The Fairfield Trojans earned their first victory of the season with a gritty 47-44 road win over conference foe Fort Madison on Friday, December 5th, in a game that featured neither team leading by more than five points. The win moved Fairfield to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play, joining Keokuk and Burlington atop the league standings. Fort Madison fell to 0-1 in both their season and home opener.
Game Recap
The contest remained tight throughout, with the teams deadlocked 14-14 after the first quarter. Fairfield took a slim 28-25 lead into halftime before Fort Madison edged ahead 39-38 after three quarters, setting up a dramatic fourth-quarter finish.
Neither offense found a rhythm in the final frame, with Fort Madison’s Nolan Guzman finally breaking the scoring drought with a three-pointer at the 4:15 mark to give the Bloodhounds a four-point lead. Fairfield responded immediately, with Ethan Bisgard driving for an and-one layup at 3:56, though he missed the free throw. Drew Myers tied the game at 42-42 with a floater at 3:07, and Eli Zillman banked in a three-pointer at 2:48 to put the Trojans up 45-42 for his only points of the game.
Fort Madison missed two consecutive free throws at 2:35, keeping Fairfield’s lead intact. The Bloodhounds cut the deficit to one with a layup at 1:18, making it 45-44. After Myers missed a three-pointer at 0:49, Nolan Smith grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked it out before Fairfield called timeout.
With 0:32 remaining, Bisgard drove through the defense for a layup to extend the lead to 47-44. Fort Madison called two consecutive timeouts trying to set up a final play, getting the ball to Guzman with time expiring. However, Axl Starr and Bisgard defended the potential game-tying three-point attempt, and the shot fell short as Fairfield escaped with the victory.
Fairfield Stats
Starters:
Ethan Bisgard led Fairfield with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals, including the game-sealing layup. Brock Atwood added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Drew Myers contributed nine points, nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Axl Starr finished with five points on 2-of-4 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Eli Zillman recorded a huge three points, six rebounds, one steal, and one block before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Bench:
Nolan Smith provided crucial minutes with a team-high 13 rebounds. Rowan Kness added four points, three assists, and three steals. Jeremy Parker contributed three points, one assist, and committed zero turnovers. Luke Thornton and Spencer McCready also saw action.
As a team, Fairfield shot 20-of-54 from the field, 5-of-15 from three-point range, and just 2-of-9 from the free-throw line. The Trojans grabbed 38 rebounds, committed 13 turnovers, and were called for 20 fouls.
In the first half, Myers led with seven points, while Starr and Bisgard each had five points. Atwood and Kness added four points apiece, and Parker contributed three points. Bisgard, Smith, and Zillman all dealt with foul trouble in the opening half.
Fort Madison’s Guzman led all scorers with 20 points.
Coach Perkins’ Perspective
Fairfield head coach Nate Perkins praised his team’s defensive improvements and resilience.
“We made a lot of adjustments over the past week, and I really think that the guys embraced it and stepped up to the challenge. They really crashed the glass, and I think we saw a great showing from Nolan Smith in some huge minutes getting big rebounds. He’s getting off the floor—athletic performance paying off right there,” Perkins said. “Big minutes from him, probably more than he’s used to playing, and that was great. You expect a lot of points from a guy like Eli, but when it doesn’t happen and your other guys come through and step up, it helped that we played exceptional defense. We’ve got a lot of stuff we need to work on still from a defensive standpoint. We had quite a few breakdowns, but I think we have a good basis to keep working from.”
The coach discussed the team’s fourth-quarter offensive struggles and the timeout that helped settle them down.
“If we can hit some of those shots, if we’re prepared to shoot them—I think tonight, especially in that fourth quarter, we kind of went back to the way we were in the first quarter against Oskaloosa. Who’s going to be the guy that wants to take the shot? We called timeout, and I think we were all a little scared, but we got them settled down, and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t care who it is. You’re all on the floor because I believe in you, and I think you can hit that shot.’ Fortunately, we were able to score and go down and get a couple big stops there at the end,” Perkins said.
When asked if Zillman’s three-pointer was a designed play, Perkins smiled.
“No. I’m glad that he had the confidence to shoot it and it went in. We give our guys that kind of confidence,” Perkins said.
Perkins praised his team’s defensive effort against Guzman down the stretch.
“Yeah, he’s a returning All-Conference first teamer, so he can really play. He had a good summer, I think playing AAU. He does a lot of things for them, and they’re very young,” Perkins said. “Seriously, there at the end, the whole job was to make sure we face-guarded him, and if he got a shot, it was going to be over two guys and it was going to be highly contested. I think we really made it tough on him, and it was a really difficult shot.”
When asked about the decision not to foul while up three in the closing seconds, Perkins explained his reasoning.
“We thought about it. Here’s the reason we didn’t: If he makes the first one and misses the second one, and they kick it out and hit a three or something—if we were up four, we’re probably fouling. Up three, I think we have to take our chances playing defense and knowing that they’re going to miss it. We’re not going to foul. We’re not going to have a repeat of what we did to Mount Pleasant last year,” Perkins said. “We got a second chance to talk about it after they called that second timeout, so that was beneficial for us. I’ve got a lot of happy guys in the locker room.”
Perkins acknowledged the difficulty of winning at the Hound Dome.
“It’s definitely a difficult place to come play. The atmosphere here, their student section is always rocking, and the whole building is always kind of rocking. It’s loud and hard to hear. Coach Wilson does a great job with his team. They’re always well prepared, and I’m sure they’ll be ready to give us everything we want when they come to Fairfield in January,” Perkins said.
The coach also praised the development of his bench players.
“Jeremy Parker has been asked to take that challenge on, and we’re working with him. I think he’s got a lot of upsides to him. He’s definitely a tough defender and likes to get after it. He knows right now he has some opportunities when Ethan needs blows, and maybe sometimes down the road we’ll play him and Ethan together,” Perkins said. “Same with Rowan—Rowan is kind of coming along the same path. They’re working really hard to get better. This year they’re going to learn, grow, and get so much better that next year they’ll be ready to go and be amazing players.”
The Trojans (1-1, 1-0 conference) will look to build on this victory as they continue on Tuesday, December 9th against Ottumwa.
