Fieldcrest solid all around in 68-44 win over Midland

RURAL VARNA – Coming off a solid win over Heart of Illinois Conference foe LeRoy on Tuesday and with a trip to take on unbeaten HOIC Large Division champion Tri-Valley on Friday, the Fieldcrest boys basketball squad didn’t want to skip a beat in Wednesday’s nonconference road game against a young Midland team.

The beat goes on.

The Knights ran to a 10-point lead after the opening quarter, extended it to 16 at halftime and eventually rolled to a 68-44 triumph to improve to 22-8 on the season. Midland dropped to 10-18.

“We talked before the game about this being a mental test,“ Fieldcrest coach Jeremy Hahn said. “We knew that Midland has struggled at times this season, but they also have some young guys with some talent that can get going if you let them. We had to be ready to play.

“We were coming off a nice win over a pretty good LeRoy team and didn’t want to have a letdown heading into Friday. Another key was going to be matching Midland physically, and I thought we did a great overall job with the things we talked about coming in.”

Fieldcrest led 18-8 after the opening period before senior Eddie Lorton popped in nine of his game-high 23 points, including a trio of 15-foot jumpers after coming off weak-side screens, in a second quarter that the Knights outscored the hosts 17-11 to hold a 35-19 cushion at the intermission.

“Oh yeah, I love that play,“ said Lorton, who also added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. ”My assistant coach and I work on that set every day before school, and it’s a play we’ve run since sophomore year. It’s a shot I feel very good about, but getting the ball there at the free-throw line also gives me an option to drive if my defender overplays it.

“The play is always set up by one of my teammates making a solid pick and also a teammate getting me the ball in rhythm. Both of those things were happening tonight.”

Senior guard Jordan Heider, who finished with 17 points and three assists, had to leave the game early in the third with a cut over his right eye, but returned later in the period patched up and sank a floater in the lane to finish off an 11-4 burst and extend the advantage to 46-23 with just under two minutes to go.

“I just got caught up on a screen and took and an elbow or a head butt. I’m all good,“ Heider said. ”I feel like as a senior my No. 1 job every game is to be a leader. For me, that’s doing whatever needs to be done that night, whether it’s scoring, handling the ball, setting screens or defending the other team’s best guy. I felt like tonight at certain times my job was all of those things.

“I felt we came into tonight ready to go, and that is something we take pride in.”

The Knights — who also received 12 points and four rebounds from Kash Klendworth and five points and seven rebounds from Jackson Hakes — finished the game 21 of 40 (53%) from the field and won the rebound battle 36-20.

Midland, which connected on 19 of 47 (40%) from the floor, was led by 12 points and eight rebounds from Zach Allen and 10 points from Dominic Rosa.

“I felt we were pretty locked in defensively for most of the night and did an excellent job of playing the game at the pace we want it, especially in the first half,“ Hahn said. ”We also shot the ball pretty well and did a solid job on the boards.”