any jump shots tonight,” Fairfield Central coach Miguel Burns. “If they pressed us, we wanted to push them back. If we pushed them back, then we wanted to go to the basket. Once we got into a track meet, that’s what we wanted.”

And it was bad news for Lower Richland.

Shots didn’t come easy for Lower Richland early. Fairfield Central’s defense had a little bit to do with it. The Griffins contested every dribble and every shot.

Fairfield Central led by as many as 11 points in the first half but allowed Lower Richland to hang around despite being handcuffed with fouls. Four of Lower Richland’s post players had three fouls before halftime — Mark Garrick, Kenneth McFadden, Sidney Rivers and Taurean Stokes.

“Give credit to Fairfield Central, they played hard,” said Washington, whose team fell to 11-4, 1-1. “We could never get into a rhythm.”

After trailing 37-28 at halftime, the Griffins, who won their seventh consecutive game, began to pull away. Kendrick Anderson scored five of his 15 points in a flurry that extended the Fairfield lead to double digits.

Lower Richland, led by Preston Blackmon’s 17 points, narrowed the deficit to 13 late in the fourth. But Fairfield kept going to the free throw line and making those shots.

“We were thinking about each quarter, wanting to score one more point then them in each quarter,” Burns said. “We weren’t trying for a blowout.”

Marquis Robinson scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first half. Anthony Craig finished with 16 for the Griffins.

“Marquis really played big for us tonight,” Burns said. “He can play that way when he wants to. Kendrick also had a big game for us.”

LR: Preston Blackmon 17, Smith 2, Keith Johnson 10, Sabb 5, Outing 7, Rivers 4, Garrick 8. FC: Anthony Craig 16, Weldon 4, Crumpton 2, Bouknight 2, Brown 3, Marquis Robinson 19, Trapp 5, Kendrick Anderson 15, Dunlap 6.

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