John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CIRCLEVILLE — Late in a tie game on Wednesday night, Logan Elm went into its playbook and pulled out a trusty old friend.
The Braves drew up a play that set up Brady Neff for a go-ahead layup, eventually sealing a 38-35 win over Fairfield Union in MSL-Buckeye play.
“We’ve ridden that play every year and it always works for us,” Neff said of the play design to set up his go-ahead basket. “We knew that they were going to pressure us when we were coming out, and especially me. So we ran that for me and it worked really well.”
After Logan Elm (2-2, 1-1 MSL) took a 7-6 lead in the first quarter with a Doren Patton fastbreak bucket, the Braves were seemingly in control for virtually all of the next three quarters of action.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Each time that it appeared as if Asa Kline and the Falcons (2-1, 1-1 MSL) would make a run, the Braves would answer with Neff, Patton, or a triple from Kelton Bennington. Bennington’s wing trey to close out the opening quarter gave the Braves a 15-8 advantage after one.
“We had some really good momentum in the start, in the first half,” Bennington said. “My teammates did a great job of setting me some good screens for me to get open. Fairfield Union is a good defensive team, so they did a great job of getting me open and I was able to knock them down.”
Bennington knocked down his third triple of the first half before Mason Ailes, Drake DeFazio and Kline combined for a late 6-2 run for the Falcons, cutting the deficit to 22-20 late in the first half.
However, a left-handed drive and finish from Neff in the closing seconds of the second quarter gave the Braves a four-point lead at the break.
Logan Elm came sprinting out of the half with defense and timely shooting. Patton knocked down a mid-range jumper before Zane Seimer buried a corner 3 to force a Falcon timeout with 5:24 to play in the third with FU trailing 29-20.
The Falcons came out of the timeout with a renewed energy on both ends.
Kline and Keaton Webb each split a pair of free throws and Ailes knocked down a 3-pointer to bring the team within four. Patton then made a foul line jumper for the Braves, but Trevor Utzinger countered with one of his own as the third ended, making it a 31-27 ballgame heading to the final eight minutes.
The Falcons continued to slowly make their way back into the game before Utzinger buried a triple from the right wing with 4:58 to play, giving Fairfield Union its first lead since midway through the opening quarter.
PHOTOS: Images from Logan Elm’s win over Fairfield Union
After a defensive stop, Kline scored at the rim to give the Falcons their largest lead at 35-32 — which would also be the last basket that they’d score.
Following a pair of missed free throws from the Braves, Bennington skied to pull down a huge offensive rebound and kicked it out to Owen Russell, who canned the triple in front of the Logan Elm bench with 3:33 to play, evening the score once again.
“That’s Logan Elm basketball,” Bennington said. “We’re playing for each other. I went up and got that rebound and kicked it out to my boy Owen. I had confidence that he could knock that down. He’s tough.”
With the game tied at 35-35, the Braves dialed up a backdoor layup for Neff, who sprinted to the wing and cut to the hoop with 2:53 to play, giving his team a two-point lead.
At that point, it came down to the outstanding Braves’ defense putting together stops to bring home the victory.
Fairfield Union was able to run a seemingly perfect pick-and-roll, but the Falcons failed to convert the layup, in which Patton pulled down the rebound to eliminate a second chance score.
On the ensuing possession, Logan Elm’s Ethon Manson was fouled on a putback attempt with 47 seconds to play. Manson split the pair to give the Braves’ defense one final must-stop possession.
LE wisely used its fouls to cut the clock to under 15 seconds for the Falcons to play with. The Braves’ defense refused to allow a clean look at the bucket, leading to a rushed shot late that, fortunately for Fairfield Union, got wedged in between the backboard and rim with 1.3 to play.
But even with a final chance at the hoop, the shot from the corner glanced off the flange and away at the buzzer, leading to a huge MSL win for the Braves.
Bennington led LE with nine points, while Neff and Patton each tallied eight of their own. Neff also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as well.
Fairfield Union was led by Kline, who notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Ailes added eight points to the team’s totals.
While the Falcons look to get back on track with a trip to Jonathan Alder on Saturday, Logan Elm will go to Liberty Union that same evening.
“This was a big win in the MSL for us. [Fairfield Union] is one of the top teams and some people think they are the best team. They have some really good players,” Neff said. “We’ve talked about how, in the last couple of games, each game, we were in it every time. And towards that third quarter, we don’t play as hard as we need to. We have to fight back. Today, we got over it, we knew how to fight back.”
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