The final game of Tuesday's action featured the Fairfield Indians of the GMC taking on the Elder Panthers of the GCL.
After three excellent games earlier in the day, not much changed as two premier Cincinnati programs battled it out on Xavier's home floor. At the end of the first quarter, the Indians held a 14-7 lead behind hot three-point shooting. The second frame was a different story, with Elder being the team knocking down triples en route to a 24-24 halftime tie. Fairfield's Deshawne Crim was the first half's leading scorer with nine points.
In the third quarter, both teams went back-and-forth but Fairfield's defense and athleticism propelled them to a 35-31 lead heading into the final frame. Elder promptly opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 to take a 39-35 lead, and the score was 41-40 Elder entering the final minute. Fairfield ramped up the defensive pressure, and ultimately forced a tie on a debated non-travel call with 14.1 seconds remaining. On their last possession of regulation, Elder drew the foul but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Fairfield called a timeout with 3.0 seconds left and promptly failed to get a shot off before the end of regulation.
In overtime, Elder simply made a few more plays and ultimately took home the victory by a final score of 50-44.
Elder's next game comes on Thursday against a team from Australia, while Fairfield heads to Ross on Friday at 7:30 to battle the Rams in another out-of-conference showdown.
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