ERIE, Pa. – There was a point late in the third quarter of the District 10 Class 4A boys’ championship where Fairview’s Logan Frazao had a chance at a potential breakaway dunk. He lost the handle on the ball and had to take a layup instead.
That was about the only thing that went “wrong” for the Tigers as they rolled to a 61-38 win over Oil City to take home their third D10 title in the last five years.
“I can say it’s one of the best teams I’ve ever coached in the sense of not taking anything lightly and just coming out and playing to a standard they did a great job,” Fairview coach Pat Flaherty said.
See Flaherty’s full interview:
The Tigers (23-2) took a couple of minutes to get warmed up but went on an 18-2 run over a nearly 8-minute span in the first and second quarters to blow the game wide open.
“We felt like the key to that game tonight was to get out, whether it was off of a miss, or whether it was we could turn them over a little bit with our pressure and we were able to get up and down a little bit and score a couple,” Flaherty said. “It was really important for us to do that. We didn’t want them to control the tempo.”
The sixth-seeded Oilers (16-9) also had to play most of the first half with the team scoring co-leader Cam VanWormer on the bench with foul trouble.
“We got a little lucky there,” Flaherty said. “He had two, then picked up his third on a loose ball. He’s a great player who can shoot it and plays really hard. We kind of got a break on that.”
The Tigers held a 7-point edge, 13-6, at the end of the first quarter. Less than three minutes into the second quarter, the lead was up to 23-6.
“We knew if we kept our own tempo and made them play at our speed, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with us the whole game,” Fairview’s James Sitter said.
See Sitter’s interview:
Fairview had a 34-12 lead in the waning seconds of the first half. Sitter, who scored his 1,000th career point in the first quarter, buried a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
Jeremy Frazao stole the inbound pass and was fouled as he hit a layup at the buzzer. He knocked down the free throw to give the Tigers a 40-12 halftime edge.
Wow, what a sequence to end the 1st half. Frazao hit the FT and @FHSTigersHoops leads @oilcitybb 40-12 pic.twitter.com/1nY2FtAtoa
— D9and10Sports (@d9and10sports) March 5, 2022
Fairview pushed the lead to 30, 53-23, by the end of the third quarter and emptied its bench in the fourth.
Judias Johnson led the Oilers with 14 points. Jake Hornbeck had nine and VanWormer seven.
Sitter finished with a game-high 23 points. Logan Frazao had 14 points, Tyler Schultz 10 and Jeremy Frazao nine.
The Tigers will play the No. 6 team out of the WPIAL, while Oil City gets WPIAL No. 2 Montour, on Tuesday at times and locations to be announced.
SITTER SCORES 1,000TH CAREER POINT
It didn’t take long for Fairview’s James Sitter to know that Friday’s District 10 Class 4A championship game was going to be a special one.
With his first bucket of the game, in the opening minutes of the first quarter, Sitter reached the 1,000 point milestone for his career. Sitter is the 15th Tiger to reach 1,000 points.
“It doesn’t get better than this,” Sitter said of reaching the personal achievement on the same night his team won a D10 title.
Sitter’s 1,000th point was part of a 23-point night for the senior.
Fairview’s James Sitter celebrates reaching the 1,000-point milestone for his career on the same night his team captured the 2022 District 10 Class 4A championship. Photo by Brian Hagberg.
“It’s a great experience for him,” Flaherty said. “The team’s really happy for him.”
Sitter 1,000th point announcement
1Q media timeout, @FHSTigersHoops 10, @oilcitybb 4. James Sitter got his 1,000th point early in this one pic.twitter.com/8DZwb16qdR
— D9and10Sports (@d9and10sports) March 5, 2022
THIRD-PLACE
(4) HICKORY 53, (2) GROVE CITY 45
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Defending PIAA runner-up Hickory claimed District 10’s third and final spot in the state tournament with a 53-45 win over region rival Grove City.
The Hornets (16-8) led throughout, going up early 13-6 in the first quarter in winning for the second time in three tries against the Eagles this season after splitting the regular-season series.
Joey Fazzone led Hickory with 14 points, getting off to a quick start in the first quarter with six. Tyson Djakovich and Jackson Pryts were also in double figures for Hickory, scoring 12 and 11 points respectively.
Landon Haggert led Grove City (14-10) with 14 points, while Brett Loughry added 10 and Dylan Stull nine.
With the win, Hickory moves on to play WPIAL champion Quaker Valley in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Tuesday (March 8).
