The Fayette

Middle School basketball team finished what Coach Jason Barnes considers

to be a Cinderella season.

Last year,

as seventh graders, the team went winless and never lost by less than

10 points. The team lost their starting point guard and center and things

were not looking too good when their eighth grade season began. The team

lost their first game by 27 points, lost their shooting guard for three

weeks and had their coach serve a two game suspension before Christmas

break. Their record at the halfway point was 1-6.

In the second

half of the season, things began to come together. The team went 3-4 and

lost their last game of the season by two points, after trailing by 15

points in the fourth quarter. They entered the Metro Middle School Athletic

League tournament as the ninth seed out of 11 teams.

In the first

game, a play-in game to see which team would make the tournament, Fayette

Middle defeated Henry County 37-21. The win put them up against the top

seed in the tournament, Eagle's Landing, and Fayette Middle upset them

43-40. In their next game, they knocked off fourth seeded Whitewater 44-36.

Only 10 days before, Whitewater had defeated Fayette Middle by 17 points.

Fayette Middle

had made the championship game against Luella Middle School. Fayette Middle

trailed by two at the half and found themselves down by 10 in the third

quarter. The team rallied but came up short, losing 42-39.

Jacob Thomas,

who averaged 15.5 points a game, was named to the All-Tournament first

team, while Derek Walker was named to the the third team for outstanding

defense. Other team members include Brandon Boykin, David Buchannan, Braden

Buckner, Desmond Curry, Markus Fulks, Rashid Hollis, David GasQuez, Ryan

Kennedy, Andre Owens, Josh Rape, Brandon Rassier, Tony Thompson and Collin

Wooddy.

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