Lions Reach the Final Four
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Kole Schmitt of Fayetteville (right) beats Brookeland’s Frank Martindale to the loose basketball in the first quarter Friday night. Photo by Ken Sury -
Fayetteville’s Enoch Loafman goes to the basket against some tight defense from Brookeland in Friday’s game. Photo by Ken Sury -
The Fayetteville players, staff, coaches and cheerleaders gather for a photo after the Lions’ regional final win over Brookeland. Photo by Ken Sury
Fayetteville Surges Past Brookeland to Make Basketball State Semis
The Fayetteville Lions basketball team roared into the state’s Final Four with a dominating state quarterfinal victory Friday.
The Lions broke open a close game with a strong third quarter to beat Brookeland 73-56 Friday at Cleveland High School.
“We knew going in that we would have a good chance if we pushed the pace and shut down their two big guys, and we did a good job of that,” said Fayetteville head coach Jake Diggs.
The win was a measure of revenge for Fayetteville as Brookeland had knocked the Lions out of the playoffs in this round last year.
Mason Fenhaus led the Lions with 17 points Friday, and Jack Schley, Kole Schmitt, and Enoch Loafman all scored in double figures for Fayetteville. Friday’s victory improves the Lions overall record to 30-6 and vaults Fayetteville into the 1A state semifinals, where they will face Huckabay (36-2) Monday at 7 p.m. at Little River Academy High School. Amazingly, these two teams played one another in the Lions’ first tournament of the season back in November. Huckabay won that game 49-42.
“Huckabay is a very similar team to us,” Diggs said. “They will really try to push the pace ... but that was 32 games ago. I feel like we are a very different team than we were back then – but they are too.”
No matter what happens in the state semis, the Lions have taken their fans on another amazing ride this season, their second trip to the state semifinals in the last three years.
This year’s five Fayetteville senior players were all sophomores on that 2024 state semifinal team. This 2026 team joins the 2024 team and the 1942 and 1943 Lions teams as the only ones to make it this far in the postseason. The Fayetteville boys are still looking for their first-ever boys basketball state title.
“I’m just really proud of these guys and all the hard work they’ve put in,” Diggs said. “Nobody sees all the hours these guys have put in and all the early mornings.”
The winner of Monday’s state semifinal advances to play the Valley (28-4)/Munday( 29-9) winner for the state title at 11 a.m. Thursday in the Alamodome in San Antonio.