Young Fulton team falls, 57-49
By Steve Williams
You don’t see many teams as young as Fulton get to the TSSAA state tournament.
But the Falcons didn’t just show up last week. They made it interesting.
Their slow start may have been due to their youth and the bright lights that come with a state tourney, but they got within three points late in the third period before losing to Fayette-Ware 57-49 in the TSSAA Class 3A state quarterfinals Thursday at MTSU’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.
Of the dozen players on veteran coach Jody Wright’s team, six were freshmen and two were sophomores. Sophomore Nick Steen played 31 of the 32 minutes at state, senior Derrick Smith 30 minutes, junior Rejuan Womble 25 minutes, sophomore Deven Hatchett 19 minutes, senior Travis Ballinger 16 minutes, junior Justin Burris 13 minutes, freshman Keirus Cox 12 minutes and freshman Jymari Martin 10 minutes.
Wright pointed to three things that he felt were the difference in the game – Fayette-Ware’s ability to get some easy points in the paint, its great job of finishing at the rim and forcing a lot of turnovers in the first half.
“Credit to them,” said Wright. “They’re athletic, they’re quick. They are a lot of things we’re not. They’re big and strong.”
With their victory, the Wildcats (28-5) from Somerville, which is located in West Tennessee, advanced to play Tullahoma in Friday’s semifinals.
Fulton, at the state for the fourth year in a row and the two-time defending champion, finished the season 18-17.
Fayette-Ware Coach Demarius Chearis felt the key to the win was “defensive stops and keeping them off the offensive boards.” He added that Coach Wright “always has guys that play hard. He’s always going to have them ready and prepared.”
Fayette-Ware has now played Fulton four years at state since 2016 and is 1-3. “We finally got that monkey off our back,” laughed Coach Chearis.
Leading the way for Fayette-Ware were freshman shooting guard Markylon Terry with 19 points and eight rebounds, 6-foot-6 forward Tarecous Stevens with 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks and senior point guard Tacarien Freeman with 11 points.
Smith led Fulton with 16 points. Steen had 10 points and eight rebounds but was 0 for 5 on 3-point attempts. Womble contributed nine points, six boards and three assists.
Fulton only led once in the game (3-2) and trailed 16-9 at the end of the first period. Fayette-Ware went on an 8-2 run in the second period to extend its lead to 24-11 and went into the locker room ahead 28-16.
A 7-0 run by the Falcons late in the third period pulled them within three points (35-32). In that spurt, Smith connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing, Womble scored on a rebound shot and Smith hit a jumper on the baseline after taking a charge.
The Wildcats answered with a 12-2 run to start the final period and were in command at 49-34 with some three minutes remaining. The first two baskets in the run saw Terry score a layup all alone and Quaylan Hampton tally on a snowbird.
The Falcons didn’t quit and got within six points (55-49) on a 3-pointer by Smith in the closing seconds.
“I told them, first of all, there’s never any shame when you finish your season in Murphy Center. Never,” said Coach Wright. “This is your ultimate destination. This is where you want to be.
“I didn’t feel like we were tough enough today to win and that hurts me to say that. But I felt we competed hard and these two guys right here (Smith and Steen in the media interview room) they laid it out there. So I’m proud of our effort. We played a really good basketball team and it could have gotten ugly there, but we continued to compete and fight and I’m proud of them for that.”
