Rebels Hang With Saxons Early, Can't Stick With Them Late

Missed free throws and rebounds dragged Fairfax behind Langley, 78-59, on Tuesday night.

Fairfax played hard in the first half remaining competitive in the game with solid defense and offense, but free-throw shooting came back to haunt them in the second half.  Both Fairfax and Langley struggled in the first quarter with turnovers giving up three each, but Fairfax was resilient and kept the game close, trailing 13-9. Langley made adjustments in the second quarter, picking up their defensive pressure forcing three additional Fairfax turnovers.

Despite being out-rebounded 20-10 in the first half, Fairfax had a 6-2 run sparked by guard Zack Burnett, who led all scorers with 18 points. Burnett was determined to keep his team in the game by matching buckets with the Langley guards. He received help from teammates Joey Boyle who contributed with 12 points, and guard Turkel Anwar chipping in with 10 points. The game was within striking distance for the Rebels only trailing by eight at the half. However, the second half was a different story as Langley controlled the tempo with a zone defense that limited Fairfax to one shot per possession.

Once the Saxons secured the rebound, they were able to get out in transition. Fairfax tried to counter this by going to a full-court press, and it worked initially, as the Rebels were able to get the deficit back into single digits. But missed free throws and the inability to get anything going on offense prevented any chance of the team minimizing Langley's lead.

Langley remained in control for the entire fourth quarter, continuing to outrebound Fairfax. The Saxons continued to push the tempo and jumped out to their largest lead of the game, 24 points, midway through the fourth quarter.

The Rebels' free-throw woes continued and the team could never get anything going offensively or defensively. Langley controlled the game in the second half and never looked back with guard Austin Vasiliadis leading the team with 14 points.