DeWeese's free throws down stretch seal Knights' victory
LANCASTER – Coming off of a career-best 30-point game, Fairfield Christian's K.J. DeWeese only had two field goals against visiting Bishop Hartley on Tuesday.
However, he more than made up for it in other ways.
DeWeese made 8-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter when every possession counted. Neither team led by more than four points in the final quarter, and each time DeWeese went to the line, the free throws became more important.
He was able to keep the Hawks at bay and the Knights held on for a thrilling, 46-44 nonconference win.
With the score tied at 41 with 1:03 left, DeWeese made two free throws. He then made two more with 23 seconds left to give the Knights a 45-41 lead. After Hartley made a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 45-44, DeWeese made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 8 seconds left.
Hartley (0-1) had one last chance to tie it, but a 15-foot jumper missed its mark and Fairfield Christian (3-1) pulled off one of the biggest wins in program history.
"That is a storied basketball program we just beat," Knights coach Roger Hooper said. "We didn't make a lot of mistakes and we played pretty good defense. We did what we had to do and we ran some of our sets well. It was a great win for our program."
DeWeese finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds. He said the key down the stretch was having confidence when he went to the line.
"When you go to the line you can't hope and wish. You have to go up there and you gotta know it is going to go in, and that is what I say to myself when I go to the line," he said. "This was a great win for us against a great team. This is great for our program."
DeWeese and Hopper were quick to point out how well the whole team played. DeWeese is the only returning starter, but Landon Conley, Isaac Naayers, Jacob Thompson and Andrew Gerken all came up big.
"We did a great job of playing with composure and we did a nice job of doing the things we wanted to do," Hooper said. "We had some young kids step up and make some key shots."
The game went back and forth from the start as Hartley took a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Hawks took their biggest lead of the game — 14-9 — early in the second, but the Knights responded in a big way.
Fairfield Christian went on an 11-0 run thanks to three straight 3s by Bush, Conley and DeWeese, and Conley scored off of a turnover. The Knights would head into halftime with a 22-19 advantage.
Thompson's 3 to start the second half pushed the Knights' lead to 25-19, but Hartley scored five consecutive points to cut the deficit to 25-24.
That's the way it would be the rest of the way. The Knights led 33-28 at the end of the third, but the Hawks started the fourth on an 11-5 run to take a 39-38 lead. Maybe the biggest basket of the game came on a 3 from Naayers with 2:40 left to give the Knights a 41-39 lead. The Knights never trailed after that shot.
"The key for us was defense, and it is easy to say that when you win, but holding them to 44 points after we had just given up 72 in our last game was huge," DeWeese said.
Conley finished with 11 points and five assists for the Knights. Thompson added eight points.
twilson@lancastereaglegazette.com
Twitter: @twil2323