Tigers fall on the road to Falcons

Circleville was able to get off to a solid start on Tuesday but was not able to sustain its momentum in a 59-48 Mid-State League Buckeye Division loss to host Fairfield Union.

The Tigers scored 11 of the first 13 points of the contest and still had a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We had a great start, jumping out to an 11-2 lead but couldn’t sustain that lead,” Circleville coach Cody Carpenter said. “I thought we played very physical with a big Fairfield Union team, but eventually their size hurt us. I was very proud of the fight we showed tonight versus one of the top teams around.”

Briley Cramer scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the quarter and Nolan West hit the first of his four three-pointers.

Fairfield Union (18-3, 12-1) controlled the next two quarters of play by a 30-19 score to officially pull into a first-place tie atop the league with Teays Valley (15-4, 12-1).

Ronnie Rowley scored seven points and Caleb Schmelzer followed with five in the second quarter to send the Falcons into halftime with a 25-23 lead.

Fairfield Union extended its advantage to 41-32 heading into the final quarter of play.

Caleb Schmelzer and Caleb Redding paced the Falcons with five points apiece.

West followed Cramer with 12 points and Slater Search had 11 points. Parker Kidwell took four charges for the Tigers (10-11, 6-7).

Caleb Schmelzer led all scorers with 22 points, Rowley had 12 and Brennen Rowles added 10 for the Falcons.

Both teams don their white jerseys to finish league play for the season on Friday, as the Tigers take on Hamilton Township and the Falcons tangle with Bloom-Carroll.

Fairfield Union 59, Circleville 48
CIRCLEVILLE — Nolan West 4-0-12, Briley Cramer 8-4-20, Joe Wray 1-0-2, Ian Warden 1-0-3, Slater Search 4-3-11. Three-point goals — West (4) and Warden. Total — 18 7-9 48.
FAIRFIELD UNION — Brennen Rowles 2-4-10, Isaac Schmelzer 2-0-5, Ted Harrah 1-1-3, Caleb Redding 2-2-7, Caleb Schmelzer 8-6-22, Ronnie Rowley 5-0-12.Three-point goals — Rowles (2), Rowley (2), Isaac Schmelzer and Redding. Total — 20 13-17 59
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 13 10 9 16 48
Fairfield Union 11 14 16 18 59