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EHT: Gallatin County knocks off No. 2 seed Fairfield

Apparently the slipper still fits on Cinderella.

A night after upsetting No. 7 seed Massac County, Gallatin County upped the ante on Tuesday night and stunned No. 2 seeded Fairfield 46-40 in front of a packed house at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

The win was fueled by an 11-point fourth quarter from Gallatin County senior guard Seth Ramsey, who accounted for the Hawks' 13 points as they fought back from a 25-15 halftime deficit to outscore Fairfield 31-14 over the final 16 minutes.

Gallatin County head coach Doug Miller's halftime speech may have had something to do with the Hawks' new sense of urgency in the second half.

"We played horrible for 16 minutes (in the first half) We carried out our game plan for about three seconds," Miller said. "So, we had 'a little meeting' at halftime and we had a gut check. We didn't have any smarts or guts in the first half and I yelled at them for about two or three minutes and then the last minute of my speech, I told them what was going to happen next. I told them, they were going to give me 16 minutes of their heart, soul and mind and you're going to give me a chance to coach with a minute left and we are going to win this game."

After Gallatin County trimmed the deficit to one at 34-33 at the end of the third quarter, the Hawks took their first lead since 2-0 when Ramsey's And-1 gave Gallatin County a 36-34 lead with 6:21 to play.

From there, the game four lead changes, the final one coming at 4:25 left to play when Ramsey drove baseline to give the Hawks a 40-39 lead.

Down the stretch, Gallatin County went 9-13 from the free throw line, including two from Audie Goebel with 22 seconds to play to seal the deal for Gallatin County.

Ramsey had a game-high 24 points for the Hawks, while Goebel tossed in 13 for good measure. Robbie Prince and Luis Rubio both had four points for Gallatin County.

"Seth is the best player I have ever coached on and off the floor, Offensively and defensively, point blank," Miller said. "But, we don't win this game without Bryan Wargel coming off the bench and guarding Jayden Lewis, blocking out and Trevor Duvall playing defense. Robbie and Audie come to play and in the second half they showed up. Aaron Walters played well off the bench. It was a total team effort."

Macklin Snyder had a game-high 10 points for Fairfield.

Gallatin County will now play the winner of Eldorado-Edwards County in Wednesday's semifinal matchup at 1:30 p.m.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Gallatin County 09 06 18 13 - 46

Fairfield 17 08 08 06 - 40

Gallatin County: Ramsey 5 12-20 24, Prince 1 1-2 4, Goebel 4 3-4 13, Rubio 1 2-2 4. Totals: 11 18-28 46.

Fairfield: Snyder 3 3-3 10, Smothers 1 0-0 2, McGill 2 2-4 7, 4 0-2 8, Dagg 2 0-0 4, Estes 3 2-2 8. Totals: 15 7-13 40.

3-point FG: GCHS 5 (Ramsey 2, Goebel 2, Prince), FCHS 2 (Snyder, McGill). Fouls: GCHS 12, FCHS 20.