FAIRFIELD — Hamilton High School boys basketball coach Kevin Higgins and his Fairfield counterpart, Jeff Sims, shared the same sentiment after the Big Blue’s 57-42 Greater Miami Conference win on Friday at Fairfield.
“I thought we played with a lot of energy,” Higgins said of Hamilton’s first win at Fairfield in eight games since 2009. “We’ve been inconsistent with that — not at the level we needed to be.”
“I thought they played hard,” Sims said. “They play with energy.”
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Junior guard Trey Robinson scored 19 points and collected 10 rebounds and senior guard Jaylen Robinson added 18 points for Hamilton (2-3, 1-3), which jumped out to a 12-0 lead while snapping a three-game losing streak after a season-opening win at Northwest.
“We were ready to go,” Trey Robinson said. “We were playing really good defense and putting the ball in the hole.”
Senior guard Peyton Brown scored 14 points to lead the Indians (1-5, 0-4), who’ve lost four straight. Their only win also has come at the expense of Northwest.
Hamilton overcame the absence of senior guard and leading scorer D’Marco Howard, whom Higgins said was ill.
Higgins wasn’t aware of the Indians’ recent dominance in the series, which included 11 wins in the last 15 games since the Big Blue’s 53-47 win at Fairfield on Jan. 30, 2009, though the Big Blue now have won four of the last five games between the neighboring rivals.
“That’s awesome,” Higgins said. “That’s great for these guys.’
The Big Blue are scheduled to play an out-of-state nonconference game on Saturday across the river at Highlands (tipoff 3:30 p.m.) before hosting Lebanon on Friday and playing at Springfield next Saturday in a busy four-games-in-nine days slate
Fairfield is scheduled to be off until playing a nonconference game at West Clermont on Friday.
The Indians started out ice cold from the field Friday, going 0-for-11 from the field in the first quarter while Hamilton was sinking 6-of-12 on the way to a 12-0 lead going into the second quarter. Trey Robinson finished the period with six points.
“I’ve pitched a shutout before, but I never thought it would happen to me,” Sims said about the scoreless quarter. “You can’t give them 12. We missed some we normally wouldn’t miss. We lost a lot of loose balls early. Your offense isn’t going to do much if you give the ball to them.”
The Indians finally got on the board when DaShaun Simpkins made a free throw with 6:48 left in the second quarter. Simpkins also logged Fairfield’s first field goal on a tip-in 16 seconds later, sparking a 12-point frame, but HHS maintained its lead with help from Payton Pennington’s 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left before halftime.
The Big Blue extended their lead to 18 points on a Jaylen Robinson layup before Brown scored seven unanswered points to spark a 10-1 Fairfield run that cut Hamilton’s lead to 36-27 going into the fourth quarter.
“We got it down to eight or nine, but we couldn’t get stops,” Sims said.
Jaylen Robinson went 7-for-9 on free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Hamilton 12-12-12-21—57
Fairfield 0-12-15-15—42
HAMILTON (2-3, 1-3 GMC): Payton Pennington 2 0 5; Trey Robinson 7 5 19; Kurtis Reid 4 1 10; Jackson Lewis 0 2 2; Jaylen Robinson 4 10 18; Kristian Walton 1 0 2; Romello Diablo 0 1 1. Totals: 18-19-57
FAIRFIELD (1-5, 0-4 GMC): Devin Turner 1 0 3; Zavian Ricks 3 0 8; Malachi Scenters 1 0 2; Allen Caldwell 2 0 4; DaShaun Simpkins 3 1 7; Steven Taylor 2 0 4; Peyton Brown 5 3 14. Totals: 17-4-42
3-pointers: H 2 (Pennington, Reid), F 4 (Ricks 2, Turner, Brown)