“It means everything because from the beginning of the season we always believed, and coach always repeated we can really win state this year,” Tolbert said. “We always bought into it at practice. But now to see we’re actually here in this moment is just surreal.”
In the Indians’ way is 27-0 and defending state champion Centerville. The Elks survived a scare from Fairmont and won 44-42 on Tom House’s 15-footer with a second left. The teams meet in the regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cintas.
To knock off Wayne (18-8), the Indians (23-4) focused on defense. The key was holding down junior guard Lawrent Rice, a high Division I recruit and a first-team all-Southwest District performer. Ray Coney guarded Rice physically, but Rice was on fire early with 15 first-half points and finished with 24. He made several difficult shots and was 5 of 8 from three-point range.
“Ray was able to be physical with him and bother him a little bit,” Fairfield coach D.J. Wyrick said. “We told the guys he’s going to score, but let’s limit the amount that he does score and try to take away everybody else. And our guys bought into that.”
Three other Warriors scored six points and they shot 35.7% as a team.
Offensively, the Indians were patient and scored lots of layups to outscore Wayne 26-10 in the paint and shoot 47.5% as a team. Tolbert scored 20 and Coney and Logan Woods scored 10. All 10 of Woods’ points came in the second half.
“I’m proud of their efforts,” Wyrick said. “Total team win — they shared the ball.”
Fairfield opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run and went to the fourth quarter leading 34-25 on Tolbert’s buzzer-beating jumper.
Wayne, however, rallied on two Rice threes to cut the Indians’ lead to 37-33 with 5:45 left. The Indians pushed the lead back to eight, but another Rice three and a three by Mike Cole made the score 45-42 with 1:26 left.
Fairfield responded again with two free throws by Woods, a Tolbert 3-point play and stops on defense to finish with a 6-0 run.
“We just stayed disciplined, stayed patient with within our offense,” Woods said. “And we just wanted to execute our game plan, and we did down the stretch. That’s what led us to getting the win.
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