EAGLES VARSITY GUARD Anthony Price drives in for a shot in the District 20-AAA finale against the Brownsboro Bears. Facing a team with everything to gain, the Fairfield high school Eagles came from behind and through two overtime periods to claim a regular season finale win over the Brownsboro Bears.

“It was good to see them respond and battle back,” FHS head coach Joey Worley says.

The win gave the Eagles a 9-1 record in District 20- AAA and the championship crown, which was actually decided before the Brownsboro crown.

The Bears were battling for third place in district and a spot in the post season playoffs. A win would have advanced Brownsboro to the bi-district game.

As it turned out, though, Athens took the third place slot and Crockett is going as second place team from 20-AAA.

“They had a lot to play for,” Worley says. “They were looking to get in the playoffs.”

The Eagles and Bears matched points in the first period, nine apiece, but a breakdown saw Fairfield manage only three points the second period to fall behind 12-26 at the half.

At that point, Worley says the team’s goal was to cut the lead to seven points in the third period. They did better, outscoring the Bears by 10 points to narrow the margin to 26-30.

A pair of late free throws by senior guard LaDarius Brackens tied the contest at 38-all when the fourth period buzzer sounded.

Both teams put up 12 points in the first overtime period, emerging tied 45- all.

The contest remained close through a second overtime period, the lead switched several times, until near the end when senior guard Willie Tatum hit a free throw to tie the game 51-all, then Brackens connected on a field goal to give the Eagles a 53-51 win.

“We were not very good the first half. Defensively, it was the second period that was the problem,” Worley reports.

The Eagles outscored the Bears in three of the four regulation periods.

Three FHS cagers scored in double digits—- Tatum led with 14 points, Brackens had 12 and junior post Dominique Owens tallied 10.

Also scoring were: Tevin Green, 8; Evan Simpson, 6; and Anthony Price, 3.

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

To prepare for playoff action that starts this week, the Eagles met Seminole for a practice game and did not come out well.

The game was played Saturday at Glen Rose.

Fairfield led 9-8 the first period, but was outscored the second period to trail 20-23 at the half.

Eagle cagers scored 11 points the third period and 10 in the fourth, giving up 14 and 18, to fall 42-55.

Reaching double digits with 14 points was Green.

Also scoring were: Tatum, 9; Simpson, 8; Brackens, 8; and Price, 2.

Fairfield shot 56 percent from the free throw line, making nine of 16 attempts.