In a game that came down to the final seconds, Van Buren County held off a furious Fairfield comeback to escape with a 66-65 victory on Monday night, January 12th. Despite a career-high 31 points from Fairfield’s Ethan Bisgard, including 18 in a spectacular fourth quarter, the Warriors made clutch free throws down the stretch to preserve the narrow win. This was their first meeting since Fairfield’s victory in 2006.
Game Flow
Van Buren County came out firing from beyond the arc, with Will Cocherell, Jace Duncan, and Kinnick Millard all connecting on three-pointers to give the Warriors a 13-9 lead after the first quarter. The Warriors maintained a slim 25-24 halftime advantage.
The third quarter saw Van Buren County extend their lead. After holding a 37-36 edge, the Warriors went on a big run to close the period leading 47-40.
Fourth Quarter Drama
Van Buren County pushed the lead to 50-40 with 5:18 remaining, appearing to be in control. Then Fairfield mounted a furious comeback.
Bisgard sparked the rally with a layup and two free throws. Eli Zillman threw down a dunk, and Bisgard added two more free throws with 4:05 remaining to complete an 8-point run that cut the deficit to two.
Cree Kite hit two free throws for Van Buren County before Drew Myers scored for Fairfield. Bisgard then drained a three-pointer to give the Trojans their first lead since it was 22-21 in the second quarter at 53-52 with 2:52 to go.
Landry Loeffler answered immediately with a three of his own to reclaim the lead for Van Buren County. Bisgard tied it at 55-55 with a layup at 2:15.
Loeffler hit both ends of two free throws at 2:06, then delivered a dagger three-pointer from the corner to extend the Warriors’ lead to 60-55 with 1:38 remaining. Cocherell was fouled and made both free throws with 1:05 left.
Bisgard refused to let Fairfield go quietly, converting another layup at 0:56 to make it 62-57. Axl Starr drilled a huge three-pointer to cut it to 62-60 with 26 seconds remaining.
With Fairfield now having four players with four fouls, Cocherell went to the line at 0:21 and made both shots. Bisgard drove inside for another layup with 15 seconds left to make it 64-62.
Loeffler was fouled by Fairfield’s Drew Myers for his fifth, and calmly sank both free throws with seven seconds remaining to push the lead to 66-62. In a final desperate attempt, Bisgard sprinted down the sideline and launched a three-pointer that fell through the net to make it 66-65, but he wasn’t fouled on the play. The clock expired with two seconds remaining, giving Van Buren County the narrow victory.
The Warriors shot an impressive 11-14 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, making virtually all of them when it mattered most. Bisgard’s heroic 18-point fourth quarter nearly single-handedly brought Fairfield back, but his effort came up just short.
Statistics
Fairfield
Ethan Bisgard delivered a career-high performance with 31 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and five steals on 11-21 shooting, including 2-3 from three-point range. Eli Zillman added a double-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block while shooting 7-14 from the field.
Axl Starr contributed six points, three rebounds, and two assists, including a crucial late three-pointer. Brock Atwood chipped in four points, three rebounds, and one steal. Drew Myers added two points, two rebounds, and one steal.
Off the bench, Nolan Smith provided two points, seven rebounds, and one steal. Spencer McCready contributed two points and two rebounds, while Rowan Kness added two points. Chase Countryman and Jeremy Parker also saw action.
As a team, Fairfield shot 24-63 from the field, 4-19 from three-point range, and 13-22 from the free-throw line. The Trojans grabbed 40 rebounds, distributed seven assists, recorded 10 steals, committed 22 fouls, and had 14 turnovers.
Van Buren County
Will Cocherell led the Warriors with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Landry Loeffler added 17 points (13 in the second half), six rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Kinnick Millard contributed 16 points (11 in the second half), five rebounds, and one block.
Jace Duncan finished with eight points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Brandon Taylor provided two points, one rebound, one assist, two steals, and zero turnovers in a solid floor game.
Cree Kite came off the bench with five points, eight rebounds, and one assist, while Jake Reid grabbed two rebounds.
The Warriors competed without Lincoln Bainbridge and Kayden Simmons.
As a team, Van Buren County shot 18-48 from the field, 8-25 from three-point range, and a crucial 22-32 from the free-throw line. The Warriors pulled down 33 rebounds, distributed nine assists, recorded six steals, committed 17 fouls, and had 18 turnovers.
Coaches’ Perspectives
Fairfield Head Coach Nate Perkins
Perkins praised his team’s effort while acknowledging areas for improvement.
“Ethan Bisgard and Eli Zillman both had double doubles. Ethan had a career high 31 points and 11 rebounds. Eli had 16 and 10. They continue to produce at a high level. Axl Starr has been shooting the ball very well the last few games. Nolan Smith also played well off the bench.”
On the team’s fight despite early struggles:
“Improvements on the defensive end and better execution helped us get back into striking distance but these lapses early on are what got us down to begin with. These guys are working hard to get better and they kept fighting to the final buzzer.”
Van Buren County Head Coach Nathan Shelman
Shelman was pleased with his team’s balanced attack and clutch free-throw shooting.
On the importance of multiple scorers:
“We know as a team that we need to have at least three people in double figures, and most importantly be led by those three (Cocherell, Millard, Loeffler) in order for us to be successful. In the earlier part of the season, we really struggled, we might have one guy or two guys show up for us, but we can’t put a full team effort when you’re playing a tough conference. You have to bring your A-game every night. That was a good team win for us. We had those three guys, but we had a lot of guys, Cree Kite came in off the bench and got a lot of good boards for us and gave us good minutes. To turn the page on the calendar and be able to pull one out here, especially leading into a tough week where we have a lot of potential, definitely good to come away with a win against a good quality 3A school.”
On the crucial free-throw shooting:
“We know we’re a better free throw shooting team than what our percentage is. We’re only shooting like 59% on the free throw line and we shoot free throws every day, so we know we’re better. That was really good to see the kids benefit from all their hard work on the free throw line. It was one of those where I think the free throws were one that probably won us the game. That game ended up being a little bit closer than probably what it was, we kind of stalled out a little bit. Mostly because we’re still trying to learn how to win unfortunately. When you have a young team, and we’re trying to get better each and every day, we lose more than we win. When you’re in those tight-game situations, we haven’t had a lot of opportunities for those. Final score, we still won, but it was a lot closer maybe than what it should’ve been, but a win is a win and we will turn the page.”
Looking Ahead
Both teams demonstrated the ability to compete at a high level in what was an instant classic. Fairfield showed tremendous fight in nearly erasing a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit, while Van Buren County proved they could hit clutch free throws and execute when it mattered most.
The Warriors improve to 3-8 and the Trojans slip to 2-8.
You can rewatch all the action here: https://youtube.com/live/XOCtw8Tp2Ss?feature=share
