The Fairfield boys basketball team struggled in their first game back from winter break, falling to Burlington 73-42 on Monday, January 5th.
Game Recap
Burlington took control early, building an 18-6 lead after the first quarter as Fairfield went scoreless in the final two minutes of the period. The Grayhounds extended their advantage to 34-23 by halftime despite a strong second quarter from Eli Zillman, who scored eight points to keep Fairfield within striking distance.
The game slipped away in the third quarter as Burlington outscored Fairfield 23-7 to take a commanding 57-30 lead. The Grayhounds cruised in the fourth quarter, with Fairfield’s comeback hopes further hampered when Ethan Bisgard fouled out with 6:32 remaining.
Fairfield Stats
Starters:
Eli Zillman led Fairfield with nine points and five rebounds. Brock Atwood added eight points and one steal. Drew Myers contributed seven points, three rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Ethan Bisgard, who entered the game averaging 14 points per game, managed just four points along with three rebounds, one assist, and one steal before fouling out. Axl Starr recorded one steal but was held scoreless.
Bench:
Rowan Kness provided a spark with seven points, three rebounds, five assists, and one steal. Spencer McCready added five points and one steal. Nolan Smith provided two points in the first quarter and one rebound.
As a team, Fairfield shot 16-of-43 from the field, 4-of-17 from three-point range, and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. The Trojans grabbed 19 rebounds, committed 19 turnovers, and were called for 13 fouls.
On the defensive side, Fairfield successfully limited Burlington’s leading scorer Jett Morris to just 5 points—well below his 18-point season average, but the Grayhounds found their scoring from elsewhere throughout the evening.
Coach’s Perspective
Fairfield head coach Nate Perkins acknowledged the challenges of returning from the extended break and identified areas for improvement.
On limiting turnovers:
“One good thing is that it was our first game back from Christmas break—a little bit of rust, first day back at school for guys that haven’t been going to class every day. So for them, I think that was just kind of getting back in the swing of things,” Perkins said. “And when it’s a travel, it is what it is. At least it’s not a live-ball turnover, which gives the other team an opportunity to go down and score when you’re out of position. It could have been worse. We need to do better at limiting turnovers. Ethan had more turnovers last night than he’s accustomed to, and I think that’s just kind of getting back in the swing of things.”
Perkins noted the timing of the game made it particularly challenging.
“It’s never good coming out your first game like that on the road after the break. I remember last year Burlington came to Fairfield, and I think we beat them the same way they beat us. It can happen your first game out of the break, and we were just not very sharp. We’ve got guys that are capable of playing better and playing tougher, and last night we let them kind of push us around,” Perkins said.
On the third-quarter collapse:
“You don’t want to come out flat. You want to come out explosive, and you want to come out and make plays right out of the half. And for us especially, we came out and we looked like we got punched in the mouth,” Perkins said. “We missed a couple easy buckets right out of the gate that would’ve been nice to have. We ran a few sets and got good looks and missed a layup here and missed a layup there. They score, we turn it over, they score again. You go from a 10-point game to a 20-point game in about three minutes.”
Perkins emphasized the need for his players to handle adversity without constant coaching intervention.
“They’ve got to do a better job when they’re on the floor of overcoming. We can’t call a timeout every single time we make a mistake. Some of that is, you know, guys just need to mature a little bit while they’re on the floor in their roles. These guys have not—outside of a couple of them—started a lot of games. So we’ve played seven games this year, and outside of a couple, they’ve been pretty competitive,” Perkins said. “We are a better team than what the score usually indicates.”
The loss dropped the Trojans to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play, while Burlington improved to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
