PREP HOOPS: Eldorado gets wire-to-wire win over Fairfield
The wire-to-wire victory Eldorado got when they beat Fairfield 53-43 Friday night at Duff-Kingstom Gymnasium was more than just a W for the win column.
It was Eldorado head coach's Josh Bradley first ever win over Fairfield, a program that has been the barometer for many in the Black Diamond East.
With the win, Eldorado improves to 14-11 on the season and 5-3 in conference play and now puts the Eagles in some unique territory.
Two more wins for EHS would double last year's win record of 8 and three more wins would tie the total number of wins the past two years.
"It was a big win for our guys," Bradley said. "We came out and played well early, kind of like we did at the (Eldorado) Holiday Tournament. The ball movement was there, we were swinging it and diving on the floor for loose balls and then we kind of got stale, like we can do.
"All-in-all, that was the first time we had beat Fairfield in a while, so it was big win for the guys."
Eldorado opened with 18-8 first quarter lead and took a 26-20 advantage into the locker room as Clay Boulds commanded the inside with 11 first half points.
Despite being outscored 7-6 in the third quarter, Eldorado clung to a 32-27 lead after three periods of play, but things got interesting in the fourth quarter when Fairfield's Sky Kollak connected on a 4-point play, drilling the trifecta from the top of the key and knocking down the free throw to pull the Mules to within two at 38-36 with 3:49 to play.
From there, Eldorado finished the game 14-for-22 at the foul line as John Meredith, Kale Oglesby, Max Kasiar, Ethan Partridge and Braden Attebury all chipped in for the Eagles.
That stat - albeit not great for Bradley - he said was good enough in pulling out the 10-point victory.
"At the end of every practice right now, we put the the score up on the board as 55-54 and we tell our guys, it's a one-and-one, if you make (the free throw), you get the point and if you miss it, the other team gets two points and everybody on our team goes through it.
"If you win, you win, but if you lose everyone is running. We're trying to make them understand late in the game those free throws are crucial and tonight we were talking to them about it. 14-for-22 is still not great, but it's better than what it has been for us the past couple of weeks."
Eldorado went 17-for-33 from the free throw line at game's end as Boulds led the Eagles with 12 points. Meredith also finished in double figures for EHS, dropping 11 points.
Attebury netted nine for Eldorado, while Oglesby and Partridge each chipped in with seven points. Kasiar finished with five points and Jacob Traxler tacked on two points.
Kollak led all scorers with 23 for Fairfield.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Fairfield 08 12 07 16 - 43
Eldorado 18 08 06 21 - 53
Fairfield: Troyer 0 0-0 0, Snyder 2 2-2 7, Land 1 2-2 4, McGill 2 3-5 7, Kollak 8 2-2 23, Bowers 0 0-0 0, Smothers 0 0-0 0, Borah 0 0-0 0, Vaughan 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 9-11 43.
Eldorado: Boulds 5 2-5 12, Oglesby 1 5-6 7, Kasiar 1 3-6 5, Meredith 2 6-10 11, Partridge 3 1-3 7, Ninness 0 0-0 0, Attebury 3 0-2 9, Hathaway 0 0-0 0, Traxler 1 0-1 2. Totals: 16 17-33 53
3-point FG: FHS X (Kollak 5 Snyder), EHS 3 (Attebury 2, Meredith). Fouls: FHS 20, EHS 15.