Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — When the Fairland Dragons woke up, they put the Mount Mission Challengers chances to sleep.

Fairland played well in the first and fourth quarters as they beat Mount Mission 67-54 Thursday in the semifinals of the Huntington St. Joe Invitational.

“We started out pretty good, but then we just seemed to go to sleep the second and third quarters,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.

“We woke up around the end of the third quarter and then we finished strong. Mount Mission was athletic, but we were able to force some turnovers with our defense and that was the difference.”

The Dragons forced the Challengers into 29 turnovers and just one of 17 shooting from behind the 3-point line.

Fairland (12-4) will play Spring Valley at 9 p.m. on Saturday in the championship game. Mount Mission will play in the consolation game against Chesapeake.

Evan Maddox turned in a strong all-around game for the Dragons. Maddox had 19 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.

Cody Midkiff had 15 points and Chance Short scored 13.

Tedros Hailu-Mitiku had 12 points and 17 rebounds for Mount Mission (6-7). Robel Ali scored 11 points.

Maddox scored 7 points in the first quarter as Fairland grabbed a 19-12 lead.

The Challengers rallied to take a 32-30 halftime lead, but the Dragons regained the lead at 46-34 after three quarters.

Midkiff then scored 9 points and Maddox had 5 points as Fairland began to pull away. Midkiff and Maddox each went 3-for-4 at the line in the quarter.

Fairland 19 11 16 21 = 67

Mt. Mission 12 20 12 10 = 54

FAIRLAND (12-4): Thayer Flynn 1-4 0-0 2-3 4, Cody Midkiff 4-5 1-4 4-8 15, Chance Short 4-5 1-3 2-4 13, Luke Phillips 3-6 0-0 1-2 7, Nathan Campbell 0-1 0-0 2-2 2, Kyle Raines 0-1 0-0 2-2 2, Evan Maddox 5-13 1-3 6-10 19, Tyler Campbell 1-1 0-0 0- 2, Dionte Braye 0-2 0-0 3-4 3. Totals: 21-48 22-35 67. 3-point goals: 3-10. Rebounds: 28 (Maddox 8). Assists: 12 (Maddox 6). Steals: 13 (N. Campbell 5, Maddox 4). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: None.

MOUNT MISSION (6-7): Robel Ali 3-4 0-3 5-8 11, Dewit Hailu-Mitiku 0-0 1-1 0-0 3, Mengesha Mnat 1-2 0-2 1-2 3, Ebenezer Bulcha 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Scott Graham 2-3 0-1 3-5 7, Leul Hirpa 1-3 0-2 0-0 2, Henok Aleymayehu 3-4 0-4 1-2 7, John Samuel 3-4 0-1 3-6 9, Tedros Hailu-Mitiku 6-12 0-2 0-3 12. Totals: 20-49 13-26 54. 3-point goals: 1-17. Rebounds: 42 (T. Hailu-Mitiku 17, Mnat 7, Ali 7). Assists: 5. Steals: 4. Turnovers: 29. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: T. Hailu-Mitiku, Graham.