BLAINE — Meridian head coach Shane Stacy doesn’t consider Jaeger Fyfe a freshman.
He’s been the go-to guy on plenty of teams growing up and he was the hot hand for Meridian in a 66-46 win over Mount Baker in the first round of the district playoffs.
Meridian led 16-2 four minutes into the game and for the Mountaineers, things didn’t get much better.
If it weren’t for turnovers by the Trojans, the game could have been put away much earlier, but Meridian led 33-19 at halftime.
After two quarters, Fyfe was up to 23 points with 18 of them coming off 3-pointers.
Fyfe ended the game as the leading scorer from both teams with 32 points.
“He’s got a great competitive mentality,” Stacy said of Fyfe. “His whole life has been about competition, so it doesn’t surprise me. He never gets too down on himself or too excited. He just keeps competing.”
Fyfe hit three more 3-pointers in the second half to bring his total for the game to nine.
Senior Daniel Short hit four of his own from deep for 12 points and junior Hunter Jones added six points for the Trojans.
Meridian led 51-31 after three quarters and much of the fourth quarter was the Trojans simply going through the motions while the clock ticked down.
Stacy said despite it possibly being the last game of the season, they approach it like any other game.
The Trojans have also found a good time to be at full strength this season.
“There was a stretch there of 41 days where we didn’t have the whole team together until late January,” Stacy said. “We can’t help but be playing better this time of year. We’re all together and practicing together finally. We’re just eager to see how much better we get with each day.”
Mount Baker’s season ends without a win as the Mountaineers dropped to 0-17 with the loss.
The fourth-seeded Trojans will play at home as the away team Thursday against No. 3 Nooksack Valley.
Stacy said Nooksack Valley coach Rich Skillman has the Pioneers in a good spot.
“They compete to the best of their ability every time they step on the court and we just have to be ready to match that mentality,” Stacy said.
