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Fairborn rallies to defeat Vandalia Butler

Williams, Jackson combine for 49 points as Fairborn moves to 3-1.

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By John Cummings, Contributing Writer Updated 11:52 PM Friday, December 9, 2011

VANDALIA — The game plan for the Vandalia-Butler boys basketball team was simple in theory Friday night.

However, it proved harder to pull off.

“We knew going in we had to contain Kendrick (Williams) and Billy (Jackson),” Butler coach Jeff Kreill said. “And, they just flat lit us up.”

Williams and Jackson combined for 49 points in Fairborn’s come-from-behind 58-51 win over the Aviators to improve to 3-1.

Butler jumped to a 15-6 lead after the first quarter and a 28-21 lead at the break with Mark Tindall hitting two open shots at each buzzer.

Butler was 11-of-22 from the floor in the first half while the Skyhawks hit just eight of 23 shots and turned the ball over eight times.

“Coming in at half, we knew we were playing bad,” Jackson said after scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. “We knew we weren’t going to lose coming in at halftime. We made simple mistakes that we knew we could correct.”

Jackson scored six straight points to open the second half as Fairborn tied it 28-28.

Butler took a 41-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Fairborn took its first lead, 47-46, on a 3-pointer by Williams with 3:27 left.

The senior guard gave Fairborn the lead for good with 2:40 left with a deep 3 from the left wing.

“We like to have the ball in Kendrick’s hands,” Fairborn coach Nathan Chivington said. “We wanted to try to pick up the tempo and he helps us do that. It is good that he had a quiet 27 (points), but we can’t hide him anymore.”

Butler got as close as 52-49 with 1:48 left, but a 4-of-17 fourth quarter from the floor combined with Fairborn hitting six of nine free throws down the stretch, sealed it for Fairborn.

“They did a good job of picking up the defensive intensity and that bothered us,” Kreill said. “Kendrick’s 3s hurt us and they attacked the glass. They wanted it more.”

Fairborn outrebounded Butler 32-20.

Jake Greer led Butler with 17 points while Jordan Greer added 16.

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