Pirates pull away late to beat Dragons, 74-63
Published 2:33 am Wednesday, December 30, 2009
PROCTORVILLE — When their “go to” guy was gone, so was the chance to win.
The Fairland Dragons were going to center Evan Salyers in the fourth quarter and he responded with 7 points. But when Salyers fouled out, the Dragons had to change their plan of attack.
Wheelersburg took advantage of Salyers’ absence as center Andrew Stegman scored 11of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and the Pirates pulled away to a 74-63 win Tuesday.
“We were going to (Salyers) and he was doing lot of scoring,” said Fairland coach John McClung. “We started pressing more than we normally do and they just shot the lights out.”
Wheelersburg hit 10 of 13 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter as they outscored the Dragons 30-23.
“They got up 10 or so and we could never cut into it. But our kids played hard. They didn’t quit. We’re growing and maturing as a team,” said McClung.
Stegman had 8 points in the first quarter to offset 7 points by Chad Fisher as the Pirates led 12-11.
Fisher had 7 more in the second quarter as Fairland tied the game at the half, 31-31. Stegman and Andrew Bendolph had 15 points of the Pirates’ 19 points.
Wheelersburg went up 44-40 as Bendolph had 7 points in the third quarter.
Matt Bloomfield and Salyers got points each in the fourth quarter, but Tyler Lang had 8 of his 10 points to team with Stegman as the Pirates began to pull away.
Fisher led the Dragons (3-3) with 18 points and 5 rebounds. Salyers had 17 points and 5 rebounds while Bloomfield had 11 points and 5 assists.
Bendolph had 22 points for the Pirates (3-3).
Wheelersburg 12 19 13 30 = 74
Fairland 11 20 9 23 = 63
WHEELERSBURG (3-3): Andrew Bendolph 8-11 1-4 3-4 22, Webb Ballarot 1-3 1-2 0-0 5, Cole Miller 0-5 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Lang 3-4 1-1 1-2 10, Shane Ward 2-5 0-0 0-0 4, Andrew Stegman 13-15 0-1 7-9 33. Totals: 30-51 11-15 74. 3-point goals: 3-8. Rebounds: 23 (Stegman 9, Lang 5). Assists: 6. Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (3-3): Jon Baise 0-6 1-5 0-0 3, Matt Bloomfield 4-6 1-3 0-0 11, Chad Fisher 5-12 2-5 2-6 18, Eric Riley 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Jonathan Holbrook 3-5 1-2 3-3 12, Evan Salyers 8-10 0-0 1-4 17, Matt Campbell 1-1 0-0 0-0 2. Totals: 26-56 6-13 63. 3-point goals: 5-15. Assists: 13 (Bloomfield 5). Rebounds: 24 (Holbrook 5, Fisher 5, Salyers 5). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Salyers.