By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — What Wednesday night’s non-league matchup pitting Fairport and UPrep lacked in style points, it made up for with intensity.
Neither of the perennial Section V contenders led by more than eight points in a game that featured as many turnovers as it did made baskets.
“We learned a lot about ourselves tonight,” Fairport head coach Soctt Fitch said after his Red Raiders defeated UPrep, 56-51. “UPrep is going to be very tough. They’re good. It’s a tough way to open but glad we hung in there.”
Trailing by one with 6:44 remaining, Fairport went on a 10-1 run capped by an Andre Starks baseline jumper.
“I thought that possession was one that we finally moved the basketball really well,” Fitch said. “All five guys touched it, and Andre had a nice easy shot. That didn’t happen often tonight. That was a backbreaker basket. It gave us enough of a lead where we were able to hang on.”
Brett Heininger started the run when he slipped a wing ball-screen and took a Vanzell Johnson pass to give Fairport its first lead of the second half at 44-43.
Four possessions later, Jack Lindstrom nailed a catch-and-shoot three. Starks, Heininger and Johnson each converted one of two free throws to stretch the lead to six before Starks pushed the lead to eight.
“They were down and were trying to trap us to get a steal,” Starks explained. “We were moving the ball around. My man turned his head, so I back door cut to the baseline and Stefan (teammate Milinkovic) got double teamed. He saw me and just gave me a baseline pass, open jumper.”
Faiport had matched its largest lead of the night at 52-44.
“I thought we finally took care of the basketball,” Fitch said. “We had 27 turnovers tonight. To win a game with 27 turnovers, I thought it was a really gutsy performance.”
Jakhi Lucas paced UPrep with a game-high 20 points. The senior guard dominated early scoring 11 points in the first quarter. His pull-up 3-pointer on the break gave the Griffins an early 15-8 advantage.
Fairport switched to zone soon after that.
“Jakhi was controlling the game,” Fitch said of the UPrep star. “We just couldn’t let him control the game anymore. We had to try something else. I thought we moved well in the zone and competed well.”
Five different players scored as the Red Raiders closed the half on a 15-4 run to take a 30-24 lead into the locker room.
Van Johnson gets in the lane for the and-one. pic.twitter.com/fCGT27TZlP
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 29, 2018
With Lucas and Kayshwan Ross on the bench with foul trouble for much of the third quarter quarter, UPrep outscored Faiport, 17-12.
Christian Lee scored underneath. Christian Jefferson-Edwards added three free throws, and Harold Boggs McCullough scored four including buzzer beater to make it one-point game at 42-41.
Harold Boggs McCullough beats the buzzer. End 3rd: Fairport 42 UPrep 41 pic.twitter.com/btAPxhB9Y2
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 29, 2018
“We put in a bunch of guys who rarely get playing time,” first-year UPrep head coach Demond Stewart said. “They made that adjustment. I was very proud of those guys that came in because they gave our key players a chance. That’s all we got to have is a chance.”
Ross gave the Griffins their only lead of the second half when he converted a pair of free throws on the second possession of the fourth quarter.
UPrep rallied and made it a one-possession game when Jefferson-Edwards drove the lane for an and-one to cut the deficit to two at 53-51.
“Fairport finished,” Stewart said. “Can’t take anything away from Fairport. They did a great job. They finished the game.
“I’m a little disappointed because we played careless ball. This is a lot of these kids first time playing varsity basketball. A lot of them you could the pressure out there. They got scared. It’s going to take time. We just got to be patient with them. I’m just more disappointed I didn’t see the toughness that I know these guys have.
Johnson connected on 11 of 17 from the free throw line and paced Fairport (1-0) with 17 points. Heininger and Starks added eight apiece. Milinkovic scored six. Lindstorm and Collin Espada both had five points. Ryan Lucey (3), Ryan Kennedy (2) and Kevin Gibson (2) rounded out the scoring for Fairport.
Jefferson-Edwards scored 11 points for UPrep (0-2). Lee added six, and Ross had five. Raekwon Dargan chipped in with three points.
Fitch, in his 18th year as head coach at Fairport, recently served as a court coach for the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team October Minicamp. He was an assistant coach for the U17 squad which took the gold medal at the 2018 World Cup. Fitch also served as an assistant on the 2017 U16 National Team.
Stewart, the 2000-01 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Player of the Year, averaged more than 21 points per game over two seasons at Niagara University. He led the MAAC in scoring and finished seventh in the nation in 1999-00 with 22.9 points per game. Stewart went on to play professionally with the Rochester Razorsharks. He is joined on the UPrep bench by former teammate and longtime Razorshark, Jerice Crouch who serves as an assistant with the program.
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