Will Barber (4) bangs bodies in a battle for the rebound. (Photo/DeAnna Robinson)
WINNSBORO (Dec. 19, 2016) – Brian Sanders, the first-year Griffins’ head coach, notched his first win with the team on Friday night when Fairfield Central outlasted the Newberry Bulldogs 68-63.
“It feels good,” Sanders said. “The guys have been working all this week, hard. We started practice around 1 today and went from 1 to 3. We went over everything, went over the basics, we watched film on these guys and we came out here and we produced. I tell these guys, the same way you practice is the same way you play.”
Fairfield jumped on Newberry early with a 13-3 run to give themselves a comfortable 21-8 lead. Chandon Davis had eight points, as many as the entire Newberry squad, in the first quarter.
Some scrappy play from the Bulldogs allowed them to fight back to within an eight-point deficit by the end of the second quarter. Although the Griffins led by as many as 12 in the second, Newberry finished off the quarter on a 6-2 run.
During the second, Patrick Paul banged down a couple of threes for the Bulldogs and Derrick Scurry scored seven in the period. Newberry continued their march back toward the lead after the coming out of the half.
The Bulldogs went on to trim the lead down to as few as four points in the third, but that was as close as they would come to the lead again. Fairfield stretched the lead back out to eight in the final seconds, but a buzzer beating Bulldog three made the final 68-63.
“I’m very proud of my guys,” Sanders said. “We work hard every day. I mean we Indian run for about 25 to 30 minutes, so my guys are in shape. The lead got kind of close; fatigue gut-kicked us in the end. We still got a few guys that are trying to learn and catch-up, but these guys have been working real hard, and I’m very proud of these guys.”
Four Griffin players contributed double-digit scoring performances. Chandon Davis had 21, Zack Sease put in 17, Will Barber had 12 and Taz Armstrong finished with 11.
Derrick Scurry had 13 for Newberry while Patrick Paul and Zay Chalmers both scored 12.
The win improves the Griffins to 1-5 on the season, an identical record as the Griffin ladies.
Fairfield 68, Newberry 63
FCHS: 21-13-14-20 – 68 NHS: 8-18-16-21 – 63
Fairfield
Chandon Davis-21, Zack Sease-17, Will Barber-12, Taz Armstrong-11, Darryl Camack-4, Ladeveaux Ashford-3.
Newberry
Derrick Scurry-13, Patrick Paul-12, Zay Chalmers-12- PJ Wright-9, Jaleel Gilliam-6, Robert Houston-5, Terell Rogers-3, Tyriq Goodman-2, Ny Downing-1.
