Charleston – After a quarterfinal stunner last year against Winfield, Class AAA No. 3 seed Fairmont Senior did not want a repeat performance this year.
Pounding the ball inside to its two big men and playing solid defense, the Polar Bears avoided the upset and knocked off No. 6 seed Herbert Hoover 56-47.
“The job we did defensively was just huge,” Fairmont Senior head coach David Retton said. “The two Hatfields (Devin and Dane) are just outstanding players. (Eli) Robertson is a really good shooter also. The younger Hatfield (Dane) hurt us in the first half, but I thought we did a better job in the second half. We just played really good team defense.”
Shooting under 26 percent in the first half, the Huskies fell behind 31-21 at the break and carried that deficit into the final quarter.
Six straight points by Hoover cut the Fairmont lead back to four in the first 90 seconds of the of the fourth quarter before a defensive stop by Eric Smith changed the momentum back in favor of the Polar Bears.
Smith’s block on a shot in the lane that would have cut the lead to just two became a six-point lead when the he converted a layup on the next Fairmont possession.
The Polar Bears outscored Hoover 30-18 in the paint and forced the Huskies into 33 percent shooting on the day.
“I thought my guys were extremely ready for this game,” Herbert Hoover head coach Josh Stricker said. “(Fairmont) didn’t hit that many shots, but they got it down low. They’re big and when the guards missed, they were there to clean it up.”
DeSean Goode and Smith both recorded double-doubles in the win. Smith scored 10 points and had 12 rebounds, while Goode scored 15 and had 10 rebounds. Zycheus Dobbs added 15 points.
Dane Hatfield led all scorers with 20 points, while Devin Hatfield and Robertson both scored 10.
“I really thought coming into this game that we had a chance. If we make half our shots that we took, I think we beat them,” Stricker said. “A lot of shots that we took, we (normally) make.”
Fairmont Senior advances to the semifinal round Friday at 11:15 a.m. where it will play Scott.
