COACHING TOGETHER FOR THEIR 300TH WIN Friday night; Coach Worley and Coach Merrick receive trophies after the game against Aggieland. Congratulating them are Fairfield High School principal, Von Wade (far left), and Fairfield Athletic Director, John Bachtel (right).
The Fairfield Eagles took two of three games in the Fairfield Invitational Basketball tournament.
In the pool games, Fairfield claimed a 57-41 win over Corsicana. Kobe Freeman led all scorers with 21 points and Jordan Gibson added 11.
Fairfield moved to the second and perhaps the most exciting game of the entire tournament. They faced the Aggieland Panthers. Fairfield began the game hitting only one of their first nine shots from the field and Aggieland hit six of their first eight, including three from long range.
Aggieland led 20-9 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Fairfield continued to be cold from the field, but they did hit three of their last four. Tonio Carter finished with a pair of scores and Freeman had a basket and a foul shot. Fairfield would only score seven in the quarter, but it was enough to cut into the lead and Fairfield trailed by a 26-16 score.
The Eagles missed their first five in the second half, but their defense picked up and then the shots began to fall. Three straight trips down the floor, Kadarius Walker hit a pair of threes and Keshaun Cunningham added another and Fairfield shaved three more points off the lead to 34-27.
Fairfield had 17 shot attempts in the final quarter and made nearly half of them. Freeman made six of eight from the field for 12 of his game high 24 points. He hit an eight-foot jumper to cut the lead to 45-44 and Walker drained a three with 15 seconds remaining to tie the score and send the game to overtime tied at 47-47.
Yacob hit a three for Aggieland and Freeman had a basket and foul for the only scoring in the first overtime at 50-50. Devin Cunningham had the only two scores in the second overtime from the field. Walker made all eight free throws and the Eagles dominated the sixth quarter for a 65-53 double overtime win.
Fairfield advanced to the gold division tournament and were set to take on the Bryan Rudder Rangers.
Before the game, Athletic Director John Bachtel and High School Principal Von Wade made a special presentation to Head Coach Joey Worley and assistant Brian Merrick. The two have worked seamlessly together off and on since 2006. They have taken the team to the playoffs numerous times and the double overtime win against Aggieland was the 300th for them together. A trophy was given to both men in a nice ceremony.
Bryan Rudder dominated the Eagles in the tournament semifinal. Freeman had ten of his 11 in the first half, but the Eagles committed over 15 turnovers in the half and trailed 33-20. They would lose the game 63-41.
Due to collegiate testing, the Eagles did not have a consolation game on that side of the bracket and their season record is 5-2.
(Sports Photography by Melissa Lee)
