Fairfield builds big lead, wears down Wayne to win district championship
Fairfield came with a plan to wear down Wayne with a physical style of play, with a relentless defense, with everything it could give.
And in the second quarter, the end of Wayne’s season was apparent. As Warriors coach Nate Martindale said: “21 to 6 – it’s hard to recover from that in a tournament game.”
Fairfield’s 18-point halftime lead did the job, ending Wayne’s season 76-51 in Saturday’s last Division I district final at UD Arena.
“Their physicality was really impressive, and they did a great job defensively,” Martindale said. “We saw that on film. They rebound the ball extremely well, and I thought that hurt us.”
The second quarter was deja vu for Wayne (21-5). In last year’s 51-42 regional semifinal loss to Fairfield, the score was tied at halftime. Then Fairfield won the third quarter 13-4, and Wayne’s season ended.
Fairfield’s strategy, like everyone else the Warriors played this year, was to stop high-scoring Lawrent Rice from having a big game. Rice, voted first-team all-Southwest District for the second straight year, is Wayne’s career scoring leader and signed to play at Murray State. But Fairfield was better at defending Rice than other teams. He scored seven points in the first half and finished with 18.
Fairfield (22-4) put 6-foot-5 junior Mason King on the 6-3 Rice with instructions to face guard and make Rice work extra hard. When Rice got the ball and tried to attack off a screen, the Indians double-teamed him. And the rest of the defense rarely gave Rice’s teammates scoring opportunities. Junior guard Juan Cranford with 13 points was the only other Warrior to score in double figures.
“From a physical standpoint, athletic standpoint and versatility standpoint, they were able to be more effective with it than others just because they covered all three of those areas,” Martindale said.
Martindale removed Rice from the game with 28.9 seconds left. The coach and his four-year starter embraced for more than 10 seconds on the sideline. There was another hug, of course, in the locker room.
“I told him I loved him,” Martindale said. “He meant the world to me over the last four years, everything he sacrificed, everything he’s done for our program. He’s accomplished a lot of great things on and off the court. I told him the big thing for me is you use what you’ve learned the last four years and go be successful at the next level.”
Rice is one of seven seniors who played their last game.
“It’s been one of my best classes I’ve ever had culture wise, and I felt like we did everything we could do with this group of kids and they were really bought in,” Martindale said. “We found a way to win a lot of games.”