For young teams, there are plenty of lessons along the way.
Fairview got off to a hot 5-0 start, but learned the hard way with a second straight loss. After falling to Cuyahoga Heights the game prior, the Warriors couldn’t rebound in a 75-66 home defeat to Independence on Jan. 6.
The lesson Coach Ryan Barry wants to teach his young team now is they have to defend at a high level to win. After giving up an average of 74.5 points per game in two losses this week, he wants the Warriors to pick it up on that end of the floor.
“There’s definitely a lack of maturity,” Barry said. “I got two seniors out there that every minute, they’re hustling, they’re fighting, they’re scrapping. They know it’s the last season they have. Our young guys don’t really know what it takes to win at the varsity level. We take a play off and they get two points, and they think they got their rest. When we’re losing close games, it adds up.”
“They’ll learn and trust me, the message is clear. From here on out, if you don’t defend, you don’t play. I don’t care who you are. That’s the standard that they want to be held to and obviously, we haven’t done a good job of that.”
The Warriors (5-2, 1-2 CVC) can score in bunches, but unfortunately for them in this game, so could the visiting Blue Devils. In a contest that featured a lot of runs and a lot of points, Fairview fell on the wrong side of it.
Fairview isn’t a small team, but it doesn’t have a big man in the middle to handle the likes of Independence’s Landon Jatsek. The 6-foot-4 senior dominated with 31 points, and the Warriors couldn’t find an answer. Barry wasn’t happy with the defense in general, and trying to contain a player like that made the plays taken off that much more noticeable.
For most of the game, Fairview played 2-3 zone defense. It also tried other defenses to try to slow down Jatsek. However, it didn’t matter what was called, the Blue Devils shredded it.
“He was more physical than us down there,” Barry said. “We played man, we played 2-3 zone, we tried some trapping. We tried a lot of things. The bottom line is the guys that are defending down there, whether it’s a mismatch or not, have to fight.”
Fairview got out to a quick 16-8 lead, but Independence rallied with nine straight points to take the lead in the second quarter. The Warriors countered with a 7-0 run a few minutes later and ended up scoring the final six points of the half to go up, 36-32.
The Blue Devils started the third and fourth quarters with runs, and that really hurt Fairview. JR Beato picked up his fourth foul early in the second half after two quick fouls. He’s one of two seniors alongside Owen McMonagle who can consistently be relied on to play defense, and his foul trouble hurt his ability to play with the same aggressiveness.
“We have to play defense. Letting up 75 points is terrible,” Beato said. “That’s how they beat us. … I couldn’t pick up the best player (after getting his fourth foul), and that’s on me. I shouldn’t pick up four fouls in three quarters.”
Coming out of the locker room, Collin Lucas scored to put Fairview up by six, but Independence scored the next seven points in the two minutes to take the lead back.
Both teams went back-and-forth in the third before Nolan Davis hit a buzzer-beater for Fairview to take a 53-51 lead into the fourth. However, the Warriors couldn’t bounce back from the Blue Devils’ pair of runs in the final eight minutes.
Sam Crooks tied the game, and their rebounding advantage came into play with two second-chance buckets from Jatsek and Joey Jirmasek to stretch the lead.
Fairview cut the deficit back down to one following an and-one from Will Allen and a putback from Burke Lowry. Beato scored his first points of the second half on a layup to cap off a 7-0 run and put his team back in front. From there on, it was Independence’s game.
The Blue Devils outscored the Warriors, 16-6, in the final four minutes. Jatsek and Jirmasek both scored seven fourth-quarter points, and Crooks had six.
The Warriors finished with four players in double figures. Allen led the way with 14 points. Right behind him was Lowry with 13, Lucas with 12 and Beato with 11.
“I think we just have to watch film and see our defensive mistakes,” Beato said. “We got caught lacking a lot, so we just need to watch film. If we actually try on defense next game, I think we’re good.”
Fairview looks to get back on track Jan. 9 with a road trip to Trinity.
