Fairfield Union put the Mid-State League on notice Friday evening, turning to a combined 45-point
effort from Jared Larson and Chase Burge to defeat Logan Elm 60-55.
“This is huge to come into Logan Elm and get a victory over a great basketball team. This is a huge
win for our team and our school,” Fairfield Union coach Keith Barr said.
“They came in here and played very well. They controlled the tempo tonight and that was a big difference,”
LE coach Doug Stiverson said.
The win gives the Falcons (8-3, 5-1 MSL) a one-game lead over Canal Winchester, Bloom-Carroll and
the Braves in the league, as first round action will wrap up this Tuesday.
Logan Elm (10-2, 4-2 MSL) appeared to be pulling away with the game towards the latter part of the
first half and opening 43 seconds of the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Kyle Reichelderfer put the Braves out front 29-26 with 3:20 to go in the second quarter
and ignited what would turn out to be a 15-4 Logan Elm run.
The Reichelderfer bucket was followed by a putback off the hands of Cody Leist and a three-pointer via Evan Blake.
Reichelderfer finished the quarter strong, taking a feed from Blake and burying a triple at the buzzer to put
Logan Elm up 37-30 at the half. Reichelderfer finished the quarter with 11 points and had 16 after the first half of
6 for 9 shooting that also included four treys.
“Kyle stepped up on offense and helped us get on top in the second,” Stiverson said. “He was aggressive with
the basketball and put up some big shots when he had the hot hand to score.”
The Braves appeared to come out of the gates at the start of the second half with the fire they showed at the
end of the first 16 minutes of action.
A putback by Jamie Morris and two from Reichelderfer off a Fairfield Union turnover made it 41-30 and forced a
Falcons timeout with 7:16 left in the third quarter.
“We did a nice job in the second quarter and beginning of the third on getting some penetration and getting great
opportunities to score,” Stiverson said. “After the start of the third, we started to get a little too careless with the
basketball and we talked about before the game that we had to minimize our turnovers.”
“We won’t able to do that and they made a run with it that we couldn’t match.”
Fairfield Union came out of the break in play strong, scoring the next 15 points in the game.
Larson buried a three-ball and also added a jumper while Ryan Osborn added
four points during the run that was partly aided by six Logan Elm turnovers in the period.
“Both Jared and Chase played great and we needed them to step up and counter-act Blake and Reichelderfer,” Barr said.
“Chase was huge on offense and defense, and Jared has been big for us over the past three years.”
A Reichelderfer jumper tied the ballgame at 45 all, but a jumper off the hands of Larson with five seconds left in the third
put Fairfield up 47-45 heading into the fourth.
Logan Elm took what would turn out to be its final lead of the night after Reichelderfer converted one of two from the
charity stripe to make it 52-51 Braves with 3:52 left.
The Falcons then proceeded to put together a 7-0 run that was powered by five points from Burge.
Fairfield kept the Braves in the game for awhile, only making three of seven free throws in the final minute.
Bryant Blake canned a three-ball to make it 58-55 with 18.6 ticks left, but two missed shots and a diving save of a loose
ball by Osborn kept the Falcons ahead of LE for good.
The Falcons were led by Burge with 25 points as Larson put in 20. Fairfield Union shot 24 of 50 from the field for 48 percent.
Logan Elm was held to just 18 second half points and finished the second half shooting seven for 24 (29 percent).
For the game, the Braves converted 22 of 52 field goal opportunities (42 percent).
Reichelderfer led the Braves with 23 points as Morris put in 11 and Evan Blake 10.
“We tried to make both Blake and Reichelderfer work getting the ball up and trying to get shots,” Barr said. “We wanted
them to have to put in a ton of effort for each shot or loose ball.”
Logan Elm returns to the floor Tuesday at Amanda-Clearcreek while Fairfield Union faces another showdown in the MSL,
this time in the Falcons nest against Canal Winchester on the same day.
“We are down one game now in the standings, but we have a lot of basketball left,” Stiverson said.
“Our guys need to take this as a learning experience and use what they saw tonight and get better.”
“They need to bounce back on Tuesday.”
The Braves were able to come out on the plus side of the scoreboard in the reserve game, taking a 73-54 win.
Logan Elm was led by Eric Holbrook with 22 points and Tim Congrove collecting 18.
Chad Holbrook and Luke Sargent each managed to put in a dozen each for the Braves.
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