Inspired Indians surge past Colerain

Fairfield responds to coach’s halftime message.

$Fairfield's Keon Benjamin\uFEFF goes up for two of his 10 points Friday night against Colerain.$

Moodie Fairfield's Keon Benjamin\uFEFF goes up for two of his 10 points Friday night against Colerain.

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By Eric Hickey, Contributing Writer 1:41 AM Saturday, February 4, 2012

FAIRFIELD — After watching the Fairfield High School boys basketball team play a lackluster first half that left the home team tied with Colerain, Indians coach Tim Austing had a simple message: Play with some emotion.

Backed by a large, rowdy student section, the Indians did just that, and then some.

Fairfield rode the emotions of the large boisterous crowd, diving for loose balls, forcing turnovers and crashing the boards, turning up the heat all over the court in an effort that melted visiting Colerain 50-36 at the FHS Arena.

“We didn’t play terrible in the first half but we had no energy,” Austing said. “We had a huge crowd and I told the guys to get their energy up. We made the hustle plays in the second half, the guys really played well together.”

Brandon Murphy epitomized the different halves for the Indians. In the first half, Murphy scored two points and had three rebounds but dominated the second half, finishing with 12 points and 14 rebounds, including a dunk that took the decibel level of the student section to another level.

James Turner had six fourth-quarter points on his way to a game-high 13 while Keon Benjamin added 10 points and Kyle Smith chipped in nine for the Indians, who improved to 14-3, 8-3 in the Greater Miami Conference.

The Indians struggled in the opening 16 minutes first half against the Colerain zone, hitting only 7-of-22 from the field while getting creamed on the boards, 18-10.

The Indians started the second half with a 14-3 run as Smith hit a trey, Benjamin had five points on two drives and Murphy poured in three buckets on close range shots to make it 31-20.

The second-half surge included 10-of-19 from the field, a 20-12 rebounding advantage while holding the Cardinals to 6-of-20 shooting.

“We talked at half about hitting the glass,” Austing said. “I just thought we did a better job attacking the zone in the second half, taking it to the basket. We have the best fans in Southwest Ohio, we just needed to make some plays to get them into it.”

Colerain, which fell to 7-9, 2-9 GMC, was led by Bryan Porter and Milton Davis, each of whom tallied nine points.

“Fairfield made a few shots, the Murphy kid had some stickbacks and we took some terrible shots which led to leak-outs, easy buckets,” Colerain coach Kevin Higgins said. “They had some easy baskets, made some runs and we never answered.”

Fairfield travels to Mason on Tuesday night.

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