The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team was half way to their first win on the season, but couldn’t close out Fairfield, falling to the Trojans 52-44 in Wellman Monday night.

In a game heard on KCII, Fairfield held a 9-7 lead after he first quarter, feasting on eight Mid-Prairie turnovers, but the Golden Hawks righted the ship in the second quarter, outscoring the Trojans 19-7 in the second eight minutes, including a Ryan Cortum jump shot to put the Hawks up 26-16 going into the half.

The Trojans answered the challenge, beginning the second half on a 6-0 run and outscoring the Hawks 17-6 in total in the frame to take a 33-32 lead into the fourth. The teams seesawed back and fourth in the final period but a key series of events unfolded with the game tied at 36 midway through the quarter. Mid-Prairie center Caleb Statler was called for a foul on a blocked shot, resulting in two shots for Alex Crile of Fairfield, on the same exchange Mid-Prairie was assessed a technical foul for their reaction to the call. Giving Crile four straight free throws, of which he hit three, Fairfield retained possession and hit a jumper to make it a five point possession and Mid-Prairie was unable to recover down the stretch.

Caleb Statler led the Golden Hawks with a huge night. The big man had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots in the contest. With the loss Mid-Prairie falls to 0-9 on the year.