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Fairfield can’t stop hot-shooting Mason

Comets blister nets with seven three-pointers, have 3 in double figures.  

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12:42 AM Wednesday, February 8, 2012

By Scott Hayes

Staff Writer

MASON — A flurry of three-pointers finished Fairfield’s Greater Miami Conference title dreams Tuesday night.

Mason mathematically eliminated the visiting Indians from the GMC race with a 64-40 win. The Comets (15-3) kept their slim hopes at sharing the league title alive, remaining two games behind league-leader Middletown with a 9-3 GMC record.

“We finally got a little bit of our swagger back tonight,” Mason coach Greg Richards said. “The GMC is a grind, and I think it was wearing on us in the last four or five games, but the guys dedicated themselves this week to finishing strong and tonight was a good step in that direction.”

The Comets blistered the nets from long range, making 7-of-12 three-point attempts, including four in a row in the third quarter that spurred a 16-2 run and turned a five-point lead into a 44-25 runaway. Fairfield didn’t get closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

“Give Mason credit, they shot the ball well tonight,” Fairfield coach Tim Austing said. “But if you make four or five in a row from long range you’re getting pretty good looks. We didn’t defend them very well. If you guard well, they might make two or three in a row, but more than that’s not very good defense.”

On the other end of the court, the Indians struggled to find their touch. Fairfield made just 13-of-40 shots from the field (32.5 percent) and committed 20 turnovers.

Fairfield failed to have a player score in double figures, with Brandon Murphy leading the team with nine points and nine rebounds. James Turner scored eight points for the Indians.

“We shot the ball poorly, but the same rule applies to their ability to shoot well,” Austing said. “Mason did a good job of pressing us and didn’t give us a lot of clean rhythm looks. We had a bad shooting night, but they had a lot to do with that.”

Mason had three players in double figures, led by Darin Harris with 17 points and JD Sprague with 15.

Connor McVey came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points and dish out five assists. He led a Mason bench that scored 23 points — including 3-pointers during the game’s critical stretch by McVey, Drew Matula and Jonathan Delotell.

“Coming off the bench, we want to keep the pace up” McVey said. “Coach told us to get that chip back on our shoulder and we took care of business.”

Boys high school basketball Mason 64, Fairfield 40

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