Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

BIDWELL — Going small enabled the Fairland Dragons to come up big.

The Dragons switched to a smaller, faster lineup in the second quarter and blew the game wide open en route to a 63-44 Ohio Valley Conference win over the River Valley Raiders on Friday.

“We started out slow, but in the second quarter we went small and started to pick up the pace,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.

“We didn’t play bad. (River Valley) played hard. We were able to get control of the tempo and we took off from there.”

Evan Maddox had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists to lead a balanced offense as nine different players scored for the first-place Dragons (11-4, 7-0).

Dionte Braye had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Tyler Campbell also had 7 rebounds, Luke Phillips had 3 steals and Kyle Raines blocked 2 shots.

Tyler Twyman had 15 points and 6 rebounds for River Valley (2-8, 0-5).

The slow start had Fairland ahead 10-7 at the end of the first quarter. Maddox scored 6 points in the second quarter and Fairland outscored the Raiders 25-7 to take a commanding 35-14 halftime lead.

Maddox scored 11 points in the third quarter and Fairland led by as many as 30 points. Twyman scored 8 points as River Valley cut the gap to 57-30 at the end of the quarter.

Speed emptied his bench in the fourth quarter.

Fairland 10 25 22 6 = 63

River Valley 7 7 16 14 = 44

FAIRLAND (11-4, 7-0): Thayer Flynn 2-6 0-0 1-2 5, Cody Midkiff 0-3 2-9 2-4 8, Jacob Warner 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Chance Short 1-1 0-3 1-2 3, Luke Phillips 3-5 0-0 0-0 6, Nathan Campbell 1-1 0-0 2-4 4, Phillip Beaty 0-1 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Raines 2-3 1-2 0-0 7, Evan Maddox 6-12 1-5 2-2 17, Robert Thompson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Wireman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Campbell 0-5 0-0 1-2 1, Matt McComas 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Dionte Braye 6-9 0-0 0-0 12. Totals: 25-68 9-16 63. 3-point goals: 4-21. Rebounds: 34 (Maddox 8, T. Campbell 7, Braye 7). Assists: 10 (Maddox 5). Steals: 12 (Phillips 3). Blocked shots: 2 (Raines 2). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Short.

RIVER VALLEY (2-8, 0-5): Jacob Gilmore 0-2 0-1 0-0 0, Joseph Loyd 2-4 0-0 0-0 4, Burnie Stanley 2-5 0-2 0-1 4, Kyle Bays 0-0 0-0 2-2 2, Zack Crow 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Twyman 2-3 2-7 5-5 15, Justin Rusk 2-3 0-1 3-4 7, Ethan Dovenbarger 3-7 0-0 2-4 8, Seann Roberts 2-5 0-0 0-1 4. Totals: 15-41 12-17 44. 3-point goals: 2-12. Rebounds: 26 (Dovenbarger 6, Twyman 6). Assists: 5 (Twyman 3). Steals: 2. Blocked shots: 2 (Dovenbarger 2). Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.