SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

Fairland 65
South Webster 47 a final ...

... OVC vs SOC III ... both teams having played on Friday night - Fairland a 55-49 winner over rival Chesapeake in double OT , a game in which the Dragons starters - all 5 of them- played 40 minutes of intense, come from behind to get the Dub basketball ... the Jeeps with an 18 point win at home over Portsmouth West ... the question to be answered was whether Fairland would fade in the later quarters due to fatigue ... in the Friday night game vs the Peake the FHS offense struggled from the floor - the usual cast of scorers ... didn't - 6-3 sr. Keegan Smith scored but 6 points in the 5 qtr game ... jr. Cliff Fransen ended up with 3 treys but had many more looks that did not find the bottom of the net ... 6-1 jr Trevor Lochow had but 1 triple and only 3 pts vs Chesapeake .. the "glue" for Fairland sr. PG Brody Buchanan vs Chesapeake "carried" the Dragons to the W, hitting for 15 of the 17 FHS points in the 4th to force OT, then 6 of 8 team pts in the 2 OTs finishing with 30 pts in the game ... South Webster entered with arguably the best versatile big man in Southern Ohio in 6-8 sr Eli Roberts ... but he didn't come to the "party" alone as the Jeeps of Coach Persin and Coach Fenton sport what may be the best "next 6" in the rotation Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line - Christian White, Dylan Shupert, Owen Mault, Hunter Barnard, Brycin McClintic and Beau Stephens - where 4 of the 6 can put up 15-20 pts on any given night ... the stage was set for a great non-conference, pre-postseason matchup ... Fairland 65 South Webster 47 a final ...

