By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

ATHENS — The ‘D’ in Dragons also stands for defense.

The Fairland Dragons used a strong defensive effort to limit the Eastern Brown Warriors to single digit scoring in three of the four quarters en route to a 48-39 win Saturday night in the Division III district semifinals at Ohio University.

“We played great defense. We hustled and battled hard. That was the difference,” said Dragons’ coach Nathan Speed.

“It was a physical game but our guys didn’t back down.”

Fairland’s defense caused the Warriors to make only 12 of 37 field goal attempts and 2 of 14 from the 3-point line.

Jonathan Holbrook had a big game for the Dragons with 14 points and 13 rebounds. He was 10 of 11 at the foul line.

Evan Salyers led Fairland with 17 points and also had six rebounds. Chad Fisher added 10 points and nine rebounds.

“They had two and three players around Evan and he still played great,” said Speed.

Jordan Payne scored 16 and Chase Lawson 10 for the Warriors (12-10).

Holbrook scored four points in the first quarter as Fairland took a 10-5 lead. The Dragons extended the lead to 22-12 at the half.

The lead was 33-18 after three quarters and then Fairland built a 16-point lead midway through the fourth quarter before the Warriors cut the deficit to six with about a minute to play.

But Eastern Brown had to foul to get back in the game and the Dragons struggle at first before Holbrook made 5 of 6 free throws including four straight to seal the win.

Fairland was 11 of 19 from the line in the fourth quarter and 28 of 39 for the game. Salyers scored seven of his points in the final stanza.

The Dragons (15-7) will play Portsmouth at 9 p.m. Saturday in the district finals.

Eastern Brown 5 7 6 21 = 39

Fairland 10 12 11 15 = 48

EASTERN BROWN (12-10): Jordan Payne 6 1 1-4 16, Landon Hauke 0 0 0-0 0, Nathan Scott 0 0 0-0 0, Conner Purdin 2 0 3-4 7, Chase Lawson 2 1 3-5 10, Josh Boudreau 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon Belcher 0 0 0-0 0, Daniel Faul 0 0 0-0 0, Clint Black 0 0 0-0 0, Jesse Whitaker 2 0 2-2 6. Totals: 12-37 9-15 39. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: Purdin. 3-point goals: 2-14. Rebounds: 33 (Whitaker 10, Lawson 6). Assists: 1. Steals: 3 (Purdin 2). Turnovers: 19.

FAIRLAND (15-7): Jon Baise 0 0 0-0 0, Chad Fisher 2 0 6-12 10, Alec Warner 0 0 2-2 2, Eric Riley 1 0 0-0 2, Evan Maddox 1 0 0-0 2, Blaine Fuller 0 0 1-2 3, Jonathan Holbrook 2 0 10-11 14, Matt Campbell 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Salyers 4 0 9-12 17. Totals: 10-38 28-39 48. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 0-13. Rebounds: 41 (Holbrook 13, Fisher 9, Salyers 6). Assists: 6 (Fisher 2, Fuller 2). Steals: 7 (Holbrook 3, Fisher 2). Turnovers: 14.