Fayetteville Advances to State Hoops Quarterfinals in Overtime Thriller
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Fayetteville’s Kole Schmitt dribbles past Slade Tarrant of Wells during first-quarter action Tuesday in Madisonville. Photo by Ken Sury -
Fayetteville’s Jack Schley secures the rebound in front of Slade Tarrant of Wells in the fourth quarter. -
Lion seniors Jack Schley (left) and Mason Fenhaus do a chest bump to celebrate Schley’s huge block of a Wells shot attempt to send the game into overtime. Photo by Ken Sury
For the third consecutive season the Fayetteville boys basketball team is headed to the state quarterfinals.
And for the third season in a row, the Lions did so by beating the Wells Pirates.
But this one was way more thrilling than the previous two.
Fayetteville needed overtime to beat Wells 80-74 Tuesday night in Madisonville.
The win vaults the Lions into a fourth round 1A playoff match-up against another familiar foe, Brookeland, which has traded wins with Fayetteville in this state quarterfinal round each of the last two seasons.
The Lions (29-6) will face Brookeland (27-9) at 7 p.m. Friday at Cleveland High School.
“It’s the rubber match,” Fayetteville head coach Jake Diggs said. “We’ll see what we can do.”
Back in 2024 Fayetteville beat Brookeland 74-64. Last year Brookeland got revenge 79-70.
Diggs said some of Brookland’s good players have graduated the past two years, but they are still “big and strong” and have a pair of stars averaging 32 and 20 points respectively.
But Fayetteville can counter with a very formidable team of their own, led by five seniors (Mason Fenhaus, Kole Schmitt, Jack Schley, Kasen Kocian and Cole Jurecka) who have made these deep playoff runs a regularity.
“They are not ready for this to end,” Diggs said.
And they played like it Tuesday against Wells.
Fenhaus led the way with 33 points. Schley scored 16. Schmitt and Kocian scored 10. Enoch Loafman scored seven and Jurecka scored four.
The biggest play of Tuesday’s game came when the game was tied 71-71 with seconds left in regulation. Wells shot a air-ball three pointer, but they got an offensive rebound with a wide open look at the basket.
“I was like ‘oh no our season’s going to end on an airball three,’” Diggs said.
But Schley made an amazing block on the potential game-winning putback shot to send the game to overtime.
“He jumped up what felt like 12 feet high to block it,” Diggs said.
With new life in overtime, the Lions dominated, outscoring Wells 9-3 in the extra period to clinch the win.
“Our guys never flinched in adversity,” Diggs said. “They stayed confident. They never gave up.”