... Keegan Smith started the scoring for Fairland as the 6-3 sr. drained a 3 ball from beyond the arc , the versatile big man followed up with a score in the paint ... SW got on the board with Christian White driving the lane and getting fouled, 2/2 from the FT line ... Brody Buchanan picked up where he left off on Friday night with a drive to the rim for 2pts for the Dragons ... 6-1 sr Dylan Shupert for the Jeeps stepped up - drilled a 3 and scored on a drive to the bucket 5pts in the opening frame ... Cliff Fransen 6-3 jr for Fairland found the range early with a deep corner trey 3pts ... Keegan Smith a senior on Senior Night was showing out as he drained his 2nd 3 pointer in quarter to go with a transition bucket giving KS 10 pts in the qtr. ... the Jeeps closed out the qtr with a jr. Hunter Barnard drive for 2pts ... Fairland 15 South Webster 11 after 1 ... an observation ... during the opening period the Dragons brought the energy, no noticeable negative effects coming off the double overtime , K Smith bringing the energy - any thoughts of this one being an "unimportant" non-conference game went out the window ... Brody Buchanan drained a midrange jumper 2pts, Trevor Lochow with a corner 3 ball ... Fransen pulled down an offensive board ending with a stickback 2pts ... the Dragons opened the 2nd on a 7-0 run forcing a timeout at 5:17 on the clock and doubling up on the SW score - Dragons 22-11 ...Eli Roberts was held scoreless in the 1st ... the 6-8 Roberts WAS the South Webster offense in the 2nd ... but he didn't get his name on the napkin stat sheet until the 3:50 mark of the quarter, at 3:50 on the clock Roberts took a pass down low for 2pts, fouled, missed the & 1 ... Roberts stepped outside, hit a logo 3 pter ... Roberts found his rhythm ... the big man to the rim, fouled 1/2 from the line ... Lochow for FHS drove unguarded to the bucket 2pts ... Buchanan into the lane where he was fouled hard by the defender - Buchanan dropped 2/2 from the stripe ... Roberts continued to carry the load getting a pass in the short corner for a fade-away jumper 2pts before finishing the qtr with a jumper inside the 3 point line ... the talented big man tallied all 10 pts for the Jeeps ... Fairland used "team" to match Roberts scoring ... Fransen drained his 2nd trey of the game, scored in the paint for a 7pt qtr/10 in the half ... Gabe Polcyn got on the board with 2pt on the right block ... the quarter ended with a Buchanan drive, double pump at the rim 2pt & 1 / 7pts in the frame/9 in the half ... the Fairland team matched the Roberts quarter total and then some as the Dragons shutdown anyone not named Roberts for the Jeeps while dropping a TEAM 21 points in the quarter ... Fairland 36 South Webster 21 after 2 ... through the opening half the Dragons "contained" Roberts - 10 pts total ...Keegan Smith was on Roberts for the majority of the minutes - great effort by the 6-3 Smith ... Team effectively defended the other 6 players in the rotation ... holding the SW "other" 6 to 11 pts in the half ... on the Fairland side, outstanding D, Fransen/Polcyn/Smith & Co. controlled the boards at both ends ... a team effort on offense had all 5 starters with points on the napkin stat sheet, the Dragons were 5/14 from beyond the 3 point line ... Fairland through 2 qtrs had played what could be their best half of basketball or at least their most complete 1/2 game of the season at both ends of the floor ... let's make it 3 qtrs as the Dragons came out with the same mindset - defend the SW team, keep Roberts in the house ... South Webster got their first points off the bench as Stephens scored in the paint 2pts, McClintic added 2/2 from the FT line 4pts for the SW bench players thru 3 qtrs - win for the Dragons ... Roberts took an FHS turnover to the rim for 2 pts & 1/3pts ... the 2nd three pointer of the game for the 6-8 swing forward/post player 3pts ... Dylan Shupert hit a midrange jumper for his first fg since the opening period of the game ... Roberts added points 7 & 8 in the qtr on a fade away jumper / 18 pts in the game thru 3 ... 14 pts for the Jeeps - not enough as Lochow dropped his 2nd trey of the game from the left corner ... Fransen with a putback & 1 /3pts then followed it up with three pointer #3 on the night ... in the scoring mix throughout the quarter was the Fairland D, Fransen & Buchanan both with steals and finishes at the rim ... Buchanan added a dagger with an ankle breaking pull up jumper from the right elbow ... Dragons with a 17-13 advantage in the qtr. extended the lead going into the final period ... Fairland 53 South Webster 35 after 3 ... When you look at the best teams in Southern/Southeast Ohio -ie. Warren, Minford, Fairland - they all have outstanding PGs ... Julian Stadelman (Warren), Myles Montgomery (Minford) ... Fairland IS one of the "good" teams ... and the Dragons have that "next level" PG in Brody Buchanan ... scores at all 3 levels & in transition, has outstanding handles ... at crunch time you want the ball in the hands of the floor leaders, that "next level" PG, more importantly THAT "guy" WANTS the ball in his hands ... Brody Buchanan - thrives under pressure, wants the ball ... in the 4th period, Buchanan handled all of the SW pressure, scored 8 points, 6pts on outstanding individual drives & finishes at the rim ... Gabe Polcyn took note of the Buchanan ball handling as the 6-3 sr. post player took the ball to the rim for a "lay back, right had finish, Brody Buchanan style" 4pts in the qtr. ... the 12 points were enough to keep the Jeeps at bay ...Roberts 8 pts on the qtr. including his 3rd triple of the game / the big man finished with 26 points while the only other scoring the period was 2 transition buckets by Hunter Barnard 4pts/6 for the game ... no fatigue from the Dragons, Eli Roberts got his/will always get his, the rest of the team was held in check - only 4 points off the talented SW bench ... only 6 fgs from the rotation 6 other than Roberts ... Fairland played TEAM defense, TEAM offense with 3 players with double digit scoring ... the entire starting 5 contributed at both ends of the floor, with Cliff Fransen & Co. controlling the boards ... Fairland 65 South Webster 47 a final ...

