Crim scored a game-high 17 points, Raymir Coney chipped in with 13 points and nine rebounds, and the Indians outlasted the Lakota West Firebirds 46-45 on Tuesday night at Fairfield Arena.
“The whole city has been talking about West being the best in the league,” Crim said. “That’s fine — because they’re a very great team, very organized team. But Fairfield is also here.
“We just have to prove the doubters and prove anybody who wants to do that. That’s just what we did.”
Lakota West stormed out to a 5-0 lead — the game’s largest margin — and there were 17 lead changes. The Firebirds led 8-7 after the first quarter, 24-23 at the half and 35-34 heading into the fourth.
“Atmosphere was crazy,” Crim said. “The fans showed out. Everybody came out to support us. We knew we could get it done. We’ve got a great team.”
Indians senior big man Gabe Clemmons scored seven points — including a clutch 3-point bucket late in the game — and pulled down nine boards. Fairfield outrebounded Lakota West 35-28.
“I told our guys in the locker room, the biggest thing for us is that we’ve got four seniors and a junior on the court most of the time,” Indians coach DJ Wyrick said. “Really good teams just find a way to win these games. They stay poised. They made some big-time buckets late, but we didn’t get rattled. It was on to the next play.
“We were just a very resilient group tonight. They stayed together and played through mistakes. That’s probably what I’m most proud of — playing through adversity and responding the right way.”
Bryce Curry and Joshua Tyson each scored 12 points to lead Lakota West, which fell to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the GMC.
Firebirds coach Kelven Moss said one of the pivotal plays late in the game was when Matthew Hilvert got open for a 3-pointer that gave Fairfield momentum. That was Hilvert’s only bucket.
“Defensively, we’ve got to do better,” Moss said. “We’ve got to be a little more connected — communicating more. We had two scrambles where they got to make some big-time shots that kept them in it. Big Gabe hit a 3, and again, No. 11 (Hilvert), and that was miscommunication on a switch.
“So, we didn’t have a lot of energy tonight. Tuesday nights are tough nights — long days at school, teenagers. But Fairfield did a great job.”
Tyson Davis came off the bench to provide seven points and five rebounds for Lakota West.
“It shows that we’re a talented team,” Moss said. “But we’re young. We showed it tonight. We’ve got to keep growing and grinding. We will fix some of the errors we had tonight.”
The Firebirds host the Hamilton Big Blue on Friday, while the Indians (3-0, 2-0 GMC) welcome the Mason Comets.
“We have no hero play,” Wyrick said. “They’re not doing too much. If you look at it, this was an ultimate team win.
“Whether it was defensively or offensively, a closeout, a contested shot at the end of the game, getting a block out and knocking down a big 3, making free throws — it was a lot of things from a lot of dudes wanting to contribute to help us get this win.”
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