Dragons shoot their way to sectional finals

PROCTORVILLE — It looks like Fairland had Dragon breath.

Fairland was as hot as the breath of the team nickname as the Dragons blew past the Huntington Huntsmen 98-62 in the Division 3 sectional tournament on Tuesday.

Fairland 's Steeler Leep (10) pulls up for a jumper during Tuesday’s Division 3 sectional tournament game against the Huntington Huntsmen. (Photo by Tim Gearhart)

The Dragons made 41-of-62 floor shots for a sizzling 66 percent including 12 -of-25 for 48 percent. The Huntsmen were 23-of-57 for 40 percent and only 8-of-24 from behind the arc for 33 percent.

The main flamethrowers for the Dragons were J.D. Thacker and Brody Buchanan who scored 23 points each. Thacker was 10-of-14 from the field including 3-of-3 from 3-point range while Buchanan was 9-of-12 including 4-of-5 from behind the arc.

Will Davis scored 18 points and Chase Allen 13 as the Dragons placed four players in double figures.

Dalton Black scored a game-high 26 points for the Huntsmen (5-18). Ryan Potter added 10 points.

Fairland (15-8) will now host Nelsonville-York at 7 p.m. Saturday in the sectional finals.

The Dragons jumped out to a 13-2 lead that started on a 3-pointer by Allen and ended on another triple by Thacker.

Potter hit a 3-pointer at the 4:16 mark to end the run but Fairland went on another 13-2 run as Buchanan had a pair of 3-pointers and a layup and Davis capped the run with a trey and layup for a 26-7 lead.

Allen had a steal and layup just before the buzzer and it was 32-15 at the end of the quarter.

Huntington scored the first 6 points of the second quarter to trail 32-21 only to have Davis scored 6 straight points and Buchanan hit a triple and got a layup to make it 43-21. Allen’s two free throws made it 45-21 with 3:29 left in the half.

Thacker and Black traded layups to end the half with the Dragons up 52-31.

Buchanan and Allen had layups to begin the second half and extend the lead to 60-35 and Huntington never got any closer.

Thacker also had 10 rebounds and 3 assists, Steeler Leep 7 boards and 3 assists, and Davis 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

Hunt. Ross  15 16 16 15 = 62

Fairland   32 20 22 24 = 98

HUNTINGTON ROSS (5-18): Noah Potter 0-4 0-1 0-0 0, Wes Brown 1-1 0-1 0-0 2, Caiden Stewart 2-3 4-10 2-2 18, Dalton Black 10-13 0-1 6-10 26, Carson Henneberger 0-1 1-4 -0 3, Mitchell Willis 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Isaac Kellough 0-0 1-4 0-0 3, Ryan Porter 2-6 2-2 0-0 10, Kalvin Manson 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Jones 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Weston Taylor 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Thomas 0-3 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-57 8-12 62. 3-pt goals: 8-24. Rebounds: 20 (Black 7, Stewart 4). Assists: None. Steals; 3 (Stewart 2). Fouls 13. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (15-8): Will Davis 7-8 1-4 1-2 18, Chase Allen 4-5 1-7 2-2 13, J.D. Thacker 7-11 3-3 0-2 23, Steeler Leep 3-9 0-0 0-0 6, Brody Buchanan 5-7 4-5 1-2 23, Turk Fowler 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Zion Martin 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Marcum 1-2 1-2 0-0 5, Cliff Fransen 0-1 1-1 3, Keegan Smith 2-2 1-2 0-0 7, Luke Brown 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor Lochow 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Jameson Lauder 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Maddox Gue 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Elijah Knipp 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 41-62 12-25 4-8 98. 3-pt goals: 12-25. Rebounds: 39 (Thacker 10, Leep 7, Davis 6, Marcum 5). Assists: 16 (Allen 4, Thacker 3, Leep 3). Steals: 7 (Davis 4, Buchanan 2). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Leep (4th).