Fairview’s Howes scores 42 THE SCORE

Luke Howes just had one of those nights where it seemed like every time he took a shot, it went in the basket.

Only missing three shots from the floor, shooting 13-for-16 including 6-for-7 from 3-point range, and going 10-for-10 from the freethrow line, Howes scored a career-high 42 points, leading Fairview to a 77-71 win over Columbia Dec. 7 in the Patriot Athletic Conference Stripes Division opener for both teams.

Howes had 8 in the first quarter, 9 in the second, 12 in the third and 13 in the fourth to help his Warriors (2-0, 1-0) put away the host Raiders (1-1, 0-1).

“This is always a tough place to play,” Fairview coach Ryan Berry said. “It’s a smaller gym, and the atmosphere is loud, the people seem like their on top of you, and we normally shoot FAIRVIEW 77, COLUMBIA 71

really bad here. Luckily, Luke shot exceptional so we were able to get away with a win, and I’m always happy about that.

“When he gets hot, it’s crazy. He played well here last year, too. I don’t know what it is. Everyone hates this place, but he loves it. He’s a big-time player and no one knows about him because we’re in the PAC, we’re a small school and we don’t normally win a lot of games. We won last year, and people are starting to take notice.”

Howes saved his best for last, scoring 13 of his team’s 17 fourth quarter points to help hold off the charging Raiders, who cut the deficit to two, 68-66, with 3:43 left after second leading scorer Noah Mesaros (14 points) fouled out.

From that point on, the Warriors outscored Columbia 9-5, with Howes hitting a layup with 1:35 left to put his team up by four and a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left to put them up by 7, 73-66.

“I just said, ‘Let’s forget about it. Noah fouled out, but let’s win the game,’” Howes said. “Let’s not worry about it. Noah is a big piece for us, but we just needed another guy to step up. We’re competitive and we play hard, and if you play hard, things will work out for you.

“It means a lot, because now we know we’re ready to play. We got our first conference win, so we’re ready.”

Howes, who added a game-high 13 rebounds, gave credit to his teammates for his big night.

“I was just in the zone,” he said. “My teammates did a good job setting ball screens for me and letting me try to make the right play. Tonight, I was just making my shots.

“I’m just thankful for my teammates and that’s pretty much it. I was just feeling myself.”

Columbia only led once in the game, 4-2 early in the first, but it tied the score on three occasions and cut the deficit to 1 and 2 points four more times. In fact, the Raiders faced their largest deficit, 58-48, late in the third after a Howes (who else?) 3-pointer.

But, thanks to a spark off the bench from freshman Reece Miller, who sank two 3-pointers and 3 huge free throws for 9 points, Columbia went on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 1, and another 6-1 run to tie the score at 65 with 4:06 remaining.

“I didn’t think it was our best game, but that’s taking stuff away from Fairview,” Columbia coach Larry Babics said.

Senior Adam Ross led the way for Columbia with 25, while Brandon Coleman added 24 and eight rebounds.