SIDNEY — Nothing was falling for Sidney in the first half against Fairborn on Friday. Point-blank layups somehow bounced off the glass without so much as grazing the rim, and long-rang shots sailed by without hitting anything.

The Yellow Jackets can’t afford a loss as the Miami Valley League Valley Division race tightens, and they rallied in the fourth quarter to earn their seventh consecutive win.

Sidney outscored the Skyhawks by 14 points in the final quarter to win 54-46 and improve to 12-5 overall and 10-4 in MVL play.

“In the locker room at halftime, Coach (John Willoughby) was getting really on us, telling us to pick it up,” Sidney junior guard Julius Spradling, who scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, said. “We had to pick it up.

“… I think this game really shows what we have in us.”

The squad remains tied with Stebbins (12-5, 10-4) for first place in Valley Division standings. Sidney is scheduled to host rival Piqua (4-13, 3-11 MVL Miami) on Tuesday and travel to Vandalia-Butler (9-7, 9-5) on Friday; the Indians knocked off the Aviators 59-48 on Friday.

“We’ve got to keep playing as a team, playing as we know,” Spradling said.

Sidney led 7-4 early, but the Skyhawks finished the first quarter with a 7-2 run to take a lead. They continued to play well in the second (thanks in part to hot 3-point shooting) and led 25-16 at halftime.

“They were really good up front,” Spradling said. “They had active hands. That bothered me as a player. I think, for all of us, we were rushing everything. They had us uptempo a lot. We had to slow everything down.”

The Yellow Jackets used an 18-15 advantage in the third to cut the gap to 40-34. Then they stormed back in the fourth.

Spradling scored on a couple of drives and hit an early 3, Ethan New made big back-to-back baskets and A’Zon Steele made a key late basket and hit 5-of-6 foul shots down the stretch to seal it.

“I like the way these guys take coaching,” Willoughby said. “It wasn’t pretty at half. We didn’t play well. We weren’t into it physically or mentally. We turned a corner at halftime.

“… We outscored them by three in the third quarter and got it manageable. We didn’t think we were out of it the whole time; nine points in a high school game is nothing, really. But we just weren’t playing right and understanding the game.

“Our point at halftime was that Fairborn was doing a great job of pressuring our guards, double-teaming a little bit. Our guards felt like, ‘Well, I better just zoom by it and get right to the basket if I can.’ They were drawing two, three guys off them and weren’t making the right decision off that move.”

Willoughby said the focus in the second half was to make better decisions on drives and pass more to senior forward Mitchell Davis or to guards in the corners.

It worked. Davis scored six of his eight points in the second half, and Spradling and Steele each combined to hit three 3-pointers.

After Sidney cut the gap to six points at the end of the third, it started the fourth with a full-court press, which it used most of the rest of the way.

The Yellow Jackets forced many turnovers, which helped in the comeback.

“I would love to press all game long, but we just don’t have (depth),” Willoughby said. “We pick and choose when we have to. We wanted to do it just to change our minds a little bit, because some of our kids weren’t into it mentally. Just go press, and then they just have to react and go as hard as they can. Sometimes, that takes you out of a funk.”

New made a put-back with 5:16 left to cut the deficit to 42-39, then made a layup after a steal to cut it to one. Davis blocked a shot on Fairborn’s next possession, and Steele grabbed the rebound. Davis drew a foul on Sidney’s next possession and split a pair of free throws to tie it 42-42.

Spradling then scored on a drive from along the right baseline with 2:42 left; he was fouled and made a free throw to complete a three-point play and give the Yellow Jackets their first lead since the first quarter.

After a missed shot by the Skyhawks, Spradling drove down the middle and made a layup with 2:07 left to push Sidney’s lead to 47-42.

Spradling scored all but three of his points in the second half.

“He did a great job,” Willoughby said. “… I love this group. They’re going to play all day long. You’re not going to take Julius out of a game, you’re not going to take A’Zon out of a game, you’re not going to take Ethan New out of a game, and Mitchell is getting so much stronger mentally, which has been a big change for us.”

Steele made a layup on a drive from the left baseline with 50 seconds left to give Sidney a 49-44 lead. He solidified the win from the free-throw line.

Steele led the Yellow Jackets with 24 points, 15 of which came in the second half.

“He, and these guys, they’ll take coaching and they don’t cry about it; they try to take it in and understand it,” Willoughby said. “I can’t say enough about these kids taking the coaching, going out and doing it. They’re doing a great job at it.”

Davis finished with eight, and New finished with six.

Sidney lost of three of four games before its current winning streak. That rough stretch started with a 44-42 loss at Fairborn (8-7, 7-6) on Dec. 19.

“Fairborn is doing a good job. They’re up and coming, with some of the new players they have. The coach is doing a great job,” Willoughby said. “We knew this was going to be a contest, because we didn’t play very well down there the first game.

“We thought if we played our game, we’d be all right. Give credit to Fairborn, they did a good job defensively. (Taiyou) Williams for them is hard to handle.

Williams led Fairborn with 18 points, all but two of which came in the second half. William Perry III scored 11 points, all in the first half. Jadon Larson also scored 11.

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.