DAYTON — Something was easy to see Thursday night at UD Arena.
Fairborn was just out-manned.
Trotwood came out of the gates strong and never looked back en route to a 74-45 victory over Fairborn in boys Division I sectional tournament.
The Rams were hot from the outside early, hitting on 7-of-10 field goals in the opening quarter and 15-of-24 in the first half. By the time Fairborn could catch its breath and settle in, Trotwood already had a 9-0 lead.
“The pain we feel after games, whether its a close loss or big loss, there is always disappointment,” Fairborn head coach Nathan Chivington said. “But, you can take that disappointment and let that be your drive for next season. If you get pushed around by a team that’s more physical than you, then you know in the offseason you have to get stronger. Against a team like Trotwood, where speed is an issue, we know we have to get quicker.”
Despite finishing the season with a 3-18 mark, Fairborn does have only one senior and the younger core certainly has a leader to follow in sophomore Kendrick Williams.
The fire-hydrant sized point guard looked like the best player on the court at times, even against the more talented Trotwood squad, and finished with a game-high 23 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Williams scored half of Fairborn’s 22 first-half points and added 12 more in the third quarter when the Skyhawks chipped in to the deficit.
“We didn’t quit. Our goal coming out the second half was to win the next four minutes and we actually won the quarter,” Chivington said. “But, they [Trotwood] have a lot of weapons, they hit their shots and we didn’t take advantage of their mistakes and they took advantage of ours.”
Down 44-21 at the break, Fairborn put together a spurt behind Williams, eventually getting to as close as 52-37 late in the third quarter.
However, Trotwood’s depth and athleticism came through in the end as the Rams outscored the Skyhawks 19-8 in the final quarter to win going away.
The Rams (18-4) were led by Darnell Tubbs with 21 points, while DaWaun Thomas added 14 and Andre Yates came off the bench to score 11.
Trotwood now advances to the D-I sectional final on Sunday at UD Arena to face the winner of Centerville/Springboro.
Fairborn had no other player join Williams in double figures. Brad Hall chipped in with eight points, Tyler Wlazlo scored four points and Anthony Hillsman had four points and grabbed nine rebounds.
