LITTLE RIVER ACADEMY — The Fayetteville High School boy’s basketball team advanced to the state championship game March 9 at Little River Academy with a win vs Huckabay High School by a final score of 71-67.
The score didn’t indicate how close this game actually was because Fayetteville had a solid lead for most of the game until Huckabay started climbing back at the very end.
“It means everything,” said Fayetteville head boy’s basketball coach Jake Diggs. "People don't see the sacrifices these guys have made. They worked their tails off to get here. Job's not done. I'm so proud."
Fayetteville senior shooting guard Kasen Kocian hit a bunch of big shots in the first half and sprin kled in some important
shots in the second half as well.
“It feels great,” Kocian said. "It feels great being surrounded by such great teammates, too. It's such an amazing team." A closer first quar ter started with three three-pointers from Kocian with one of them coming at the 3:15 mark to make it 11- 6, then a layup from senior guard Kole Schmitt at about the one minute mark put it at 18-13 with an answer from Huckabay in the final seconds resulting in a 18-15 lead for Fayetteville at the end of the first quarter.
The Lions had a huge second quarter, which in cluded two three-pointers from senior Jack Schley along with a couple layups from Schmitt in the final few minutes to take a 34-20
lead, forcing Huckabay to call a timeout. Fayetteville kept this same kind of advantage for the rest of the quarter with a few more
baskets and a three-pointer at the buzzer from Kocian to make it 41-25 at halftime.
Fayetteville didn’t let up in the third quarter and Huckabay didn’t start cutting into the lead until the last few minutes of the quarter with an and one bas ket, two layups, and a free throw to make it 51-41 at the end of the third quarter.
Huckabay continued to
fight back in the fourth quar ter with a few early layups to put it at 55-49 at the 5:40 mark, then Fayetteville gained their double-digit lead back with a handful of different kind of baskets to make it 63-51 after a quick layup from junior guard Enoch Loafmann.
Huckabay answered with two layups, which led to two layups in a row from Schmitt and some key free throws down the stretch from Loafmann in the final minute to secure a 71-67 win.
The Lions will be playing Valley High School to- day (Thursday March 12) at 11 a.m. at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Fayetteville senior guard Kole Schmitt, 2, makes a pass to senior guard Mason Fenhaus, 1, near half court. Banner Press photo by Brian Pierson
