Lions will need to use experience, improve weaknesses

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The Fairfield Lions basketball team is looking to improve on their second place finish in the small school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. It is the team’s goal to win it for the 2015-2016 season and coach Everett Snyder says to do that, his team will have to use what they gained last year.

“We need to start out using the experience we gained last year and improve on every aspect of our game in order to be where we would like to be late in the season,” said Snyder. “We were a very young team last year, at times starting three sophomores and a junior. It was a big learning curve for most of them, so hopefully they have recognized their weaknesses and understand what areas they need to improve upon to take their game up to a new level.”

Like last year, Fairfield will be undersized in a lot of games given that most of the players in their roster are guard size. Snyder thinks to make up for this, his team will have to do two things better than they did last year.

“Again we have very little size on this year’s team and an abundance of guards,” Snyder said about his team’s size. “We will try to play an up-tempo game when it is to our advantage and pressure the ball. We have got to improve on many things, but the most crucial are our defense and our rebounding. Because of our lack of size, we need to apply constant pressure on the ball and box out every time on our bigger opponents.

“There are a few teams that are loaded with seniors on their rosters (Lynchburg Clay, Eastern Brown, and North Adams),” Snyder said about the state of the SHAC this season. “Likewise, they will be teams that are expected to be at the top of the league and probably will be. As for the rest of the league, it is pretty well balanced, so there are not any easy games on the league schedule. The team has set a goal of winning the small division and I think that that is attainable, but it will take a lot of hard work on their part.”

Two players that Snyder looks to lead the team will be Ethan Putnam, who averaged just under 14 points a game and in the paint will be Wyatt Evans who averaged 12 points a game. Several players moving up from the junior varsity team that have shown glimpses of being able to contribute to this year’s team are Mason Cain, Jesse Current, Trey Current, Kadyn Lamb, Randy Lamme, and Jake Fraley.

The Fairfield Lions will not have their home opener until Decmber 4 when they host Fayetteville starting with junior varsity at 6 p.m.

Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.

The 2015-2016 Fairfield Lions boys basketball team.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/11/web1_FairBoys.jpgThe 2015-2016 Fairfield Lions boys basketball team. submitted photo

By Robert Stegbauer

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