Double-team defense denied Jake Lafferty his customary double-double and his final chance at a Sparta Tournament championship.
By his exceptionally elite standards, Lafferty endured a subpar Saturday, managing a modest 18 points and seven rebounds in Sparta’s 43-39 loss to Fair Grove in the Sparta Tournament title tilt.
From start to finish and no matter where he went with the ball, Lafferty drew the Eagles’ Spensar Seiger and Tyler Barnett.
“They did a great job game-planning me,” said Lafferty, who became Sparta's career scoring leader earlier in the week. "They had the paint packed. It was miserable.”
High-percentage shots were hard for Lafferty to find. He repeatedly penetrated to the paint with Seiger on his side and Barnett in front of him.
Lafferty was held to four first-half points on 2-of-8 shooting. It was only because of his fierce determination that he finished 8-of-19 from the field, sometimes and somehow slicing between Seiger and Barnett for hard-earned buckets.
“I think in the first half I was skittish,” Lafferty said. "I was playing so tense. That didn't help me at all. In the second half, I started realizing I can be more patient. I didn't have to hurry as much.”
Perhaps most impressive was Fair Grove limiting Lafferty to only one offensive rebound.
“It was a physical game," Sparta coach Deric Link said. "You know when you come to play us you have to find a way to contain (Lafferty) and they did."
Link added voters got it right by naming Seiger the tourney’s MVP. Last season, Seiger held another high-flier, Forsyth’s Ryder Blevins, to 19 points on 9-of-25 shooting.
“Spensar Seiger is one of the most underrated players in SWMO,” Link said. “He guards everybody's best player every single night. He's a stinkin' competitor. That kid is special and very underrated.”
Sparta hoped Fair Grove’s double-team of Lafferty would open up opportunities elsewhere. But the Trojans had no one else score more than five points.
“We had an idea this is probably what they would do, but we didn't execute our game plan,” Link said. “We didn't do a good job of moving, cutting behind heads and taking advantage of (an open man).
“We've got to have guys be able to step up,” he added. “Lee Mayes can shoot the basketball. He didn't shoot it well tonight. Mason Letterman can do things. He wasn't aggressive in his own area tonight. Braylen (Luttrull) has been playing well and they didn't want to give him good, open looks and I don't blame them.”
The 39 points is a season-low for Sparta and their lowest output since being held to 37 points by Thayer last season.
The Trojans trailed all of the first half.
“We played really bad,” Lafferty said, “I don't know what it was, it must have been nerves.”
Sparta still competed and even briefly gained the lead at 29-27 late in the third quarter.
But Fair Grove (16-4) was in control down the stretch, despite slowing its offense to a near standstill. It helped the Eagles’ cause that were in the bonus for the final minute-plus and weren’t whistled for their first foul of the fourth quarter until :49 remained.
Incredibly, Fair Grove won with a mere four second-half field goals.
With Fair Grove failing to break away, Sparta pulled to within one, 38-37, of the lead with :13 to play.
After a missed Fair Grove free throw with :10 left and the score 39-37, the Trojans could have had a shot to tie or win. But after Lafferty rebounded the miss, he was ruled to be out of bounds.
When the whistle blew, Lafferty felt he had been fouled by a Fair Grove player behind him.
“They said I was out of bounds. But I don't know how someone could get out of bounds grabbing the ball on a rebound without getting pushed,” he said. “I don't know how that wasn't a foul.”
With :02 left, Sparta (17-4) was assessed a technical foul.
As frustrating as the night was for Lafferty, he was able to leave with a positive outlook.
“The best way to look at it is we get to see them again at Districts,” he said. “This is going to give us a chip on our shoulders.”
