Fairfield Union's historic season comes to an end in regional final loss to Ready

ATHENS - There was no doubt the Fairfield Union boys’ basketball team was facing a herculean task Saturday night against Bishop Ready at Ohio University’s Convocation Center.

The Silver Knights came in the state’s top-ranked team and undefeated at 27-0, while the Falcons were making their first-ever regional final appearance.

For three quarters, Fairfield Union not only stood toe-to-toe with Ready, but the Falcons held a two-point halftime lead. However, midway through the third quarter, the Silver Knights began to assert themselves and started playing like the No. 1 team in the state.

Ready picked it up even more in the fourth quarter and Fairfield Union didn’t have an answer as the Silver Knights pulled away for a 48-33 victory, ending the Falcons’ historic tournament run.

Fairfield Union ends its magical tournament run with a 24-4 overall record to record the most wins in school history. The Falcons entered the game on a 12-game winning streak and were winners of 17 out of their last 18 games.

As well as Fairfield Union played in the first half, they simply could not keep pace with the Silver Knights as the game wore on.

“Ready is just so versatile,” Fairfield Union coach Travis Schaeffer said. “They have so many guys who can score in such a variety of ways and there is a reason they are undefeated and there is a reason they are number one. Their inside-out ability of that team, they just run their stuff to perfection every time. There are very few times you look at them and think that was a mental error, because they just don’t mess up on the small things, and it makes it tough.

“Anytime you have a regional final, it’s going to be a game of who executes better, and I thought in the first half, we did. We ran our sets well, we outrebounded them in the first half, and you need that, that’s how you win a regional final game. In the second half, we had some mental mistakes and small errors and those just start stacking up.”

After taking a 24-22 halftime lead, the Falcons struggled to begin the second half as Ready scored six unanswered points to take a 28-24 lead. Fairfield Union answered right back as senior point guard Brennen Rowles hit a 3-pointer and Ted Harrah scored inside to give the Falcons a 29-28 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Ready finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 36-31 lead into the fourth quarter, and from there, it was all Silver Knights. They held the Falcons to only two points in the fourth quarter.

“Fairfield Union is physical, and they are tough to score on,” Ready coach Tony Bisutti said. “I thought with our defense, we could contain them, but they shot it really well in the first half. They shot us into some problems. They were 5-for-8 from three and we were only down two, so in my mind, I’m thinking we have been there before. We just needed to dial in a little more and once we got used to what they were doing, we were able to contain them.”

The Falcons connected on only 4 of 14 shots in the second half and turned the ball over 10 times.

“Their guards picked up the pressure a little bit and kind of disrupted our ability to kind of get a post touch, but in the first half, they kind of played back and we were able to get a touch each time down the floor and opened up our ability to kick it out and shoot the three,” Shaeffer said. “In the second half, they just picked us more on the perimeter.

“We did a great job of taking care of the ball and making good decisions in the first half, but it becomes difficult when you know how close the game is. Then you see the other team start hitting shots, and then start you start pressing a little bit, but it just comes down to Ready is just that good.”

In the first half, the Falcons executed at a high level, and after trailing 10-6 at the end of the first quarter, the Falcons were able to get hot from three-point range in the second quarter.

Rowley hit two threes, while Rowles, Caleb Redding and Isaac Schmelzer also hit 3-pointers to give the Falcons their halftime advantage.

Rowles finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists and Harrah had eight points and five rebounds. Rowley added six points and Caleb Schmelzer chipped in five points and six rebounds.

Charlie Russell led Ready with a game-high 23 points.

Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on Twitter @twil2323.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Fairfield Union's historic season comes to an end in regional final loss to Ready