FAIRFIELD EAGLES SENIOR post Tevin Green tries to avoid a flying Gladewater player in a first round game at the Fairfield Invitational tournament. The Fairfield high school Eagles varsity basketball team took third place over the weekend in the annual Fairfield Invitational tournament.

Tourney play started last Thursday and ran through Saturday at the high school.

Melissa defeated Waco to win the championship crown and Groesbeck claimed the consolation award.

“We played really well. We had a good tourney,” Fairfield head coach Joey Worley reports.

Eagles cagers started their tourney run easy enough with a 66-28 win over Gladewater.

The FHS quintet secured a 15-12 first period lead, then outscored Gladewater by a 3-to-1 margin the second period to command a 33-16 advantage at half-time.

Fairfield tallied 12 points the third period and 21 in the fourth, giving up six in each.

Leading the offensive effort with 14 points was Dominique Owens. He was joined in double digits by Willie Tatum, 13 points, Tevin Green, 11, and Chris Burns, 10.

Also scoring were: LaDarius Brackens, 8; Dillon Burgess, 8; and Vernard Evans, 2.

The Eagles shot 67 percent from the free throw line, making eight of 12 tries.

Hitting three treys was Tatum, Brackens connected on two and Burns added one from long range.

A cold start in which they were outscored 6-16 in the first period by Melissa ended up costing the Eagles a 54-59 decision.

Fairfield trailed 21-33 at the half, pulled within eight points at 30-38 in the third period and made a run for the money in the final stanza.

The Eagles put up 24 points in the fourth period, six of those on free throws, but came up a bit short when the final buzzer sounded.

Tatum put on a scoring display with 28 points, counting four treys toward his total.

Also scoring were: Burns, 12; Green, 10; and Owens, 4.

Fairfield shot 59 percent from the free throw line, making 13 of 22 attempts.

The loss to Melissa dropped the Eagles down to the consolation game where they played a barn burner against Mexia before winning 78-74 in overtime.

Fairfield and Mexia were evenly matched the first half—-the Eagles trailed 12-15 the first period and led 31-29 at the half.

The Eagles hit for 22 points in the third period to extend the lead to six points at 53-47, but a determined Mexia quintet tallied 20 points in the fourth period to tie the game 53-all at the end of regulation.

Mexia hit 10 shots from 3-point range during regulation play to stay in the hunt.

In overtime, the Eagles put 11 more points on the board and gave up seven.

“It was a very physical game with a lot of fouls,” Worley points out.

Fairfield took 46 free throws in the contest, making 27 for a 59 percent average.

Mexia shot 75 percent from the charity stripe, making 12 of 16 attempts.

Two Mexia players fouled out of the contest, as did Owens.

Scoring 30 points for the Eagles was Tatum, with 18 of those coming from the foul line. Tatum took 29 free throws in the game.

Equally as impressive was a 25-point performance by Burns, who counted eight field goals, six free throws and a trey toward his tally.

Also scoring were: Green, 12; Brackens, 6; Owens, 4; and Evan Simpson, 1.

En route to the championship game, Waco defeated Groesbeck and Mexia.

The Melissa quintet beat Kerens in the first round and Fairfield in the second round.