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - South Webster

Scoring ... Eli Roberts 26, Dylan Shupert 7, Hunter Barnard 6, Christian White 4, Brycin McClintic 2, Beau Stephens 2
3 Pointers ... 4/21 … Eli Roberts 3, Dylan Shupert 1
FTs ... 9/11
TOs ... 5
PnP ... 10 fgs/ 20 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/ 6 points in transition
Pbk ... 1 fgs/ 2 points on putback buckets

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Fairland

Scoring ... Brody Buchanan 23, Cliff Fransen 18, Keegan Smith 10, Trevor Lochow 8, Gabe Polcyn 6
3 Pointers ... 7/24 ... Cliff Fransen 3, Keegan Smith 2, Trevor Lochow 2
FTs ... 6/8
TOs ... 4
PnP ... 16 fgs/ 32 points in the paint
PnT ... 4 fgs/8 points in transition
Pbk ... 2 fgs/ 4 points on putback buckets

Buchanen is one of the best players in the district and his supporting cast is much better. Plus you have a coach with a pulse in Speed

Big advantage to the dragons

I bet SW shot close to 27% for the game. Couldn’t buy a bucket

The Ghost of Swanker wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2025 11:08 pm I bet SW shot close to 27% for the game. Couldn’t buy a bucket

36%

The Ghost of Swanker wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2025 11:08 pm I bet SW shot close to 27% for the game. Couldn’t buy a bucket

Let's just call it what it was " A Good Old Fashion Butt Kick'n". Exactly what happens when you don't show up ready to play. Fairland was the better team. The Jeeps trying to and you can definitely see it force the ball to Roberts too much this 2nd half of the season, that wasn't the case if you watched them in the 1st half of season. Roberts will get his 20+ points regardless that's just the type of player he is, they'll have to resort back to the more balanced offense to make a deep tournament run and learn to guard the perimeter better.

Brody Buchanan is so good on both ends of the floor he is IMO the best player in Southern Ohio but most importantly he is a great teammate and when your best player is also your leader it makes this team tough to beat. The growth this year from Trevor Lochow-Cliff Fransen and Gabe Polcyn from the first game until now has been huge. Cliff and Gabe both do such a great job of positioning themselves to get rebounds and keep possessions alive.Lochow is such a great defender and is always in the right spot he has been a great running mate with Buchanan in the back court and he can shoot the basketball. The fact that the Fairland starting 5 has been playing with so much chemistry has been fun to watch. Keegan Smith provides such energy and excitement that makes this team dangerous. All 5 guys can beat you on the offensive end of the floor and win their individual match up defensively it’s nice when your 5 are all plus guys each night.
What a great weekend of basketball for this team. Friday night to compete and play the entire 40 minutes and then come back Saturday against a great SW team was huge and it’s easy to get excited about this team heading into the final 2 games and tournament.

RJShifko wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 11:12 am Brody Buchanan is so good on both ends of the floor he is IMO the best player in Southern Ohio but most importantly he is a great teammate and when your best player is also your leader it makes this team tough to beat. The growth this year from Trevor Lochow-Cliff Fransen and Gabe Polcyn from the first game until now has been huge. Cliff and Gabe both do such a great job of positioning themselves to get rebounds and keep possessions alive.Lochow is such a great defender and is always in the right spot he has been a great running mate with Buchanan in the back court and he can shoot the basketball. The fact that the Fairland starting 5 has been playing with so much chemistry has been fun to watch. Keegan Smith provides such energy and excitement that makes this team dangerous. All 5 guys can beat you on the offensive end of the floor and win their individual match up defensively it’s nice when your 5 are all plus guys each night.
What a great weekend of basketball for this team. Friday night to compete and play the entire 40 minutes and then come back Saturday against a great SW team was huge and it’s easy to get excited about this team heading into the final 2 games and tournament.

Fairland is a very solid team, with definitely one of the best PGs in Southern Ohio in Brody Buchanan. I could easy see them and Minford in a Regional Final matchup.