Fulton County Ohio Media

The sixth-seeded Fayette Eagles fought their way into the DIV District Basketball finals with wins over the eighth-seeded Montpelier Locomotives and the fourth-seeded Ayersville Pilots but were unable to advance any further, losing 58-28 to the first-seeded Antwerp Archers.  The Eagles entered the game with a decided height disadvantage and had no answer for the Archers’ 6’7” Jagger Landers who dominated both the offensive and defensive boards.

Antwerp opened the game by scoring the first seven points before Fayette’s Tanner Wagner scored from behind the arc to put the Eagles on the board at the 4:40 mark.  Later in the quarter, a basket by Elijah Larma and another triple from Wagner would pull Fayette within two points at 10-8 with 2:25 remaining in the period, but they would never get any closer for the rest of the contest.  The Archers scored the last six points of the quarter and led 16-8 after one.

The Antwerp run continued into the second quarter, reaching 18 straight points to give the Archers a 20-point advantage at the halfway point of the second.  A Larma bucket inside would stop the streak but Antwerp was ahead 36-14 went the teams headed for the locker room at halftime.

The pace of the game slowed considerably in the second half as Antwerp began to shuffle multiple players from the bench into the game.  The Archers outscored the Eagles 22-14 in the second for the 30-point victory and moved on to face second-seeded Toledo Christian Eagles, a 37-36 overtime winner over Hicksville, for the District Championship.

Wagner led Fayette with 10 points in the game while Phillip Whiteside scored seven and Larma added five.  Landers topped all scorers with 23 points.  Austin Litchy and Landon Brewer had 11 points each and Owen Sheedy added seven for Antwerp.

Pictured:  Fayette’s Elijah Larma puts up a shot over the Antwerp defense.