By GARY KAUFFMAN
When West Noble’s official scorebook reached the scorer’s table at Fairfield Friday night, Mitchell Knepper’s availability was in question and his name hadn’t been listed on the roster.
But coach Ross Hales added it when he brought out the starting lineup that included Knepper.
It proved a good addition as the diminutive senior sparked the Chargers to a 52-50 Northeast Corner Conference high school boys basketball win.
“He has had a tremendous week of practice and he worked himself into the starting position,” Hales said.
At 5-6, Knepper was the shortest player on the court but he led all scorers with 15 points, including six in the final 1:17 that helped cement the win.
The Falcons had battled back from a six-point deficit after three period to take a lead in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t sustain that momentum.
“There were a few too many defensive breakdowns,” Fairfield coach John Wysong said. “A lot of that happened in the interior and it cost us some free throws.”
Free throws were the difference in the contest as the Chargers hit 14 to only two for the Falcons.
“A lot of that had to do with our half-court style where we pound the ball down low,” Hales said. “When you do that you create fouls.”
After seeing his team falter in a number of close contests earlier this season, Hales was pleased with how his team responded. When the Chargers lost their six-point lead and fell behind, Hales called a timeout to stress the importance of taking care of the ball and making good defensive stands.
“We’ve had a ton of close games and in a lot of those we made mistakes late,” he said.
“Tonight we did a great job of shot selection and running the clock down in crucial situations.”
Friday’s victory was West Noble’s first win over Fairfield since the 2000-01 season and the first time they had won at Fairfield since the 1995-96 campaign.
The game was tight throughout most of the night. West Noble was up by two at halftime but lost the lead early in the third quarter.
Early in the third, Fairfield was able to take some wide-open 3-point shots on kick out passes, but three times the ball ducked inside the rim only to whirl back out.
The Chargers took advantage of that break to retake the lead on a 3 by Knepper. A last-second shot by Cody Hastings made the score 39-33 heading into the fourth.
The Chargers lost possession on a jump ball and Fairfield’s Derek Vogelzang responded with a ‘3.’ After Chandler Kauffman scored for the Falcons, he swiped the ball at the other end and fed it to Justin Scott for a layup that put Fairfield on top 40-39.
After Hales called a timeout, Kyle Maresh grabbed a loose-ball rebound and sank the shot. Hastings followed with a score and the Chargers were on top for good.
The game continued to be nip-and-tuck until Knepper scored with 1:17 to push the lead to four.
Fairfield scored on all the rest of its possessions, but Knepper made four free throws in the final 25 seconds to maintain West Noble’s advantage.
Hastings had 12 points for West Noble. Hastings and Loren Cunningham each had three assists.
Miles Kritzman led Fairfield with 12 and Vogelzang added 11.
