OBSERVER
Staff Report
After watching his team give up too many points far too often last season, Fredonia coach Greg Lauer knew his team was going to have to focus on defense this season.
Monday night his team took the first step as a stellar defensive effort along with 26 points from Dylan Meyer propelled the Hillbillies to a 42-41 victory over Pennsylvania's Fairview in a non-league contest.
Both teams battled to a 26-26 deadlock. Fairview then took a 39-36 lead heading into the final eight minutes and held a 41-36 edge. However, the Hillbillies finished the game on a 6-0 run to pull off the victory.
"They are a really tough team and played physical," Lauer said of Fairview. "They beat us down there last year so it was a good non-league game to get started with. The guys performed well with it being the first game.
Meyer scored six in the first quarter and eight in each the second and third quarter.
"He is a scorer," Lauer said. "He worked extremely hard in the offseason. He is a leader for us. When he hits shots, we feed off that. It certinaly helps when he puts up those kind of numbers."
Jon Piper added 12 points for the winners.
"I thought Piper did a nice job handling pressure," Lauer said. "He did a good job handling that. They played extremely good defense."
Meyer and Trent Thompson combined for 16 rebounds while Jon Fletcher had three assists and three steals in the win.
Fredonia opens its league portion of the schedule Wednesday when it travels to Falconer.
