The Fairfield Eagles fell behind in the first half and could not catch up and ended their season to the Huntington Red Devils 47-36 Tuesday night at Crockett High School.
The loss ends the career of head coach Joey Worley, who will retire at the end of the school year. He reached the 400-win plateau earlier in the district season and ends a wonderful career as the Fairfield Eagle basketball program moves toward the future.
Fairfield could not hit shots most of the night from the field, however, they committed a season low four turnovers. Huntington hit their first four from the field and jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead before Kadarius Walker hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 8-3.
The Eagles hit a spark with six straight points, all three by Jaise Oliver and tied the game at 14-14 two minutes into the second period. That would be the last score of the half for the Eagles and the Red Devils raced to an 8-0 run to end the first half and the Eagles trailed 21-14.
Huntington scored on their first three possessions and four of their first five and ripped off the first eight points of the half, completing a 15-0 run from the end of the first half. Walker hit a pair of three pointers to end the third quarter and trailed 34-25.
The teams played even through the final period. Oliver hit a shot and was fouled and the made free throw put the score at 38-30. That was as close as they would get the rest of the night.
Oliver led the way with 16 points and Walker had 14 in the loss.
In other news, the Teague Lions opened the playoffs at Robinson High School with a bi-district game against the Cameron Yoe Yoemen. Teague trailed midway through the second period but pulled away in the second half for a 79-64 win. They had the area round at Lorena and the opponent was the Grandview Zebras. Grandview led most of the way and the Lions grabbed a lead with four minutes to play. The Lions missed four free throws and suffered a late turnover. The Zebra post play hit a shot at the buzzer the Teague season came to an end 62-61.
