Soft-Spoken Fay Lets Actions on Court Do His Talking

As a talented senior guard at Buena High who has averaged more than 20 points a game the past two seasons, Lance Fay is like the parquetry in Boston Garden--all over the floor.

Fay averaged 20.6 points last season and was a second-team All-Southern Section Division I selection.

This season, he has averaged 31.1 points and he scored a career-high 41 Friday in a 98-84 win over Hueneme in a Channel League opener at Buena.

Fay, who made 16 of 27 field-goal attempts and produced the third-highest single-game total in school history, didn’t leave the floor until two minutes remained.

The past two seasons, he has been to Buena what air is to a basketball: Take it away, and everything goes flat.

“He’s a good kid and he’s fun to be around, but I can’t get him to take out the trash,” chortled Fay’s father, Kevin.

“He will run up and down a 94-foot court for hours, but he just can’t take that can down the hill. He has a tough union contract.”

Discussions over the family garbage situation are as close as the polite, soft-spoken Lance Fay will come to talking trash.

He quietly goes about his business of making the Bulldogs (7-4, 1-0 in league play) a contender for the Channel League title.

“We try to get him to be more vocal, but he’s more of a leader by his actions on the court,” Buena Coach Glen Hannah said.

“He’s so quiet that sometimes you don’t realize how competitive he is. He hates to lose. When he was younger, he was always challenging bigger guys to a game of one on one.”

Yet, there was a time when Fay wasn’t a high-quality player; his father described him as “the least aggressive kid on earth.”

Lance wasn’t sure if he even liked basketball.

“I was pretty bad in the third and fourth grade and I didn’t want to play,” he said.

“But after I played more, I liked it.”

And he improved dramatically.

As a freshman, Fay averaged 20 points and was named most valuable player for a sophomore team that finished 18-4.

He started on the varsity as a sophomore and played alongside All-Southern Section Division I point guard Jeff Oliver, who now starts at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

When Oliver graduated after the 1989-90 season and left the Bulldogs without a point guard, Fay moved over from shooting guard.

“We tried some other guys at the point but they didn’t pan out,” Hannah said.

“I think it took Lance a while to become a good point guard. He scored and played well during the first half of last season, but he didn’t really become a good point guard until the second half of the season when he began to make other people around him better.”

Still, there have been occasions when the 6-foot-1 Fay has tried to do too much, and Buena has floundered.

“Sometimes, especially last season, the kids look for him to be the one who breaks the press or takes the game-winning shot,” Hannah said.

At times, Hannah finds it difficult to blame them.

Fay, after all, is like the Christmas doll that does everything.

He drives, he shoots, he passes, he even plays defense.

Just wind him up and watch him go.

“I love the game,” said Fay, who carries a 3.3 grade-point average. “I pretty much just play basketball and hang out.”

Fay has taken 38% of Buena’s field-goal attempts and has made 34% of the total baskets.

However, he is unselfish.

Fay, who mainly has attracted interest from NCAA Division II schools, leads the team with 6.1 assists a game.

When Hueneme double-teamed Fay on Friday, he passed for a career-high 12 assists.

He has 67 assists this season and only 27 turnovers.

“He really helps the rest of them because he penetrates so well, which draws the defense to him and he dishes off,” Hannah said.

“Or, if the defense doesn’t guard him, he’s really good at finishing the drive (with a basket).”

Fay’s assists, however, are as close as he comes to a dish.

“He went on a trip with us once and we discovered he loves to sleep and hates to do dishes,” Hannah said. “In fact, we were so surprised when he finally did them that we took a picture.”

Yet another shot made by Fay.