Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

ATHENS — Basketball has its highs and lows. The Fairland Dragons not only have their highs and lows, they try to create them, too.
Jacob Polcyn and Jordan Williams put together a high-low game that helped Polcyn score 19 points while Williams had 10 rebounds and 6 assists to lead the Dragons to a 55-43 win over the South Point Pointers in the Division 3 district semifinals on Sunday at Ohio University’s Convocation Center.
After a close game for three quarters, the Dragons turned to the inside duo to help blow the game open.
“Once we got that high-low look going with Jacob and Jordan in the second half, that got us some easy looks and opened things up,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.
“Defensively for the whole game, I thought we were pretty solid. Offensively in the second half we did a better job moving more and creating more space. In the first half, I thought we were a little big stagnate kind of standing around. We were trying to get a shot one pass in.”
Nakyan Turner’s 3-pointer and foul shot gave South Point a 4-3 lead.
Aiden Porter’s trey and a basket by Polcyn put Fairland back on top only to have Brody Blackwell knock down a 3-pointer as South Point took a 9-7 lead with 3:25 left in the first quarter.
Polcyn’s 3-pointer put Fairland back on top and Clayton Thomas hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Dragons were up 13-9 to end the quarter.
Fairland took it biggest leads of the half at 19-11 and 23-15 and Thomas’ 3-pointer made it 26-19 with 1:02 left on the clock.
But a layup by Turner with 40 seconds to go cut the deficit to 26-21 at the half.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half. We had a couple of costly turnovers when there was 16 seconds to go and they scored and then they hit the 3 right before the end of the first quarter and that’s a five-point turnaround,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise.
Blackwell drained a 3-pointer to start the second half and the Pointers were down 26-24. Fairland answered with a pair of layups by Porter and one by Polcyn and it was 32-24 with 4:15 on the clock.
Two foul shots by Turner cut the deficit to 36-32 only to have Zander Schmidt drill a 3-pointer for the Dragons. Gunther and Porter traded baskets to end the quarter and it was 41-34
Fairland opened the game up to begin the fourth quarter as they ran their offense to perfection and Polcyn came free down the lane for three straight layups and it was 47-34 with 6:12 on the clock.
“We got back to the fundamental things we do offensively, and then we did a pretty good job rebounding the ball on both ends. (Polcyn and Williams) did a nice job. Williams played well today. Zander (Schmidt) played well off the bench,” said Speed.
A layup by Gunther got the Pointers within 49-41 midway through the quarter, but two more layups by Porter and one by Thomas pushed the lead out to 53-41 with 1:24 to go.
“We felt we should have had the lead (at the half) and then we came out the second half and Brody got hot and kept us close, and then when we had to go man we got tired and it seemed like we forced some issues on the offensive end and they capitalized on it. But give them credit. They’re a good team,” said Wise.
Turner scored 19 points to lead the Pointers (14-11). He also had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Gunther had 4 rebounds but was held to 8 points.
“We wanted to take Gunther away. Porter did a great job with him. And then Blackwell got going and we needed to do a better job closing out and sticking with him a little bit better and I think we made that adjustment the second half,” said Speed.
UP NEXT: Fairland plays fellow Ohio Valley Conference member Chesapeake at 6:15 p.m. Friday in the district finals at Ohio University.
South Point 9 12 13 9 = 43
Fairland 13 13 15 14 = 55
SOUTH POINT (14-11): Nakyan Turner 3 2 7-8 19, Darryl Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Chance Gunther 3 0 2-3 8, Brody Blackwell 0 4 0-0 12, Xander Dornon 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Webb 1 0 0-0 2, Kyle Badgett 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Kazee 0 0 0-0 0, Carmelo Sammons 0 0 0-0 0, Braxton Horn 1 0 0-0 2, Jake Adams 0 0 0-0 0, Malik Pegram 0 0 0-0 0, Jordan Ermalovich 0 0 0-0 0, Finn Klein 0 0 0-0 0, Erikai Jackson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-34 9-13 43. 3-pt goals: 6-14. Rebounds: 6-O, 15-D = 21 (Gunther 4, Turner 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 4 (Turner 3). Steals: 6 (Turner 3). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 10. Fouled out; None.
FAIRLAND (22-2): Jacob Polcyn 8 1 0-0 19, Aiden Porter 4 1 0-1 11, Gavin Hunt 1 0 0-0 2, Clayton Thomas 1 2 0-0 8, Jordan Williams 3 0 0-0 6, Zander Schmidt 2 1 0-0 7, Tevin Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, J.D. Thacker 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Tooley 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Manns 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Thacker 0 0 0-0 0, Steeler Leep 0 0 0-0 0, Cameron Mayo 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Lykens 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-48 0-1 55. 3-pt goals: 5-16. Rebounds: 10-O, 15-D = 25 (Williams 10, Polcyn 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 14 (Williams 6, Thomas 4). Steals: 9 (Porter 3, Thomas 2). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 12. Fouled out; None.