Don't be in too much of hurry to get that garden planted
SPORTS

Fairfield Christian boys advance to district semifinals

Anna Bisaro
abisaro@gannett.com

LANCASTER – Even after two weeks without a game, Fairfield Christian Academy did not disappoint in its first game of the Central District Division IV tournament on Friday night.

With a 53-42 win against Shekinah Christian, the Knights advance to play Ridgedale in a district final Tuesday.

"We just practiced really hard ... and it showed (Friday)," Knights coach Roger Hooper said. "Offensively our time was a little off ... but defensively we were really strong."

The Knights (15-8) struggled to find their rhythm in the opening minutes. They turned over the ball four times before Andrew Gerken got them on the scoreboard three and a half minutes into the game.

In the first quarter alone, the Knights turned it over eight times with mishandled passes and traveling violations.

However, they ended the first with a few steals of their own. In the last minute, Jacob Thompson had a pair of steals — the first of which resulted in a layup that put the Knights up 9-6.

With the jitters gone, the Knights were able to start pulling away. They outrebounded the Flames 10-4 in the second quarter and shots started to fall for a 21-13 lead at halftime.

Anytime the Flames (10-13) looked as if they might make a run, fouls prevented a comeback. In the third quarter, the Flames pulled within six before three consecutive fouls allowed the Knights to push the lead back to 10.

Late in the fourth quarter — just as the Flames had cut a 16-point lead to 10 — a foul negated a potential five-second violation. Fairfield Christian's KJ Dewese made the two ensuing free throws to stretch the lead to 12.

Aside from two field goals from Dewese, the Knights did all of their scoring in the fourth quarter from the free-throw line. Fairfield Christian was 15-for-24 from the line in the quarter, with Dewese, Thompson and Landon Conley all contributing to that percentage.

Dewese led the Knights with 24 points and nine rebounds, Conley and Thompson each contributed 11 points, and Gerken added 10 rebounds.

Mitch Yoder led the Flames with 11 points.

Ridgedale upset Berne Union in the first round and moved on to defeat Northside Christian in the second round.

"They are a good team. Their record is deceiving because they play a lot of bigger schools," Hooper said. "We're glad to get that. We're hoping to get that one and move on."

abisaro@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4350

Twitter: @abisaro_LEG