Eagles win 2 on road

With hyper stingy defensive play, the Fairfield high school Eagles varsity basketball team claimed two road wins last week to complete the first half of District 20-AAA competition undefeated.

The Eagles gave up just 28 points per game in the victories over the Palestine Wildcats and Brownsboro Bears.

A week earlier, the FHS quintet allowed a total of 85 points in district wins over Palestine Westwood and Crockett.

As defensive efforts have intensified, the Eagles’ offensive output has dropped, but still remains healthy and ahead of their opponents.

FHS head coach Joey Worley points out that four players are shooting above, or near, 50 percent from the floor when a shooting percentage in the 30s is considered good.

“Offensively, they are doing a good job,” Worley says. “They are being patient, working for a high percentage shot.”

Leading the high percentage shooting parade are senior post Tevin Green, 57 percent from the floor, senior guards Willie Tatum and Evan Simpson at 50 percent, and freshman guard Anthony Price, 48 percent.

In the Palestine matchup early last week, the Eagles opened with 13 points and added 10 in the second period—-six players cracked the scoring column— to lead 23-14 at intermission.

The Eagles allowed only 14 more points the second half, while hitting for 14 and 12, to win by a 49-28 margin.

Near the end of the contest, Green dunked the ball, taking the wind out of the Wildcats’ sails. Green led scoring with 15 points.

Also scoring for FHS were: Tatum, 8; Dillon Burgess, 8; Dominique Owens, 8; Price, 6; and Simpson, 4.

The Eagles shot 60 percent from the free throw line, making three of five attemps.

Notching a double-double performance, Green pulled down 12 rebounds. He also stole the ball six times and blocked four shots.

Owens pulled down eight boards and Tatum provided four assists and four steals.

Both teams played a defensive game in the Brownsboro game.

The Eagles tallied only four points the first period to trail 4-7 early, then limited the Bears to a lone basket in the second period to take a 15-9 lead at intermission. That tally would normally be low for a first period.

Fairfield added just five third period points to see the lead cut to a point at 20- 19, and added 14 in the final stanza—-half of those came at the charity stripe—-to win 34-28.

“It was low scoring, but there were only about four bad shots taken,” Worley reports.

Tatum proved to be cool under pressure by making five free throws in the fourth period, on five attempts. He scored seven of his nine game points from the charity stripe.

Leading scorer, with 11 points, was senior guard LaDarius Brackens.

Also scoring were: Green, 4; Simpson, 4; Owens, 4; and Price, 2.

Under the basket, Green pulled down 12 rebounds and Owens got 10. Tatum stole the ball three times.

Worley credits Simpson with a strong defensive effort in holding Jacob McCarthy, normally a key offensive weapon for Brownsboro, to five points on the night.

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

Through the first half of district play, Green is leading the offense by averaging 14.5 points per game, Tatum is averaging 14.3 and Brackens is providing 11.8.

Green also has pulled down 58 boards in five games, an average of 11.6 per game.

The Eagles varsity is averaging 61.5 points per game and giving up 41.8 points.

In junior varsity action, Fairfield tallied nine points in each of the first two periods to take an 18-15 into half-time against the Wildcats.

The jv quintet scored six points the third period for a 24-20 advantage and held off Palestine in the fourth period to claim a 28-25 win.

Scoring for the Eagles were: Brady Johnson, 7; Garrett Thompson, 4; Tad Cannon, 4; Cooper Vandiver, 4; Shakeal Carter, 4; Henry, 3; and J. Carter, 2.

The jv took just four free throws, making two of them.

At Brownsboro, Fairfield jv claimed a 10-3 lead the first period, but went cold for just three points in the second period to trail 13-14 at intermission.

The Eagles rallied, though, to tie the contest at 23-all in the third period and added nine in the fourth to edge out a 32-30 win.

Scoring for Fairfield were: Ernest Becks, 7; Jared DeFrance, 6; Thompson, 4; Vandiver, 4; Cannon, 3; Davis, 3; Johnson, 3; and Carter, 2.

Hitting a 3-pointer apiece were Cannon, Davis and Thompson.

In freshmen action against the Wildcats, the FHS quintet jumped out to a 13-2 first period lead and added 11 second period points to lead 24-8 at the half.

The Eagles tallied 12 points the third period and 10 in the fourth, giving up six in each, to beat Palestine 46-20.

Reaching double digits were Cooper Cole, 14 points, and Will Akers, 11.

Also scoring were: Aaron Heers, 9; Hayden Hill, 6; Josh Munoz, 4; and Zach Pratt, 2.

The frosh shot 50 percent from the free throw line, making seven of 14 attempts. Cole was perfect on four free throws.

FHS freshmen cagers were on the wrong end of a defensive effort at Brownsboro, falling behind 1-13 the first period and trailing 7-20 at the half.

The Eagles hit for 12 points the third period to narrow the margin to 19- 26, but could not make up the difference in the final stanza, falling 25-34.

Scoring for Fairfield were: Akers, 7; Deonte Carr, 6; Cole, 4; Hill, 3; Castro, 2; and Heers, 2.

The Eagles were scheduled to host Athens early this week and Palestine Westwood on Friday, and head to Crockett on Tuesday. PUBLIC NOTICES