Balanced Dragons romp past Raiders in D5 tourney

Published 3:42 am Saturday, February 22, 2025

By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — The offense was pretty offensive.

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The Fairland Dragons had three players in double figures as they rolled up an 82-39 win over the River Valley Raiders in the Division 5 district tournament on Friday.

Brody Buchanan scored 24 points and handed out 9 assists to lead a balanced offense for the Dragons (21-1). Trevor Lochow hit five 3-pointers and had 15 points, Gabe Polcyn was 7 of 8 from the field for 14 points and Cliff Fransen had 13 points and 6 rebounds.

Polcyn had 5 rebounds and 5 steals with Keegan Smith grabbing 6 rebounds.

Fairland (21-1) will now play Eastern Brown at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the Waverly Downtown Arena.

Brody Buchanan knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and scored 9 points while Polcyn scored 8 points as Fairland opened up a 23-12 first quarter lead.

Landon Burns scored 6 points for River Valley including 4 of 4 at the foul line.

Fransen made two 3-pointers, Jeremiah Fizer came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer and free throw and Fairland extended its lead to 42-20 at halftime.

The Dragons erupted for 26 points in the third quarter as Buchanan made three 3-pointers among his 11 points, Lochow had a pair of 3-pointers and Fransen nailed a triple as the lead ballooned to 68-30.

Logan Deel made a 3-pointer as he scored 5 points for River Valley (3-21).

Lochow hit three more treys in the fourth quarter and Austin Kujac added a 3-pointer as Fairland outscored the Raiders 14-9.

River Valley 12 8 10 9 = 39

Fairland 23 19 26 14 = 82

RIVER VALLEY (3-21): Luke Flint 1-1 0-1 0-0 2, Logan Deel 1-2 2-3 0-0 8, Landon Burns 1-3 0-1 4-4 6, Braden Bennett 2-4 1-4 0-0 7, Austin Richardson 1-4 0-0 1-2 3, Jace Justice 0-0 0-0 2-2 2, Tyler Wooten 2-2 0-1 1-2 5, Gage Hill 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Brayden Gilmore 0-0 0-0 1-2 1, Gary Truance 1-4 0-1 1-3 3, Ian Hood 0-0 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 13-33 10-17 39. 3-pot goals: 3-11. Rebounds: 13 (Burns 4, Truance 3). Assists: 2 (Bennett 2). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 5. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (21-1): Gabe Polcyn 7-8 0-0 0-0 14, Wyatt Thomas 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Ballard 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Trevor Lochow 0-0 5-9 0-0 15, Jeremiah Fizer 0-1 1-1 1-2 4, Cliff Fransen 2-2 3-6 0-0 13, Keegan Smith 4-5 0-3 1-1 9, Maddox Gue 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Kenyan Smith 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Buchanan 4-7 5-7 1-2 24, Ford Rickard 0-0 0-0 0-0 , Owen Burcham 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 32-54 3-5 82. 3-pt goals: 15-30. Rebounds: 25 (Fransen 6, Ke. Smith 6, Polcyn 5). Assists: 18 (Buchanan 9). Steals: 8 (Polcyn 5). Turnovers: 3. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.