Photo by Roy Willman
Peebles’ Matthew McAdow gets off this jumper in the third quarter of action Friday night as the Indians battled Fairfield right down to the wire. McAdow scored 16 points to help his team to a 68-66 victory.
Photo by Roy Willman
With Coach Josh Arey intently looking on in the background, Peebles’ Mason Johnson (#34) looks to get a step on his defender during Friday night’s game at Peebles High School. Johnson and the Indians hung on down the stretch to defeat Fairfield 68-66.
Perfect free throw shooting gets Indians past Fairfield 68-66
Arey gets triple-double in earlier win over SE Ross
Any coach will tell you that year in and year out in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, there are no games that can be taken for granted. There are no " gimmes" in the league and that was certainly evident on Friday night at Peebles High School as the Indians welcomed the Fairfield Lions to town. The scrappy Lions gave the home team everything they wanted and it took some perfect free throw shooting down the stretch for the Indians to pick up the hard- fought victory, barely escaping with a 68-66 win. Peebles now stands at 10-4 on the season, 7-1 in the SHAC.
" We are in a stretch now of some very tough basketball games," said Peebles head coach Josh Arey after the game on C-103 Radio. "Playing tough competition will just make us better and Fairfield gave us all we wanted tonight."
"Those Fairfield kids are athletic and know how to play. They were picked to win the small school division for a reason."
It was a very crisply played game Friday night and that was apparent in the first quarter when each team only committed one turnover. The two teams traded buckets until an Elijah Carmean three put the Lions up 7-6. A Beau Justice bucket gave the lead back to the home team, but Fairfield's Quinten Williams also went long distance and when the first period ended, it was the Lions holding a 12-8 advantage.
The tight action continued into the second quarter with a pair of threes from Justice keeping the Indians close. A later three by Trent Arey cut the Fairfield lead to a single point, but two Williams foul shots made it 26-23. That set the stage for Peebles to finish the first half with quite a flourish, scoring the final 10 points. A basket by Matthew McAdow began the run which included two Arey buckets and concluded with two Justice free throws, sending the home squad to the intermission now in front 33-26.
The second half also began with a big run but this time it was the Indians coming out of the half like gangbusters scoring the first 13 points of the third quarter to regain control and a 39-33 advantage. How did the Indians respond to that? Only, by quickly scoring the next 9 to steal the lead back. The run started with an Arey basket at the 5:00 mark and ended with a McAdow three and a Justice two, and now, it was Peebles back in control, leading 42-39.
In the final minute of the third, the Indians went back beyond the arc to do their damage getting a three from Justice and then another by McAdow in the final seconds. That quick six points sent Peebles to the final period with a 50-44 lead, a lead they would never relinquish.
A very exciting fourth quarter opened with the Lions getting a basket from Ryan Bates which the Indians followed with baskets again by Justice and McAdow to open up an eight point margin. The Lions continued to battle until the game reached its final minutes and the visitors, still trailing, had to send the Indians to the foul line in an attempt to increase their offensive possessions.
The results of those trips to the foul line could not have been any better for the Indians, in fact it was total perfection as Peebles went 10 for 10 in the final minute, eight of those from Trent Arey and two from Justice. That clutch showing at the line offset a pair of Fairfield threes in the final 10 seconds as the Indians held on to edge by the Lions by a final score of 68-66.
" We just keep getting better and better and growing as a basketball team," said Coach Arey after the close win. "That's what you want this time of the season."
For the Indians, it was again the tandem of Beau Justice and Trent Arey leading the scoring parade. Justice scored 25 points for game high honors while Arey tossed in a complementary 23. Arey also turned in his second unique double double by dishing out 10 assists and just missed a triple double with 9 rebounds.
"Those two kids have just been great for us all year," added Coach Arey. "Lately we have been getting a third man scoring option stepping up and that takes the load off Trent and Beau. "
That third scoring option on Friday night was Matthew McAdow who came up big with 16 points.
"Matthew works hard every day and is staying in the realm of what he does well," said Arey.
For Fairfield, it was Quintin Williams leading the way with 24 points, followed by Gage Montgomery with 15 and Ryan Bates with 12.
For the game, the Indians shot 50% from the field, connecting on 24 of 48 attempts. Most importantly, Peebles was a perfect 14 for 14 from the foul line and only turned the ball over five times in the entire game. Fairfield shot 48%, 24 of 50, and only committed 9 turnovers.
The Indians were back in the fray last night hosting the North Adams Green Devils in the third meeting of the two teams. Get your full story on that county battle in the upcoming weekend edition of The People's Defender.
Peebles (68): McAdow 6 2-2 16, Justice 9 4-4 25, Arey 7 8-8 23, M. Johnson 2 0-0 4, Team 24 14-14 68.
Three-Point Goals:
Fairfield-
Carmean 2, Williams 2
Peebles-
Justice 3,
McAdow 2, Arey 1
Earlier in the week, the Indians had a thrilling non-conference game at home with the Southeastern Ross Panthers. The game went into overtime with Peebles prevailing 84-75. The Indians were led by a big game from Trent Arey, who finished with the triple double of 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Beau Justice added 20 as the Indians outscored Southeastern 13-4 in the extra period to claim the victory. Matthew McAdow also added 15 points to the winner's total.
SE ROSS
19 19 16 17 4 -75
PEEBLES
17 23 15 16 13 -84
SE Ross (75): Hice 6 7-7 20, Skeens 0 2-2 2, Strausburg 2 0-0 6, Miles 3 0-0 8, Cantee 5 3-5 14, Kellough 8 0-0 19, Allen 3 0-1 6, Team 22 12-15 75.
Peebles (84): McAdow 7 0-2 15, Justice 9 0-0 20, Crothers 2 0-0 4, Arey 12 7-8 33, M. Johnson 2 1-2 7, Gray 1 1-2 3, Ryan 1 0-0 2, Team 34 9-14 84.
Three-Point Goals:
SE Ross- Hice 1, Strausburg 2, Miles 2, Cantee 1, Kellough 3
Peebles - McAdow 1, Justice 2, Arey 2, M. Johnson 2
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