FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine – A three-point buzzer-beater by Fort Fairfield’s Austin Dufour swung momentum in the Tigers’ favor at the end of the third quarter and the team went on a 12-6 scoring run to come within four of the Limestone Community School/Maine School of Science and Mathematics boys’ varsity basketball team with 2:58 remaining, but strong foul shooting and a Syracuse-style defense pushed the Eagles to a 47-40 win in Friday night’s action.
“It’s a 2-3 zone,” said Limestone/MSSM head coach Ryan Deprey. “We’ve tweaked it a little bit. We call it Syracuse because we’ve patterned it after their zone. It’s just a lot of flying around and with Danny [Hayes] in the middle, we can gamble out on the wings and stop them from penetrating.”
The Eagles opened up a 10-point lead when point-guard Chris Kirchner found forward Steven Giangiordano open on a baseline cut with a bounce pass, but two quick fouls took Kirchner out of the game and gave Fort Fairfield some breathing room up top.
Ryan Noyes hit a three-pointer to pull the Tigers within four with 1:11 left and the Tigers forced a turnover as they double-teamed Limestone/MSSM guard Matt Enman on the left sideline.
With nothing opening in the post, Cody Closson forced up a three and got lucky as a defender made contact. He put in one of three foul shots to bring his team within three but with time waning, the Tigers had to foul.
The Eagles added four points from the free throw line and allowed no inside penetration to pull away.
“We just needed to keep our composure after Chris fouled out,” said Hayes, who is just coming back off an ankle injury. “That was a pretty big deal for us because we were without our starting point-guard but I think we stepped up.”
Hayes led a balanced scoring attack for Limestone/MSSM putting up 12 points while Kirchner added 11. Giangiordano, who saw significant playing time with Hayes out, added 10 points and six rebounds.
“He’s really stepped up,” Hayes said. “A couple of times we got in trouble and he was wide open and got some points which took some pressure off me.”
Both teams played a clean first half allowing only three free throw attempts through the first 16 minutes of play, but turnovers late in the second and fourth quarters kept both teams in the game.
“Once it’s a close game and you’re trying to do anything you can to get points and steals, it gets ugly,” said Deprey. “It’s one of those deals where it’s not so much the good ball handlers who win it, it’s guys hustling around for loose balls.”
Both teams benefited from nine steals from guards defending the top of the key including four each from Enman and Noyes.
Hayes added three blocked shots.
Leading Fort Fairfield was Dufour with 16 points and Matt Cresenzo with nine.
Limestone/MSSM moves to 3-3 on the season and 12th place in the Eastern Maine Class D boys’ basketball standings while Fort Fairfield falls to 2-4 and 13th place.
Limestone is back on the road Friday against Southern Aroostook at 7 p.m. while Fort Fairfield hosts the first game of a boy/girl double header against Wisdom at 5:30 p.m. The Tigers travel Friday to Katahdin in a 6:30 p.m. start.
ImageImage
